Abstract
The present investigation was carried out during 2011- 2012 in an apple orchard situated 1935 m amsl in Shimla, district in Himachal Pradesh in order to assess the effect of foliar nutrition of calcium on growth, yield, fruit quality and shelf-life of apple. Two commercial grade calcium formulation, viz. CaCl2 at 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6% and Ca(NO3)2 at 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 % were sprayed once (75 days after full bloom), thrice (45, 60 and 75 days after full bloom) and five times (15, 30, 45, 60 and 75 days after full bloom). The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with 19 treatments (replicated thrice). Two years pooled data revealed that five sprays of 0.6% Ca(NO3)2 significantly increased annual shoot growth and leaf area, but reduced the total yield, fruit size and weight. However, results of storage studies revealed that five sprays of 0.5 and 0.6% CaCl2 significantly reduced the physiological fruit weight loss, retain higher fruit firmness, TSS and sugar contents and improve the shelf-life of fruits in ambient storage conditions.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.