Effect of Foliar Application of Various Micronutrients on Fruit Yield and Quality Attributes of Guava
Aniket Sharma *
Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, India.
Samir Ebson Topno
Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, India.
V. M. Prasad
Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, India.
Sneha Raj
Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The present investigation “Effect of foliar application of various micronutrients on fruit yield and quality attributes of Guava (Psidium guajava) cv. Allahabad safeda” was undertaken at Central Research Field, Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences, Prayagraj (UP) during 2022-2023. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 10 treatment combinations viz, T0 (Control), T1 (FeSO4) 0.4%, T2 (ZnSO4) 0.5%, T3 (H3BO3) 0.4%, T4 (KNO3) 3%, T5 (FeSO4) 0.4% + (ZnSO4) 0.5%, T6 (ZnSO4) 0.5% + (KNO3) 3%, T7 (KNO3) 3% + (FeSO4) 0.4%, T8 (H3BO3) 0.4% + (KNO3) 3%, T9 (FeSO4) 0.2% + (ZnSO4) 0.25% + H3BO3 (0.2%) +(KNO3) 1.5% with three replications. The main objective of the experiment was to find out the effect of various levels of micronutrients on yield and quality of guava and to estimate the economics of various treatments. From the present investigation treatment T9 (FeSO4) 0.2% + (ZnSO4) 0.25% + (H3BO3) 0.2% +(KNO3) 1.5%, performed best in terms of yield parameters, (fruit weight (130.45g), fruit length (7.93cm), fruit diameter (7.28cm), fruit yield per tree (42.10 kg) and quality parameters T.S.S (10.230Brix), Acidity (0.38%), Ascorbic acid (150.03mg/100g), Total sugars (7.86%) of Guava. However, highest B: C ratio was found in Treatment T5 (FeSO4 (0.4%) +ZnSO4 (0.5%) with 4.61.
Keywords: Micronutrients, guava, fruit yield, quality attributes, foliar application