Abstract
The present study was conducted due to the problem of cauliflower seed production in Bangladesh especially Mymensingh region where seed production is possible only in short cool winter period and afterward rapid increase in temperature as well as early shower adversely affect both quality and quantity of seeds. Experiments were carried out in order to develop a suitable production technology to get high yield and quality seed. Experiments were conducted at the Horticulture Farm of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from 2002 to 2004 under different growing conditions and management practices so as to recommend a package of improved technology to the farmers for increased and quality seed production at their level. A series of experiments were conducted mainly on growing conditions, enhanced pollination and curd scooping, moisture maintenance methods, use of micronutrients and different plant growth regulators.The results revealed that number of leaves per plant, leaf area, days required to curd initiation, days required to curd maturity, diameter and depth of curd, number of primary and secondary inflorescence per plant, days to 50% flowering, number of pods per plant, days to seed maturity, length of pod, number of seeds per pod, weight of 1000 seed, seed yield and germination percentage of seeds were significantly influenced by different treatments. Results showed that different growing conditions and management practices had highly significant effect on cauliflower seed production. Transparent polytunnel (580.6 kg/ha), pre-planting low temperature treatment of seed at 5°C (519.7 kg/ha) and their combined effect produced 653.4 kg/ha seed yield. An accelerated seed crop development was achieved by irrigation and mulching. Maximum seed yield (492.06 kg/ha) was obtained from the crop when it was irrigated five times and mulched with black polythene.In case of pollination and curd scooping, significantly higher yield (456.2 kg/ha) was produced when it was grown using bees for pollination inside net, curd scooping (462.8 kg/ha) and their combined effect produced 607.43 kg/ha seed yield. On the other hand, cauliflower seed production seriously affected with boron and molybdenum and the highest seed yield (577.24 kg/ha) was obtained from the nutrient combination of boron 3.0 kg per hectare and molybdenum 1.5 kg per hectare. Besides, cauliflower seed yield was highly influenced by plant growth regulators. Ethrel 300 ppm gave the highest values of growth parameters, yield contributing characters and yield (509.43 kg/ha) of cauliflower seed.