Crop regulation and quality improvement of peach
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College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences, CAU-Imphal, Umiam
Abstract
The present investigation entitled Crop regulation and quality improvement of peach was carried out on cv. Flordasun in the Experimental farm of the Division of Horticulture, ICAR, (RC) for NEH region, Barapani, Meghalaya, during the crop season 2009-2010. Four chemical thinners viz. Thiourea @ 2.5 and 5%, GA? @ 75 and 100 ppm, Urea @ 4 and 6% and Ethrel @ 100 and 150 ppm after fruit set, in addition to hand thinning 30%, 50% and 70 % at full bloom (FB) and leaf to fruit ratio 20:1, 30:1,40:1 and 50:1 before pit hardening (BPH) were applied. Generally, all the thinning treatments increased fruit drop and reduced fruit firmness and fruit retention. However, hand thinning 70 %, ethrel @ 150 ppm and thiourea 5% and LFR of 30:1 were most effective. All the chemical and hand thinning treatments except (GA3 75 ppm and Urea 4%) after fruit set (AFS) advanced the time of harvesting in peach cv. Flordasun. Among the hand thinning treatments, 70 % thinning at FB was the most effective where maturity was advanced by 5-6 days, improved fruit size, weight, pulp to stone ratio, TSS, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, total sugars, fruit colour, total anthocyan ins and total phenols, however, this treatment significantly reduced the fruit yield. Chemical thinners too, when applied at higher concentration (Ethrel @ 150 ppm) and thiourea @ 5% AFS reduced the crop load and improved the physico-chemical characteristics of fruits. The least incidence of leaf curl was found in GA? @ 100 ppm and Thiourea @ 5% twenty days after spraying. Similarly, among the LFR treatment, the best quality fruit with respect to fruit size, weight, TSS, ascorbic acid, total sugar and other qualities were obtained with a LFR of 30:1. However, all the treatments significantly reduced total yield except control.