Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

EFFECT OF FOLIAR APPLICATION OF GA3, PUTRESCINE AND BORIC ACID ON YIELD AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LITCHI CULTIVARS

Manoj Brijwal, D.C. Dimri and D.S. Mishra

Abstract

The effect of foliar application of GA3, putrescine and boric acid on yield and physical characteristics in four commercial litchi cultivars namely ‘Rose Scented’, ‘Calcuttia’, ‘Early Seedless’ and ‘Late Seedless’ was investigated during the two successive years 2014 and 2015. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with factorial arrangement. The GA3 (5 ppm and 10 ppm), putrescine (2.5 ppm, 5 ppm and 10 ppm) and boric acid (1000 ppm and 2000 ppm) solutions were applied as foliar sprays during full bloom and data were recorded for initial fruit set, final fruit retention, fruit cracking, fruit yield, fruit length, fruit width, fruit weight and aril weight. The two years pooled data indicated the foliar application of boric acid (2000 ppm), boric acid (1000 ppm) and putrescine (10 ppm) significantly increased the fruit set and yield of quality fruits in different litchi cultivars. The foliar application of boric acid (2000 ppm) resulted in the highest initial fruit set (50.70%), final fruit retention (32.15%), fruit yield (37.65 kg/tree), fruit weight (22.65 g), aril weight (16.54 g) and lowest incidence of fruit cracking (13.70%) in different litchi cultivars. Fruit length (3.31 cm) and width (2.77 cm) were found maximum in boric acid (1000 ppm) treatment. The putrescine (10 ppm) was also found effective in increasing the initial fruit set (50.16%), final fruit retention (30.72%) and fruit yield (36.91 kg/tree) of litchi cultivars. Most of the yield and physical parameters were found superior in cultivars Rose Scented and Late Seedless as compared to the other litchi cultivars.