ZODAPE et al: EFFECT OF LIQUID SEAWEED FERTILIZER ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF OKRA 1115 *Author for correspondence E-mail: patolia@csmcri.org Effect of liquid seaweed fertilizer on yield and quality of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) S T Zodape 1 *, V J Kawarkhe 2 , J S Patolia 1 and A D Warade 2 1 Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar 364 002 2 Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola 444 104 Received 05 July 2007; revised 14 August 2008; accepted A field experiment was conducted in summer of 2006 to study the effect of liquid seaweed fertilizer (LSF) applied as a foliar spray (conc. 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5% and 10.0%) on okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.). Control plants were sprayed with water. Yield and nutrition quality of okra fruit got significantly increased (20.47%) at LSF spray (2.5%). Keywords: Foliar spray, Hormones, Liquid seaweed fertilizer, Okra, Yield Introduction Application of seaweed extract as an organic biostimulant is fast becoming an accepted practice in horticulture 1 . Seaweed extracts are reported 2-4 effective fertilizer in many crops including vegetables, trees, flowering plants and grain crops. Many physiological responses shown by crop plants are reported 5-9 due to cytokinins. Main seaweed extract known to play useful role in agriculture are Maxicrop, Algifert, Geomar GA14, Kelpak66, Seaspray, Seasol, SM3, Seacrop 16, Cytex 10 , Cytokin 11 , Algistim 12 , Biozyme, Ujazyme, Agrimore 13 , Seamac and Alginex 14 , and MAC 8 . This study presents effect of liquid seaweed fertilizer (LSF) applied as a foliar spray (conc. 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5% and 10.0%) on okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.). Materials and Methods A field experiment was conducted during summer of 2006 at Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola. LSF was derived from fresh Kappaphycus alvarezii and applied to foliage (conc. 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5% and 10.0%). Control plants were sprayed with water mixed with surfactant only. Experiment was a completely randomized block design with four replications per treatment. Total number of plants grown was: gross plot (1.80 m x 3.0 m), 40; and net plot (0.90 m x 2.40 m), 16. First foliar application of LSF was given just at initiation of flowering and remaining sprays at three weeks interval from application of first spray. Growth and yield data was recorded on the basis of net plot area. Analysis of nutritional contents of okra [carbohydrate, protein, dietary fibre, minerals (P, K, Na, Ca, and Mg) and vitamin C] was estimated by using standard procedure 15 . Result and Discussion Growth of plants, yield of grain as well as quality of product was greatly influenced by applications of LSF. Compared to control, plants sprayed with LSF (2.5%) showed a significant increase per net plot (Table 1) in fruit yield (20.47%), besides significant increase in length (31.77%) and diameter (18.26%) of fruit and number of fruits (37.47%) per net plot. LSF had influence on other growth parameter such as height, fresh weight, dry weight of plants and fruits, which is in conformity with earlier report 16 . Increase in the yield in A. esculentus and Lycopersicon lycopersicum 17 , wheat 9 , bean 18 , and black gram 19 has been reported with foliar application of LSF. Compared to control, plants sprayed with LSF (2.5%) showed increase (Table 2) in nutritional quality of okra as: carbohydrate, 7.39; protein, 28.04; and dietary fibre, 35.55 %. An increase was also registered in mineral contents. Enhancement in vitamin C of Trigonella foenum-graecum 20 , increase in N of beans 21 , sugar of sugarbeet 22 has been reported for plants treated with LSF. Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research Vol. 67, December 2008, pp. 1115-1117