Influence of fertigation and growth regulators on yield and quality of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cv. Sinduri

Abstract

An investigation was carried out by the Department of Fruit Science, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Jhalawar. The experiment was conducted in the pomegranate orchard established under high density planting system at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Jhalawar in the near vicinity of the college during July 2018 to December 2018 and again during July 2019 to December 2019. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design and each treatment was replicated thrice. The experiment comprised of 27 treatment combinations consisting of plant growth regulators levels (NAA 0, 50 and 100 ppm and ethrel 0, 150 and 250 ppm) and fertigation levels (0, 75 and 100% recommended dose of fertilizers). Among the various levels of plant growth regulators and fertigation treatment, maximum mean yield per plant (6.80 kg), yield per hectare (75.52 quintal), TSS (14.00°Brix), ascorbic acid (12.97 mg/100g), reducing sugar (9.50%), non-reducing sugar (1.79%), total sugar (11.28%), sugar: acid ratio (11.26) and juice (36.09%) along with minimum acidity (1.03%) was recorded in F2 (Fertigation 100 per cent recommended dose of fertilizers) while maximum mean anthocyanin (14.75 mg/g) was recorded under 250 ppm ethrel (E2). However, it is inferred that the interaction effect of NAA, ethrel and fertigation were found to be quite superior to their individual effect. In interaction effect maximum mean TSS (15.02°Brix), ascorbic acid (14.19 mg/100g), reducing sugar (10.09%), non-reducing sugar (2.43%), total sugar (12.52%), sugar: acid ratio (14.64), anthocyanin (15.82 mg/g) and juice (38.83%) along with minimum acidity (0.84%) was recorded under treatment combination of 100 ppm NAA + 250 ppm ethrel + 100 per cent recommended dose of fertilizers through fertigation (N2E2F2) which was highest among the all treatments including control.