INDUCTION OF VEGETATIVE GROWTH AFTER HARVESTING OF FRUITS IN MANGO CV. SAMMAR BAHISHT CHAUNSA BY USING DIFFERENT CHEMICALS

Abstract

Mango, the king of fruits, is one of the most important fruit crops of Pakistan. In the country, Sammar Bahisht Chaunsa is a major cultivar grown for domestic consumption as well as exporting to international markets; however, the cultivar has a strong disorder of biennial bearing. The main cause of the disorder is lack of immediate, sufficient and vigorous postharvest vegetative growth, which is essential for next year flowering/fruiting. The current study was designed to overcome this fruiting pattern by inducing postharvest vegetative growth immediately after fruit harvesting as this growth is must required for flowering. The trial was conducted in the experimental orchard of Mango Research Station, Shujabad on 25 years old trees of cultivar Sammar Bahisht Chaunsa, planted at 12m apart rows and plants. The experiment was performed during 2015-2020. One level of urea (2%) and two levels of KNO3 (1 % and 2%) alone and in various combinations were applied to mango trees immediately after the fruit harvesting to study their effects on the induction of vegetative growth. It was found that KNO3 at 1% ensured the maximum postharvest growth (67.11%) with maximum flowering (39.49%), and fruit yield (241 kg/plant). However nonsignificant difference (25 to 26 OBRIX) in total soluble solids (TSS) and titratable acidity (TA) was noted(0.7 to 0.9%) in all the treatments. It was concluded that application of KNO3 twice at 10 days interval alone or in combination with urea 2% after the harvesting of fruits was found beneficial for getting proper postharvest growth in mango trees to support subsequent fruit crop.