Effect of foliar spray of calcium and micro-nutrients on growth parameters, flowering, fruiting and fruit maturity of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) cv. Nabila under net tunnel.

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at Research Farm of Centre of Excellence on Protected Cultivation and Precision Farming under net tunnel, College of Agriculture, IGKV, Raipur (C.G.) to find out the effect of Calcium and micro-nutrients on growth parameters, flowering, fruiting and fruit maturity of strawberry cultivar Nabila under net tunnel condition. The experiment was conducted with ten treatments and three replications in Randomized Completely Block Design. The treatment consisted ten different concentrations of Calcium and micro-nutrients along with recommended dose of fertilizers viz. T0: RDF + control (water spray), T1: RDF + CaCl2 @ 0.4%, T2: RDF + CaCl2 @ 0.6%, T3: RDF + CaCl2 @ 0.8%, T4: RDF + ZnSO4 @ 0.4%, T5: RDF + ZnSO4 @ 0.6%, T6: RDF + ZnSO4 @ 0.8%, T7: RDF + FeSO4 @ 0.4%, T8: RDF + FeSO4 @ 0.6% and T9: RDF + FeSO4 @ 0.8%. As per the growth parameters are concerned the treatment T8 (RDF + FeSO4 @ 0.6%) showed maximum vegetative growth i.e. Plant height, number of leaves, plant spread and number of runners per plant, while the minimum was recorded under the treatment T0 (RDF + water spray). Earliest flowering, fruiting and fruit maturity was exhibited under the treatment T8 (RDF + FeSO4 @ 0.6%), whereas the treatment T0 (RDF + water spray) had too late in flowering, fruiting and maturity of the fruits.