A field trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of PGR (2, 4-D, NAA and GA3) at different concentrations on fruit drop and enhancement in fruit quality of Kinnow. Three sprays of PGR viz. 2, 4-D, NAA and GA3 were given to the Kinnow plants as per the treatment concentrations from initiation of flowering to before harvesting. The results revealed that among all the PGR’s tried at different concentrations, spray of 2, 4-D @ 30 ppm was the most promising in reducing the fruit drop in Kinnow as fruit physical and chemical characters were found to be superior as compared to all other treatments. There was an enhancement in the fruit size with the application of 2, 4-D @ 30 ppm, which led to an overall increase in the yield of Kinnow.
Citrus is grown throughout the world in tropical and sub-tropical climate and is the second most important fruit crop after grape in area and production in the world. Among all citrus fruit species, Kinnow (Citrus nobilis x Citrus deliciosa) is most important citrus fruit crop grown in India over an area of about 3.30 lakh hectares with a production of 34.31 lakh tonnes annually and occupy 4.6% and 3.9% of total area and production under fruit crop. In India, the area under Kinnow cultivation in Punjab is 47 thousand hectares with production of 10.81 lakh tonnes and the productivity of 21.6 tonnes per hectares [Anonymous (2015)]. In Punjab, Kinnow is mostly grown in areas of Abohar, Fazilka, Ferozpur, Muktsar and Bathinda.
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Source:
Rajesh Sihag, Manish Bakshi and Narendra Singh Bhandari
Domain of Horticulture, Lovely Professional University, India