Influence of girdling on growth, flowering and fruiting in Litchi cv. Late Bedana

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out at farmer’s field, Sainik Farm, Patharchatta, Pantnagar, District Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. The experiment was conducted to study the effect of girdling on growth, flowering and fruiting attributes in Litchi cv. Late Bedana. Twenty-year-old litchi trees consisted of seven treatments with two level of girdling severity of 25% and 50% primary branches in combination of girdling width of 2 mm, 4 mm and 6 mm, along with ungirdled control which were tested with randomized block design with three replications. The results indicated that all the litchi trees which were subjected to different severity and width of girdling had more flowering intensity (%) fruit set (%) and fruit retention (%) and girdling also reduced fruit drop as compared to control. However, the treatment girdling of 50% of primary branches + 4 mm wide had significant effect on improving fruit set (38.44%) and fruit retention (14.07%). Girdling blocks the downward flow of carbohydrate from leaves to roots thus the carbohydrate may accumulate above the girdled portion which resulted in additional supply of carbohydrates from leaves to fruits, therefore, the fruit yield and fruit quality of litchi may increase.