Improve the fruit setting and quality of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cv. Bhagwa by spraying the plant growth regulators under Allahabad agro climatic conditions

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Central Research Field, Dept. of Horticulture, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences, Naini, Allahabad, during 2017-18. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with ten treatments and each replicated thrice, to study the response of various plant growth regulators at different concentrations namely, ethrel (50, 75, 100 ppm), GA3 (25, 40, 60 ppm) and 2,4-D (5, 7.5, 10 ppm) on fruit set and fruit quality of pomegranate cv. Bhagwa. The results indicated that T6 (GA3 60 ppm) was found beneficial in increasing plant height (236.66 cm), plant spread (198.00 cm), number of branches (9.67) and minimum total acidity (0.37 %). T3 (ethrel 100 ppm) best perform in term of number of flower per plant (115.33), minimum days taken to first ripe fruit (169.33), number of fruit per plant (29.33), yield per plant (5.51 kg), fruit yield per hectare (2204.00 kg), fruit weight (188.16 g), specific gravity (1.005), pH (4.50), and ascorbic acid (10.25 mg/ 100 g) then T9 (2, 4 –D 10 ppm) best in term of total soluble solid (14.80 0Brix).