Influence of integrated nutrient management on yield and quality parameters of winter season guava (Psidium guajava L.) cv. L-49

The experiment carried out at Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur, was on the impact of different organic, inorganic, and bio-fertilizer treatments on horticultural crop yield. The experiment comprised ten treatments with three replications in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) taken up during the years 2019-20 and 2020-21. Treatments were different fertilizer and bio-fertilizer combinations like 100% RDF, FYM, Azotobacter, and PSB applied in different configurations. The findings revealed that all treatments significantly affected the physical characteristics of the plants. Treatment 75% RDF + Azotobacter (250 g/tree) + PSB (250 g/tree) (T9) resulted in the highest yield of fruits per plant (57.59 kg during 2019-20 and 60.62 kg during 2020-21), along with the maximum total yield of fruits per hectare (15.77 t/ha during 2019-20 and 16.84 t/ha during 2020-21).With regard to quality parameters, T9 also had the highest Total Soluble Solids (11.75°Brix during 2019-20 and 11.86°Brix during 2020-21), ascorbic acid (228.12 mg/100 g in 2019-20 and 234.12 mg/100 g in 2020-21), total sugar (11.49% during 2019-20 and 11.62% during 2020-21), reducing sugar (6.68% during 2019-20 and 6.73% during 2020-21), non-reducing sugar (4.81% during 2019-20 and 4.89% during 2020-21), sugar/acid ratio (44.19 during 2019-20 and 48.41 during 2020-21), and TSS/acid ratio (45.19 during 2019-20 and 49.41 during 2020-21) and lowest acidity (0.26% during 2019-20 and 0.24% during 2020-21). The findings reveal that integrated nutrient management, especially the integration of RDF with Azotobacter and PSB, improves yield and fruit quality.