Influence of Foliar Spray of Naa & Zinc on Growth, Flowering, Fruiting, Yield and Quality of Guava (Psidium Guajava L.) Under Western U.p. Conditions

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at Old campus, Horticulture Research Centre, Department of Fruit Science, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology Meerut (U.P), India during two consecutive years i.e., 2021-22 and 2022-23 to assess the “Influence of foliar Spray of NAA & Zinc on growth, flowering, fruiting, yield and quality of Guava (Psidium guajava L.) cv. L-49 under western U.P. conditions” The foliar spray micronutrients along with plant growth regulators play an important role in manipulating many physiological phenomena, improving the yield and quality and enhanced the productivity of plants by fulfilling the nutritional needs of fruit crops. Twelve treatments viz., three level of NAA (0, 50, and 75 ppm) and four level of Zinc (0, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 %) with their combinations were used, which were replicated in FRBD. From the experiments, it is reported that spray of NAA @75 ppm (N2) individually, significantly maximized length of the shoot (15.88 and 16.21 cm), diameter of the shoot (0.45 cm during both the years), Number of leaves per shoot (13.91 and 14.05), number of flower per shoot (18.14 and 18.60), fruit retention percent (60.61 and 61.61 %), fruit drop percent (35.87 and 35.39 %), fruit set percent (74.89 and 75.66 %), length of fruit centimeter (6.95 and 7.03 cm),fruit diameter centimeter (7.82 and 8.05 cm),fruit weight gram (182.96 and 185.13 g),volume of fruit (176.94 and 179.10 cc),specific gravity gm/cc.(1.00 and 1.01gm/cc.),TSS (13.48 and 13.32 oBrix), TSS/Acid ratio (28.06 and 28.40), Vitamin C mg/100 gm (174.80 and 176.57 mg/100 gm),Pectin percent (0.79 and 0.80 %),Total sugar percent (6.39 and 6.47 %), reducing sugar percent (4.37 and 4.40 %), non-reducing sugar percent (2.02 and 2.06 %), acidity percent (0.53 and 0.54 %), yield kg/ plant (53.75 and 53.06 kg/plant), yield q/ha (147.35 and 149.26 q/ha). application of Zinc at 0.8 % (Zn3) concentration, significantly length of the shoot (15.91 and 16.24 cm), diameter of the shoot (0.45 cm during both the years), Number of leaves per shoot (13.63 and 13.77), number of flower per shoot (18.00 and 18.23), fruit retention percent (61.68 and 62.57 %), fruit drop percent (36.50 and 36.01 %), fruit set percent (75.28 and 76.06 %), length of fruit centimeter (6.99 and 7.06 cm),fruit diameter centimeter (7.82 and 8.05 cm),fruit weight gram (186.09 and 188.30 g),volume of fruit (179.97 and 182.16 cc),specific gravity gm/cc.(1.01 and 1.02gm/cc.), TSS (12.15 and 12.00 oBrix), TSS/Acid ratio (30.91 and 31.29),Vitamin C mg/100 gm (177.79 and 179.59 mg/100 gm),Pectin percent (0.80 and 0.82 %),Total sugar percent (6.51 and 6.58 %), reducing sugar percent (4.45 and 4.48 %), non-reducing sugar percent (2.06 and 2.10 %), acidity percent (0.52 and 0.53 %), yield kg/ plant (53.86 and 53.17 kg/plant), yield q/ha (147.65 and 149.56 q/ha).during both year of investigation. Interactive effect of NAA and Zinc (N2Zn3) Significantly treatments Number of leaves per shoot (15.11 and 15.26), fruit retention percent (67.11 and 68.04 %), fruit drop percent (35.04 and 34.57 %), fruit drop percent (35.04 and 34.57 %), fruit weight gram (201.98 and 204.38 g),volume of fruit (195.34 and 197.72 cc), TSS (14.27 and 14.10 oBrix), TSS/Acid ratio (35.01 and 35.44), Vitamin C mg/100 gm (192.97 and 194.93 mg/100 gm), Total sugar percent (7.09 and 7.17 %), reducing sugar percent (4.86 and 4.89 %), non-reducing sugar percent (2.23 and 2.28 %), acidity percent (0.51 and 0.52 %), yield kg/ plant (59.56 and 58.81 kg/plant) effect of NAA and Zinc (N2Zn3) non- Significantly treatments length of the shoot (17.51 and 17.87 cm), diameter of the shoot (0.45 cm during both the years), number of flower per shoot (20.14 and 20.65),fruit set percent (81.88 and 82.72 %),length of fruit centimeter(7.60 and 7.68 cm),fruit diameter centimeter (8.41 and 8.66 cm),specific gravity gm/cc.(1.04 and 1.05 gm/cc.),Pectin percent (0.87 and 0.89 %),yield q/ha (163.30 and 165.41 q/ha). The combination (NAA 75 ppm and Zinc 0.8 %) could be ideal and recommended for the production of guava in the Indo- Gangetic plains in western India