Growth and yield performance of Sponge Gourd ( Luffa cylindrica ) under different doses of nitrogen fertilizer

An experiment was carried out at a farmer’s field in Nowpara village, Trishal upazila, Mymensingh from 3 rd May 2023 to 15 th September 2023 to find out the effects of nitrogen (urea) fertilizers on the growth and yield performance of sponge gourd. The field experiment was arranged using a randomized complete block design with local variety Fujian F 1 with four treatments and three replications viz. (Urea) T 1 : Control (0 kg N/ha), T 2: 25 kg N/ha, T 3: 50 kg/ha, T 4: 75 kg N/ha were used for the present study with three replications. In treatment T 4 , the tallest sponge gourd plant was 123.5 cm, while in treatment T 3 , it measured 112.5 cm. For treatment T 1 , the smallest plant measured 61.33 cm. In terms of leaf numbers, treatment T 4 had the greatest number of leaves 63 while treatment T 1 had the lowest number of leaves 30. The highest diameter of the leaf measured was 13.05 cm in T 4 and the lowest diameter found was 6.8 cm in T 1 . Out of the four treatments, treatment T 4 had the tallest leaves, measuring 12.73 cm, followed by treatment T 3 , which had leaves measuring 9.7 cm. In T 1 and T 2 , the smallest leaf lengths were found to be 6.7 and 7.8 cm, respectively. The tallest length of the petiole found was 7.8 cm in T 4 and the smallest length of the petiole recorded was 5.5 cm for the treatment T 1 . The longest fruit measured from T 4 was 28.33 cm, while the tiniest fruit came from T 1 and measured 18.6 cm. The treatment T 4 had the highest fruit weight, measuring 227 g, while treatment T 3 had a weight of 176 g. The minimum weight was 93 g found in T 1 . Treatment T 2 has shown the weight of the fruit those were 134 g.


INTRODUCTION
Locally, the sponge gourd (Luffa cylindrica) is referred to as Kalitori.The plant is classified under the family Cucurbitaceae and is commonly referred to as angled gourd or angled loofah.Luffa is a monoecious viny vegetable and contains 2n=26 chromosomes (Zohura et al., 2013).The fruits of L. cylindrica are smooth and cylindrical shaped.The fibers consist of 60% cellulose, 30% hemicellulose, and 10% lignin (Mazali & Alves, 2005).L. cylindrica is a subtropical plant that, when cultivated in temperate regions, requires warm summer temperatures and an extended frost-free growing season.It produces a fruit with a fibrous vascular system and is an annual ascending plant.It is a summer season vegetable (Oboh & Aluyor, 2009).L. cylinderica fruits are green, and large cylindrical in shape that is crawled on other materials (Partap et al., 2012).According to a nutritionist, sponge gourd is an essential component of human nourishment.The daily requirement of an adult's total food is 284 g per head which is around 20% (Solangi et al., 2009).Nitrogen is a crucial nutrient that contributes to the development of the canopy and the rich green colour of the crop (Hashan et al., 2023).The successful production of crops is dependent on the efficient utilization of nitrogen.Nitrogen is also a major element of nucleic acid, co-enzymes, and membranes, and it is involved in many metabolic processes, viz., cell division, photosynthesis, protein synthesis, and the expansion of shoot and root growth in plants.It also has an active role during vegetative growth (Leghari et al., 2014).Notably, given the significant importance of nitrogen on plant growth and productivity, the present study was conducted to determine the response of the sponge gourd to applied nitrogen fertilizer on growth, development, and yield.

Study Area
The experiment was conducted at the farmer's field in Nowpara village, Trishal upazila, Mymensingh during the period from 28 May 2023.Geographically the experimental site is located at 24.33 43" N latitude and 90.22 52" E longitudes under the Agro-ecological Zone of the Old Brahmaputra Floodplain Agroecological zone-9 (FAO, 1988).The land was medium high with moderate drainage facility and the soil was silt loam.The plot size was 30m x 10 m in the experiment.The total area of the experiment was 30 m x 10 m, and the distance between two units was 2 m with a spacing of 2 m x 1.50 m.

Source of Seed
The sponge gourd variety Fujian F 1 was used and seeds were collected from Lal Teer Seed Limited.

Planting and Growing Young Plants
Healthy seedlings were raised with the necessary attention.Seeds were sown in well prepared poly bag seed beds on 3 rd May 2023.The seeds were sown at about 1.25 cm depth and were covered uniformly with light soil for proper germination.The seedbed was irrigated as and when required to ensure optimal germination and normal seedling growth.After germination, shade was set up to shield the small plant from the sun's glaring rays, and it was left exposed at night, in the morning, and in the afternoon.Healthy seedlings were developed by proper nursing.The seedlings were moved to the experimental plot when they reached one month of age.

Land Preparation
The experimental plot was prepared by multiple ploughing, laddering, and harrowing with a power tiller and a country plough to get good tilth.The experimental plot's weeds and other stubbles were meticulously cleared and levelled.The final land preparation was done on 28 th May 2023.A drainage channel of 30 cm was made between rows.

Fertilizer Application
Applying well-decomposed cow dung helped prepare the soil for cultivation.Vermicompost, cocopeat, and farmyard manure were used to improve the soil.

Transplanting of Seedling
On June 4, 2023, Thirty-day-old seedlings were placed in a meticulously set-up experimental area.Plant spacing was maintained by planting two plants in a single pit for every replication.

