Impact of Fruit Bagging with Different Coloured Non-woven Polypropylene Bags on Yield Attributes in Grapes

Abstract

Background: Grape is one of the important cash crops cultivated in India. The grape bunches during growth stages are adversely affected by various biotic and abiotic factors which in turn affects the yield and quality. In addition, high usage of agrochemicals in grape cultivation increased concern over pesticide residues among consumers. Therefore, an alternative technique of fruit bagging to enhance the yield and quality as well as to minimize pest and disease infestation is emphasized. Bagging of grape bunches also aids in preventing the agrochemicals entry into the fruits. Methods: A field experiment was conducted to study the impact of fruit bagging on yield attributes in grape cv. Muscat Hamburg at Coimbatore during winter (August - December, 2018) and summer seasons (January - May, 2019). The grape clusters were covered with non-woven UV stabilized polypropylene bags of different colours viz., blue, white, yellow, red and green immediately after fruit set and were removed before harvest. The unbagged clusters were treated as control. Result: In the present study, the grape clusters covered with white colour non-woven UV stabilized polypropylene bags was found to be superior for yield attributes viz., bunch weight (255.03 g and 294.80 g), berry diameter (15.39 mm and 15.97 mm), berry weight (4.30 g and 4.85 g), pulp weight (3.88 g and 4.44 g), peel weight (0.28 g and 0.31 g) and yield per vine (7.7 kg and 8.8 kg) in both summer and winter season crops respectively. Hence, the present study emphasizes that fruit bagging improves the yield attributes in grapes.