Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2020) 9(1): 1030-1037 1030 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2020.901.115 Impact of Sprout Management on Growth, Quality and Yield of Pointed Gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.) Kanchan Kumari Gupta 1 , Nayanmoni Buragohain 1* , B. P. Gautam 1 , S. Langthasa 1 , R. K. Goswami 2 and M. K. Kalita 3 1 Department of Horticulture, 2 Department of Crop Physiology, 3 Department of Plant Pathology, Biswanath College of Agriculture, Assam Agricultural University, Biswanath Chariali-784176, Assam, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.) is one of the most popular vegetables due to its higher nutritional and medicinal properties, unique taste and easy digestibility. It is known by the names Parwal, Potal, Parmal, wild snake gourd and Green Potato. It is a perennial International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 1 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com An experiment was conducted during the kharif season of 2018 to find out the impact of sprout management on growth and yield of pointed gourd. Five pruning treatments viz. , retention of one sprout , retention of two sprouts , retention of three sprouts , retention of four sprouts and control(without pruning) were done in a local cv. of pointed gourd of Biswanath Chariali, Assam under field condition. The growth and yield attributing characters were significantly influenced by pruning treatments. Retention of three sprouts resulted maximum vine length (195.47 cm and 384.95 cm), intermodal length (9.55 cm and 12.21 cm), number of leaves per vine (170.33 and 206.91) and leaf area per vine (5491.36 cm 2 and 6670.78 cm 2 ) at 90 and 120 days after planting. Duration from fruit set to harvest (10.50), days to first harvest (106.18) and total duration of the crop (198.27) was significantly less in plants with retention of one sprout. Highest yield per plant (4.21 kg), yield per hectare (8.77 ton), no. of female flowers per plant (238.50) and fruits per plant (225.58) was recorded in plants with three sprouts. Among the quality parameters, treatment with three sprouts recorded significantly higher vitamin A content (223.61 IU) in fruits while ascorbic acid (15.84 mg/100 g) was maximum in single sprout plants. Keywords Pointed gourd, Sprout management, Growth, Quality, Yield Accepted: 15 December 2019 Available Online: 20 January 2020 Article Info