Abstract
A field trial was conducted at experimental farm of the Division of Horticulture, ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Umiam, Meghalaya, India during 2009 to 2010 to evaluate the effect of chemical fruit thinning and their effect on yield and quality of peach cv. Flordasun. Four chemical thinners viz. Thiourea at 2.5 and 5%, GA3 at 75 and 100 ppm, Urea at 4 and 6% and Ethrel at 100 and 150 ppm after fruit set were applied. All the thinning treatments increased fruit drop and fruit colour but reduced the fruit firmness. All the chemical treatments except (GA3 75 ppm and Urea 4%) after fruit set advanced the time of harvesting. Ethrel at 150 ppm and thiourea at 5% reduced the crop load and improved the physico-chemical characteristics of fruits and fetch premium price in the market due to their attractive colour appearance than control. Key words: Peach cv. Flordasun, chemical thinning, fruit quality.
Highlights
The increase in percentage of fruit drop could be attributed due to the reduction of the translocation of 14C sucrose from the leaves to the developing fruits after application of these chemicals and due to the reduction in auxin transport before fruit drop which led to increased ethylene production thereby reducing auxin biosynthesis directly or indirectly by changing the mobilizing ability of the fruits resulting in the abscission of such fruits
From the present investigation it was found that all the treatments reduced the number of days from fruit setting to fruit maturity in comparison to control sprayed after fruit set except urea at 4%
Fruit maturity delayed by 3 days with the application of urea (4%) after fruit set (AFS) and it could be attributed due to severe phytotoxicity resulting in a large reduction in leaf area and subsequent new growth, which in turn slowed down the rate of fruit development (Durner et al, 1990)
Summary
Batsch L.) belonging to the family Rosaceae and sub- family Prunoideae is the third most widely distributed temperate fruit in the world It is basically a temperate zone plant and its commercial production area is confined between the latitude of 30 and 40° N and S. Continuous efforts have established suitability of number of chemicals which could be applied to thin out the fruits economically and without deleterious effect in the tree or fruit quality. Considering the above facts in view, the present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the effect of chemical fruit thinning on fruit yield and quality of Flordasun peach grown under mid hill sub tropics of Meghalaya
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