Enhancing earliness and productivity in summer squash through black polymulch in Uttarakhand hills Singh V.P., Singh P.K.*, Rai Ratna, Bhatt Lalit** Department of Horticulture, VCSG College of Horticulture, Bharsar, Pauri Garhwal (Uttarakhand), Email: hotvp@rediffmail.com *Deptt. of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, GBPUAT, Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) **Deptt. of Vegatable Science, GBPUAT, Hill Campus, Ranichauri (Uttarakhand) Abstract A field experiment was conducted in farmers’ participatory mode to investigate the effect of black polymulch on growth, yield and production economics of summer squash. Results indicated that black polymulch encouraged earliness, enhanced yield (11 days earlier first picking than in control) and positively influenced the plant growth characters viz., plant height and plant spread. Fruit yield was also recorded 41.03% higher in T2 (60.50 t/ha) than in T1 (42.90 t/ha). Cost of cultivation, gross return, net return, benefit-cost ratio (BCR), additional cost incurred in the implementation of the polymulch technology, additional yield and return obtained and incremental benefit-cost ratio (IBCR) were also calculated. The BCR values were 2.94 in T1 and 3.32 in T2 IBCR value clearly indicated a net gain of Rs 4.88 against the per rupee invested in the polymulch technology in summer squash cultivation. It is concluded that cultivation of summer squash under black polymulch technology in the stress prone mid hill conditions was found to be optimum for obtaining profitable yield and economic return. Top Keywords Mulching, Productivicity, Summer squash, Yield. Top |