Effect of foliar spray of plant growth regulators and micronutrients on yield and physical parameters of mango cv. Mallika

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at Horticultural Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, B.A. College of Agriculture, Anand Agricultural University, Anand during spring- summer season for two years on a mango to study the effect of growth regulators (NAA and GA3) and micronutrients (ZnSO4 and borax) on yield and physical parameters of fruits. The selected trees were uniform in size and of 15 years old. The experiment comprised of 15 treatments with different PGR’s and micronutrients i.e., NAA (T1 = 20 mg/l, T2 = 40 mg/l), GA3 (T4 = 25 mg/l, T5 = 50 mg/l) and zinc sulphate (T5 = 0.5%) and borax (T6 = 0.2% ) and combined treatments i.e. NAA 20 mg/l + ZnSO4 0.5% (T7 ), NAA 20 mg/l + Borax 0.2% (T8 ), NAA 40 mg/l + ZnSO4 0. 5% (T9 ), NAA 40 mg/l + Borax 0.2% (T10), GA3 25 mg/l + ZnSO4 0.5% (T11), GA3 25 mg/l + Borax 0.2% (T12 ), GA3 50 mg/l + ZnSO4 0.5% (T13), GA3 50 mg/l + Borax 0.2% (T14)along with water spray/control (T15)were applied as foliar spray at full bloom, pea and marble stage of fruit growth. Combined effect of NAA 20 mg/l + Borax 0.2% significantly increased the number of fruits per plant (213.33) and fruit yield (79.97 kg/tree) whereas NAA 20 mg/l + ZnSO4 0.5% recorded highest fruit length (12.92 cm), fruit diameter (7.05 cm), fruit volume (342.83 cc), fruit weight (352.16 g), pulp weight (268.80 g), pulp: peel (5.96) and pulp stone ratio (7.31).