Weeding and Mulching
Initially, the plots needed to be kept weed-free for simple aeration and to maintain soil moisture, which meant weeding and mulching.Seven times, weeding was finished in order to keep the region weed-free.The soil was mulched to encourage optimal aeration and inhibit crust development following each treatment.

Irrigation and Drainage
Water cane was used twice a day for watering during the early stages of transplanting.When flood irrigation was required for the crop in its mature stage, it was applied to the field.During periods of heavy irrigation, stagnant water was successfully flushed out.

Harvesting
Fruit harvesting began on August 12, 2023, and it lasted until September 15, 2023.The selection of sponge gourd fruits was based on factors such as age, size, color, and maturity.Picking took place every five days during the harvest season.Using a sharp knife, the fruits were removed, being careful not to damage the plant.

Statistical Analysis
The data was illustrated as mean ± standard deviation from three independent analyses.One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was accomplished at the level of significance P ≤ 0.05, according to the factorial design based on randomized complete block design (RCBD).Statistical analysis was performed on the data collected for the study's various parameters using an Excel data sheet and the Minitab 17 statistical software package (Minitab Inc., State College, PA, USA).

Plant Growth Parameters
Application of varying levels of nitrogen has significant effects on plant height, number, diameter, length, and petiole length.At 15 days, the height of the sponge gourd plant showed no significant effect.At 45 days, T 4 produced the longest plant height of 62.2 cm, which was statistically equivalent to T 3 compared to the control, which had a shorter plant height of 17.33 cm.The tallest plant height measured at 75 days was 123.5 cm from T 4 , while the lowest height measured at that time was 61.33 cm from T 1 .The T 4 treatment of nitrogen dosages produced most of the considerably biggest measurements of leaf number, leaf diameter, leaf length, and petiole length at 15 and 45 days, while the T 1 treatment produced the least results.However, the highest leaf number (63), leaf diameter (13.05 cm), and leaf length (12.73 cm) were observed from the treatment of T 4 at 75 days.On the other hand, at 75 days, 28 leaves with a diameter of 6.7 cm and a length of 7 cm were identified from the T 1 treatment.In the case of leaf petiole, the considerably largest length collected was 6.8 cm at 15 days and 7.4 cm at 45 days from T 4 treatment, and the tiniest length was 4.5 cm and 5.67 cm from control (T 1 ) at 15 days and 45 days respectively.At 75 days, the longest petiole of 7.8 cm was collected from T 4, which was statistically equal to the length of T 3, where the shortest one was 5.7 cm from T 1 .The outcomes revealed that, nitrogen application boosts the growth of sponge gourd (Figure 1).

Yield Parameters
One vital parameter is yield.If there is a possible yield, farmers will accept any outcome.The amount of nitrogen significantly raised the sponge gourd's weight and fruit length, among other yield-related characteristics.The weight and quality of the sponge gourd determine its quality.The lightest fruit (93 g) came from the T 1 nitrogen treatment, while the heaviest fruit (227 g) was harvested from the T 4 treatment.The highest length of fruit was found in treatment T 4 , which was 28.33 cm, followed by treatment T 3 , which was 25.56 cm.The lowest length of fruit was 18.6 cm found in T 1 .Treatment T 2 has shown a medium length of fruit; those were 22.97 cm.(Figure 2).

DISCUSSION
The production of sponge gourd, a crucial fruit and vegetable, is negatively impacted by a lack of nutrients, especially nitrogen.
For better sponge gourd growth, it is necessary to clarify the likely cultivation tactics for soil deficient in nutrients.The current study discovered that adding various amounts of nitrogen to the soil enhanced the sponge gourd's growth and yield-related characteristics.According to an experiment conducted on the native sponge gourd crop, 50 kg/ha of nitrogen produced the maximum fruit weight (Siyag & Arora, 1988).Nitrogen application with biofertilizer significantly increased the average fruit weight (68.93 g) and fruit length (13.45 cm) of bitter gourd, as declared by an investigation of the effect of nitrogen and biofertilizer on the growth and yield parameters of bitter gourd, which belong to the similar family of Cucurbitaceae like sponge gourd (Prasad et al., 2009).Another study on grain amaranth revealed that nitrogen application significantly altered the plant height and leaf number, where maximum plant height was obtained from 60 kg/ha nitrogen, sharing the same claim as this experiment (Olaniyi et al., 2008).An experiment with Swiss chard revealed that applying 140 kg of nitrogen per hectare resulted in broader leaves, supporting the idea that nitrogen application significantly increases leaf diameter (Ali & Ali, 2011).A further study on soybeans found that nitrogen doses significantly increased the petiole's length (Nurrohman et al., 2018), which mirrored the experiment's sponge gourd response.

CONCLUSION
The study concludes that the data on the growth and yield parameters were collected and analyzed statistically.The parameters were all considerably impacted by varying amounts of nitrogen.The plant height (cm), leaf number, leaf diameter (cm), leaf length (cm), petiole length (cm), fruit length (cm), and fruit weight (g) were obtained with T 4 =75 kg/ha nitrogen application, which superior to all other nitrogen treatments by a substantial margin.The results of the experiment indicated that the T 4 treatment was applied at a rate of 75 kg/ha, produced the highest yield of all the treatments.As a result, it can be advised that Fujian F 1 grown using T 4 treatment for higher yield.