Influence of micronutrients on growth dynamics, fruit yield and quality of Arka Neelamani grape

Abstract

An investigation was carried out at Bankura, West Bengal on 4-year-old vines of Arka Neelamani plantedat 3 m × 2 m on Y-trellis with the objective to study the effect of micronutrients on growth dynamics, yieldand fruit quality. There were 11 treatments viz., ZnSO4 at 0.1 & 0.2%; borax at 0.2 & 0.3%; FeSO4 at 0.1 & 0.15%; CuSO4 at 0.1 & 0.15%; MnSO4 at 0.1 & 0.15% and control (water spray). The experiment was conductedfollowing randomized block design having three replications with three vines in each replication. Results ofthree consecutive years of investigation revealed that micronutrients had significant role in respect of growthdynamics, fruit yield, quality improvement and maintaining the vine vigour. Among the micronutrients, boraxand zinc at 0.2% concentration of each played dominant role on various aspect of growth morphogenesis, yieldand fruit quality. The treatments not only gave higher fruit production in respect of yield (7.2–8.5 kg), bunchweight (233–289 g) and 10-berry weight (29.1–29.2 g) but also improved the fruit quality in respect of higher TSS/acid ratio (35.4–38.7). The treatments helped for better growth morphogenesis, which resulted in more fruitingspurs (84.1–91.4%) for the current year crop and renewal spurs (85.7–86.2%) for the next year crop. Besides, the treatments maintained the better plant vigour by producing less number of dead shoots.