Effect of crop regulation on yield and quality of mango (Mangifera indica L.) under high density planting system
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Date
2019
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Department of Fruit Science, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara
Abstract
Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is the choicest fruit of the world owing to its nutritional qualities, appearance, taste and flavour. Low productivity of mango is a major concern among the mango growers. Adoption of management techniques like high density planting, pruning and use of growth regulators are found to improve the productivity of the orchards. The present study entitled “Effect of crop regulation on yield and quality of mango (Mangifera indica L.) under high density planting system” was conducted in the Mango orchard attached to the Department of Fruit Science, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during 2017-2019. Seven year old trees of two popular mango hybrids, Mallika and Ratna grown under HDP system were selected for the experiment. The experiment consisted of 17 treatments with 2 replications. Data on vegetative, floral, fruit, stone and quality parameters were recorded for both the hybrids during the period of study.
The vegetative growth parameters like tree height, canopy diameter, length of new shoots and number of leaves per shoot exhibited significant variation among the treatments in both the hybrids Mallika and Ratna. Growth parameters were found to be suppressed in the trees which were pruned at 20 cm length and drenched with paclobutrazol (PBZ) @ 7ml/tree. Early emergence of new shoots was recorded for all the treatments in which pruning was carried out during the month of June irrespective of the level of pruning and PBZ application in both the hybrids. Minimum number of days for shoot initiation after pruning was observed in trees which were pruned in August month and applied with PBZ in both Mallika and Ratna. Results revealed that the minimum number of days from pruning to flowering was observed in T16 (pruned at 20 cm length during September and drenched with PBZ @ 7ml/tree) in both the hybrids Mallika (59.50 days) and Ratna (57.50 days). Flower initiation was the earliest in the treatments T10 (pruned at 20 cm length during June and drenched with PBZ @ 7ml/tree) and T16 in Mallika (2nd Nov) and T10 in Ratna (1st Nov). Earliest fruit set was observed for T16 in Mallika (11th Dec.) and for T10 in Ratna (10th Dec.). The minimum number of days from flower initiation to fruit set was recorded for treatments T10 and T16 in
Mallika (39.50 days) and T4 in Ratna (38 days).
Maximum number of inflorescence per unit area was recorded for the treatment T10 in both the hybrids Mallika (15.25) and Ratna (14.60). A reduction in the length of inflorescence was observed in T16 in both the hybrids Mallika (33.07 cm) and Ratna (35.07 cm) whereas the breadth of inflorescence was minimum for the treatment T10 in Mallika (16.18 cm) and
T16 in Ratna (19.08 cm). The percentage of hermaphrodite flowers and sex ratio was observed to be higher for T10 in Mallika and for T16 in Ratna. Maximum number of fruits per tree in both Mallika (31.50) and Ratna (34.50) were recorded for T10. The fruit weight was the highest for T16 in both the hybrids Mallika (624.03 g) and Ratna (468.89 g). The total yield per tree was maximum for T10 Mallika (19.31 kg/tree) and Ratna (16.06 kg/tree).
The physical parameters of fruit like fruit length, breadth, circumference, volume and pulp weight was maximum for T16 in both Mallika and Ratna. Peel weight and peel thickness did not show any significant variation among the treatments in both the hybrids. Pulp/peel ratio was recorded to be the highest for T16 in Mallika (12.32) and for T10 in Ratna (15.96).The duration of fruiting was minimum for T12 in Mallika and for T13 in Ratna. Minimum number of days from flowering to harvest was recorded for T12 in Mallika and for T13 in Ratna. In both Mallika and Ratna, the number of days taken from fruit set to harvest was minimum for T10. The stone characters of the fruits such as stone length, width, thickness and weight showed a significant reduction in both the hybrids subjected to pruning at 20 cm length and drenched with PBZ. Pulp/stone ratio recorded was the highest for T16 in Mallika (13.64) and for T10 in Ratna (11.84).
On evaluating the quality parameters of the fruits in terms of reducing sugars, total sugars, TSS and sugar/acid ratio the treatments T16 and T10 were found to be superior. Organoleptic evaluation of fruits of both Mallika and Ratna revealed that T16 was the best among all the treatments followed by T10. During the period of study the incidence of major pests like thrips, mango hoppers, leaf eating caterpillars and fruit flies and major diseases like anthracnose and powdery mildew were observed in the orchard.
In the present study it was observed that vegetative parameters which favoured early flowering, fruit set and harvesting were observed for the treatments T16 and T10 in both the hybrids. The earliest harvest of fruits was obtained from the trees subjected to treatment T10 in both Mallika and Ratna. Any method which aid in advancing the harvesting of fruits without affecting the quality will help to catch the early market which in turn will lead to fetch a premium price for the early mangoes making the cultivation of mango under HDP system all the more remunerative. Number of fruits per tree and yield per tree was also higher for T10 in both the hybrids. But with regard to fruit weight and fruit quality parameters treatments T16 was found to be superior in both Mallika and Ratna and was comparable with T10.
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