Vol. 11, Issue 6 (2022)

Author(s):
PS Pawar, MV Rukadikar and BR Bhite

Abstract:
This field experiment on studies on use of micronutrients in sweet orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) cv. Mosambi was conducted at ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project on Fruits, Department of Horticulture, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri during the Ambia bahar, 2019. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with eight treatments replicated three times. Treatment details were T₁: RDF + soil application of ZnSO₄ 50 g/plant, T₂: RDF + soil application of FeSO₄ 50 g/plant, T₃: RDF + soil application of MnSO₄ 50 g/plant, T₄: RDF + soil application of micro grade-I 50 g/plant, T₅: RDF + soil application of ZnSO₄ 50 g + FeSO₄ 50 g + MnSO₄ 50 g + micro grade-I 50 g/plant, T₆: RDF + soil application of ZnSO₄ 50 g + FeSO₄ 50 g + MnSO₄ 50 g + micro grade-I 50 g/plant + foliar spray of micro grade-II, T₇: RDF + only foliar spray of micro grade-II, T₈: RDF only (control). The experiment was conducted on 22 years old, healthy and vigorous tree. The micronutrients were applied in February-2019. Observations regarding growth, yield and fruit quality were recorded. The study revealed that, the treatment T₆ i. e. use of RDF + soil application of ZnSO₄ 50 g + FeSO₄ 50 g + MnSO₄ 50 g + micro grade-I 50 g/plant + foliar spray of micro grade-II proved superior and recorded the maximum plant height (3.30 m), canopy volume (18.07 m³), number of fruits/tree (338.40), fruit weight (191.58 g), fruit yield (64.80 kg/tree and 17.95 t/ha), juice (51.18%), TSS (10.25 ^oB), ascorbic acid (55.07 mg/100 ml juice), reducing sugars (4.05%), non-reducing sugars (3.11%) and total sugars (7.02%) with minimum acidity (0.43%), rind (24.20%) and rind thickness (3.38 mm). There was non-significant difference between the treatments for yield efficiency, rag, weight of seeds/fruit and shelf life of fruits.