Research Article Open Access

Effect of Growth Regulators and Chemicals on Fruit Yield and Quality of Hasta Bahar Flowering in Acid Lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) cv. Balaj

Abstract

Acid lime ( Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) flowers and fruits almost all round the year. There are three important flushes, Ambia bahar (Jan - Feb), Mrig bahar (June - July ) and Hasta bahar (Sep - Oct). Among all these hasta bahar crop which comes to harvest during summer gets highest remunerative price. It is very difficult to impose bahar treatment during September - October months in Andhra Pradesh because of the north east monsoon rains. Hence, a field trial was conducted to assess the effectiveness of different combinations plant growth regulators (GA 3 & Cycocel / Lihocin ) and chemicals (KNO 3 & Salicyclic acid) in inducing hasta bahar flowering on ten year old Acid lime Balaji plants during 2011 - 13 at AICRP on Tropical Fruits (Citrus), Dr.YSRHU, Citrus Research Station, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with 11 different treatment combinations i.e., GA 3 (50 and 100ppm), Cycocel (1000 ppm), KNO 3 (1% and 2%) Salicyclic acid (100 and 200 ppm) along with control. The treatments were imposed four months before flowering (June) followed by September - October foliar sprays. Results have indicated that the foliar spray of GA 3 ( 50 ppm in June followed by Cycocel 1000 ppm in September and KNO 3 1% in October was found superior with respect to number of fruits per tree (529.34), fruit weight (41.12 g), yield (24.08 kg/ tree) and quality (juice content 34.34ml and TSS 6.92 0 Brix) during summer (2011 - 12 and 2012 - 13). However, the treatment with application of GA 3 100 ppm in June and Cycocel 1000 ppm in September recorded highest benefit cost ratio of 2.42 followed by foliar spray of GA 3 50 ppm in June and Cycocel 1000 ppm in Sept ember (2.19).

Mukunda Lakshmi L  , K T Venkata Ramana, V N P Sivarama Krishna, K M Yuvaraj, T Naga Lakshmi , G Sarada , T Gouri Sankar, V Gopi , and K Gopal

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