Effect of Microbial Consortia on Flowering Behaviour, Fruit Set, and Yield Performance of Mango (Mangifera indica L.) cv. Kesar

Abstract

The current research aimed to assess the impact of microbial consortia on flowering behaviour, fruit set, and yield performance of mango cv. Kesar. The experiment was set in a RBD (Randomized Block Design) having ten treatments that were repeated three times each. There were significant treatment differences in all the measured parameters. First flowering was recorded in T10 (85.76 days) the shortest and the control (T1) recorded the longest (96.99 days). T10 also produced the highest number of panicles per branch (1398.67) compared to the minimum in T1 (1127.50). T10 had the maximum panicle length (38.38 cm) and T1 had the lowest (19.90 cm). Microbial consortia had a significant positive effect on fruit set, with the highest values of T10 being observed at the pea stage (14.70) and marble stage (1.56). Fruit retention improved substantially under T10 (44.59%), whereas the lowest was noted in T1 (34.94%). T10 had minimum fruit drop at harvest 54.53% whereas T1 had the highest 65.88%. The same pattern was observed in the yield-attributing characteristics where T10 had the greatest number of fruits per plant (208.00), and highest fruit weight (347.19 g) and fruit yield (72.22 kg/tree). In general, the outcomes show that the microbial community of Azotobacter, PSB, and ZnSB (T10) has a profound positive effect on flowering efficiency, fruit set, retention, and yield of mango cv. Kesar, suggesting that it has a high potential to be used as a sustainable biofertilization method.