Effect of pre harvest application of salicylic acid on plant growth parameters and yield of strawberry cv. Chandler

Abstract

The present investigation entitled the effect of pre harvest application of salicylic acid on plant growth parameters and yield of strawberry cv. Chandler was conducted in the Department of Horticulture, Khalsa College Amritsar during 2017-2018. The runners of strawberry cv. Chandler were planted in mid October with a spacing of 45 × 30 cm on raised beds. The investigation was laid out in Randomized Block Design with four treatments which replicated thrice. The pre harvest applications of salicylic acid (2 mm, 4 mm and 6 mm) was done at flowering stage, fruit setting, 30, 20 and 10 days before fruit harvest. The result of the study revealed that salicylic acid (SA) significantly improved the plant growth parameters and fruit yield. Maximum plant height (10.15 cm), total leaf area (215.96 cm2), fruit set (82.15 %), number of runners (3.0) and fruit yield (282.06 g/plant) was noticed in plants sprayed with SA 4 mm which was closely followed by SA 2 mm and minimum plant height (7.13 cm), total leaf area (86.51 cm2), fruit set (71.02 %), number of runners (1.0) and fruit yield (170.50 g/plant) was found under control.