Effect of Growth Regulator and Anti-oxidant on Fruit Quality of Litchi (Litchi chinensis) cv. Bombai Grown in New Alluvial Zone of West Bengal
Madhumita De
Department of Fruit Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur-741252, West Bengal, India.
Ritwika Sen
Department of Fruit Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur-741252, West Bengal, India.
Susmita Dey
Faculty of Agriculture, JIS University, 81, Nilgunj Road, Agarpara-700109, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Soustav Datta
Department of Fruit Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur-741252, West Bengal, India.
T.P. Rathour *
Department of Fruit Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur-741252, West Bengal, India.
Pallab Datta
Department of Fruit Science, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur-741252, West Bengal, India.
Gayatri Sinha
Social Science Division, ICAR -National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack-753006, Odisha, India.
Mouli Paul
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, Kolkata, India.
Deepa Lal
ACTO (SMS) Horticulture, ICAR Central Institute for Cotton Research, KVK Nagpur-441108, Maharashtra, India.
Ritik Chawla
Department of Fruit Science, College of Horticulture, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni-173 230, Himachal Pradesh, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
An investigation was carried out at the Horticultural Research Station, Mondouri, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal to evaluate the impact of growth regulators as well as anti-oxidant on the fruit quality and yield of 15 years old litchi plants cv. Bombai. The experiment was set up using a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 7 treatments [GA3 (20 ppm), GA3 (40 ppm), Citric Acid (200 ppm), Citric Acid (400 ppm), NAA (25 ppm), NAA (50 ppm), Control (Water spray)] and 3 replications. The spray solutions of several plant growth regulators and antioxidant were applied immediately after flowering. Results showed that treatment with growth regulator NAA and antioxidant Citric acid significantly improved fruits' physical and bio-chemical quality compared to the Control group. Among the different treatments, NAA 50 ppm is considered to be the best treatment considering all the quality parameters, i.e., maximum fruit weight (24.92 g), fruit length (4.82 cm) as well as diameter (3.99 cm), fruit retention at harvest (23.77 panicle-1) and yield (94.82 kg plant-1). This treatment also showed maximum TSS (19.6°Brix), total sugar (14.11%), reducing sugar (11.12%) and TSS: acidity (81.66). Finally, it can be concluded that NAA 50 ppm applied immediately after flowering was found to be the most superior in improving the morphological characters and bio-chemical constituents of fruits that can be selected for further improvement.
Keywords: Growth regulator, anti-oxidant, fruit quality, yield, litchi