Effect of pre-harvest spray of PGRs, calcium and cow urine on yield and quality of aonla fruit (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.)

Abstract

Aonla or Indian gooseberry is an indigenous fruit to Indian subcontinents, which is regarded as amritphal. It is cultivated in India in 95000 ha area out of which more than 70% area is covered by cultivar NA-7. In north India, 30-80 percent of fruits are affected by brown spots. Such type of affected fruits has poor marketability and is not very suitable for processing purposes. Therefore, an investigation was carried out on the effect of the pre-harvest spray of PGRs, calcium, and cow urine. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design (RBD) with three replications and nine treatments i.e., T1- control, T2- Salicylic Acid @ 2 mmol + Mulch, T3- Calcium Nitrate (CN) @1? + Mulch, T4- Benzyl Adenine (BA) @75 ppm+ Mulch, T5- Salicylic acid @2 mmol + BA (Benzyl Adenine) @75ppm + Mulch, T6- Salicylic acid @2 mmol + Calcium nitrate @1? + Mulch, T7- Calcium nitrate @1? + BA (Benzyl Adenine) @75ppm + Mulch, T8- Cow Urine @35? + Mulch, T9- Mulch on aonla fruit at the Main Horticulture Experiment Station, A.N.D.U.A and T, Kumarganj, Ayodhya during the year 2021-22. These treatments were sprayed twice on the aonla tree, in order to standardize the best pre-harvest treatment for improving the yield and quality of aonla fruits. Maximum fruits length (3.64cm), width (3.58cm), fruit weight (33.32g), fruit volume (30.23cm3), stone weight (2.18g), stone pulp ratios (14.62), fruit firmness (12.75 kg/cm3), yield (34.96 kg/tree), T.S.S. (10.33Brix0), total sugars (7.89%), reducing sugar (4.19%) and non-reducing sugars (3.70%), ascorbic acid (477mg/100g) and minimum blemished fruit (13%), and acidity (1.85%) were found with the treatment T8- Cow urine + mulch followed by T5- Salicylic acid + benzyl adenine + mulch.