INFLUENCE OF ORGANIC MANURE AND PGPRS ON THE QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF POMEGRANATE CV. BHAGWA

The study was conducted on the pomegranate cv.'Bhagwa' to investigate efficacy of organic manures and PGPRs on quality attributes in a farmer's field, Challakere (Chitradurga district) during the year 2023-2024 on "Influence of organic manures and PGPRs on yield and quality attributes of pomegranate cv.Bhagwa is under the central dry zone of Karnataka.Pomegranate is an important fruit crop grown in the dry regions of India.Recently, the use of chemical fertilizers has increased significantly.However, the excessive use of these fertilizers and chemicals leads to degradation of soil health and nutritional status.The quest to enhance the yield and quality of pomegranate while maintaining soil health has prompted the exploration of innovative agricultural practices.Integration of organic manure and Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPRs) is one such approach.The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design, comprising nine treatments viz., T 1 -Control, T 2 -FYM, T 3 -Poultry manure, T 4 -Vermicompost, T 5 -Composted coir pith, T 6 -FYM+PGPRs, T 7 -Poultry manure + PGPRs, T 8 -Vermicompost + PGPRs, and T 9 -Composted coir pith + PGPRs with three replications, applied after first irrigation.Among the treatments, T 8 -Vermicompost + PGPRs recorded significant differences for the viz., Maximum juice percentage (58.69%), reducing sugars (11.94 %), total sugars (13.78 %), total soluble solids level (15.91 B), sugar to acid ratio (30.53), total anthocyanin content (23.57mg/100 g) total phenolic content (249.21mg GAE/ 100g), 100 aril weight per fruit (44.70 g), maximum Fruit colour L*(31.10), a * (50.24), b * (22.72) and Aril colour L*(15.60), a * (15.82), b * (1.10) coordinates representing Lightness (L*), Redness (a * ) and Yellowness (b * ) respectively.Hence Vermicompost + PGPRs (T 8 ) proved to be promising in enhancing the quality of pomegranate.