ENHANCEMENT OF FLOWERING, FRUIT SET AND NUT YIELD OF CASHEW (ANACARDIUM OCCIDENTALE L.) BY FOLIAR APPLICATION OF NUTRIENTS AT COASTAL ZONE OF KARNATAKA INDIA

A field experiment was carried out during 2023-24 at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Brahmavara, Udupi.The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design comprising of nine treatments, each replicated thrice.Results revealed that trees treated with RDF + Nano urea @ 4ml/L + Borax @ 0.1 % + ZnSO 4 @ 0.2 % (T 9 ) recorded maximum number of new shoot/m 2 (21.22), new shoot length (33.68 cm), number of lateral shoots (3.67), number of new leaves/shoot (14.78), leaf length (14.82 cm), leaf width (8.34 cm), leaf area/leaf (95.54 cm 2 ), chlorophyll-a (1.74 mg/g), chlorophyll-b (0.97 mg/g), total chlorophyll (2.46 mg/g), number of flowering panicles/m 2 (23.67), total number of staminate flowers/panicle (237.44),total number of perfect flowers/panicle (86.78), sex ratio (0.37), panicle length (27.94 cm), panicle width (28.50 cm), fruit set (9.64 %), number of nuts per panicle (8.33), length of apple (48.79 mm), girth of apple (43.96mm), apple weight (82.00 g), nut length (32.93 mm), nut width (23.99 mm), nut weight (8.83 g), nut yield per tree (3.90 kg), nut yield per ha (682.69 kg) and minimum flowering duration (109.22) and number of nuts per kg (125.56).Whereas, minimum was observed in control (T 1 ).