Vol. 11, Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
Harpreet Kaur, Navdeep Singh and Dr. Gurpinder Kaur

Abstract:
The investigation entitled “Influence of pre-harvest spray of various chemicals on fruiting behaviour and quality of Kinnow mandarin” was conducted in the well maintained Kinnow orchard of Department of Horticulture, Khalsa College, Amritsar during the year 2018-19. The healthy and uniform eight years old Kinnow trees were selected and treated with 2,4-D (10, 20 and 30 ppm), NAA (15, 20 and 25 ppm) and SA (10, 20 and 30 ppm) while the trees under control were treated with plain water only. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with ten treatments that replicated thrice. The results of the study revealed that marked variations were recorded among the pre harvest treatments on fruit drop, yield and quality in Kinnow mandarin. Among all the treatments, the trees sprayed with 2,4-D @10 ppm registered maximum fruit set (81.97%), fruit retention (68.57%), fruit yield (75.13 kg per tree) with minimum fruit drop (32.2%) and also having least seed count (19). However, above treatment also found to be at par with 2,4-D @ 20 ppm. The fruit physical parameters in terms of fruit size and weight was found to be maximum under spray of 2,4-D @ 20 ppm and was also closely followed by 2,4-D @10 ppm with fruit size of (10.90 cm x 6.86 cm) and weight of 152.93 g. Whereas fruit biochemical parameters were enhanced significantly with the pre harvest application of SA @ 10 ppm with TSS of 12.3 ºBrix, total sugars of 9.49%, reducing sugars of 4.40% and ascorbic acid of 25.07mg/100g. Hence, it has been suggested that 2,4-D @ 10 ppm proved to be beneficial for increasing fruit yield and fruit retention by checking fruit drop, while SA@ 10 ppm for enhancing fruit quality.