Vol. 11, Issue 7 (2022)

Author(s):
Navya Vishweshwar Bhat, Satpal Baloda, Jeet Ram Sharma, SK Sehrawat, Mukesh Kumar, Susheel Sharma and Arvind Malik

Abstract:
The investigation entitled “Effect of pre-harvest application of ethephon and potassium sulphate on quality of winter season guava” was carried out at Research Orchard of Department of Horticulture, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during the year 2017-18. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design with three replications, three cultivars and nine treatments. Four year old plants of guava cultivars e, Hisar Safeda, Hisar Surkha and Lucknow-49 were sprayed with ethephon (200, 400, 600 and 800 ppm) and potassium sulphate (1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5%) in the last week of November. Observation revealed that pre-harvest application of different chemicals on different cultivars of guava significantly influenced the quality parameters except seed numbers, weight of 100 seeds, seed weight per fruit and non-reducing sugar. Number of days for ripening and fruit firmness was recorded minimum under the spray of ethephon @ 800 ppm. Hisar Surkha recorded minimum number of days for ripening and fruit firmness among all the three cultivars. Fruit colour was improved with the treatment of chemicals over the control. Maximum organoleptic rating, pulp weight per fruit, TSS, acidity, TSS: Acid ratio, ascorbic acid, total sugars, reducing sugars and pectin content was recorded under the treatment of potassium sulphate @ 2.5 per cent however among the cultivars, Lucknow-49 was found superior.