Impact of plant nutrients and organic substances on growth, yield, and quality attributes of Anna apple cultivar under semi-arid conditions

Abstract

The unique challenges posed by semi-arid climates, including soil nutrient limitations and organic matter decline, underscore the importance of effective nutrient and organic substance management to ensure optimal yields, quality, and environmental sustainability. A field experiment was conducted at Horticulture Farm of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during two succeeding years, 2020–21 and 2021–22, to identify optimal nutrient management strategies of different plant nutrients and organic substances on growth, flowering, quality, and yield attributes of the “Anna” apple cultivar. The experiment consisted of nineteen treatments in an RBD system. The plant growth parameters [leaf area (33.64 cm2) and trunk girth (13.16 cm)] when applied 2.0% Urea (N) + 15% Cow urine-T12. Whereas, the number of flower buds (232.83/m2) and flowering duration (39.00 days) were found better with T6. Similarly, [fruit volume (158.95 cm3), number of fruit (63.33/tree) and fruit drop (70.54%)] and [TSS: acid ratio (22.60), reducing sugars (7.17%), non-reducing sugars (2.83%), total protein (0.97 g 100 g−1), starch index (3.59)] were superior with the application of treatment T6. Higher content of boron (80.09 ppm) was estimated in treatment T6, zinc (24.69 ppm) in T9, iron (134.67 ppm) in T1, and manganese (59.94 ppm) in T12 during the experimentation. Therefore, it was concluded that treatment T12 was most effective for enhancing plant growth while treatment T6 was found superior for flowering, high yield, and quality of apple cv. Anna fruit under semi-arid conditions.