Impact of pre-harvest fruit bagging on fruit yield and biochemical properties of pomegranate cv. Phule Bhagwa super

Abstract

Field experiment was carried out to study the effect of pre-harvest fruit bagging on fruit weight, fruit yield and biochemical properties of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cv. Phule Bhagwa Super during 2019-2020 in Randomized Block Design with six treatments replicated four times. The bagging treatments were Butter paper bag (T1), Brown paper bag (T2), Parchment bag (T3), English newspaper bag (60 gsm) (T4), Marathi newspaper bag (35 gsm) (T5) and Control (without bagging) (T6). Pomegranate fruits were covered with bags 30 days after fruit set. Bagging treatments influenced the yield and biochemical parameter of the pomegranate fruit. The highest fruit weight and fruit yield per plant was recorded by the bagging treatment Parchment bag (T3) which was 316.44 g and 25.68 kg plant-1, respectively. In general decreasing trend for values of biochemical characters was observed. Maximum TSS, total sugars, non-reducing sugars and reducing sugars whereas lowest acidity was recorded in control (T6) i.e. unbagged fruits. Among the bagging treatment, the bagging treatment Parchment bag (T3) recorded maximum values for TSS, total sugars, non-reducing sugars and reducing sugars and lowest for acidity.