Effect of Growth Regulator and Anti-oxidant on Fruit Quality of Litchi (Litchi chinensis) cv. Bombai Grown in New Alluvial Zone of West Bengal

Abstract

An investigation was carried out at the Horticultural Research Station, Mondouri, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal to evaluate the impact of growth regulators as well as anti-oxidant on the fruit quality and yield of 15 years old litchi plants cv. Bombai. The experiment was set up using a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 7 treatments [GA3 (20 ppm), GA3 (40 ppm), Citric Acid (200 ppm), Citric Acid (400 ppm), NAA (25 ppm), NAA (50 ppm), Control (Water spray)] and 3 replications. The spray solutions of several plant growth regulators and antioxidant were applied immediately after flowering. Results showed that treatment with growth regulator NAA and antioxidant Citric acid significantly improved fruits' physical and bio-chemical quality compared to the Control group. Among the different treatments, NAA 50 ppm is considered to be the best treatment considering all the quality parameters, i.e., maximum fruit weight (24.92 g), fruit length (4.82 cm) as well as diameter (3.99 cm), fruit retention at harvest (23.77 panicle-1) and yield (94.82 kg plant-1). This treatment also showed maximum TSS (19.6°Brix), total sugar (14.11%), reducing sugar (11.12%) and TSS: acidity (81.66). Finally, it can be concluded that NAA 50 ppm applied immediately after flowering was found to be the most superior in improving the morphological characters and bio-chemical constituents of fruits that can be selected for further improvement.