Influence of nutrients and plant bioregulators on yield and fruit quality of litchi cv. Deshi

The present study was carried out with foliar spray of nutrients and plant bioregulators (PBRs) on yield and fruit quality of litchi cv. Deshi. The fruit trees were sprayed (10 days after fruit set) with different concentrations of K2SO4 (1 & 2 %), KNO3 (1 & 2 %), CaCl2 (1 & 2 %), and MgCl2 (1 & 2 %). Another set of spray [foliar at colour break stage] was done of abscisic acid (ABA) @ 150 ppm, ethephon @ 500 ppm and ABA @ 150 ppm + ethephon @ 500 ppm. The pre-harvest spray of KNO3 (1 & 2 %) caused the higher yield (82.03 & 79.47 kg tree-1, respectively) as compared to the control trees (65.79 kg tree-1). The spray of KNO3 (1 & 2 %), also recorded better fruit length (3.47 cm; 3.43 cm), diameter (2.54 cm; 2.51 cm), fruit weight (17.51 g; 16.68 g), peel weight (2.78 g; 2.75 g), aril weight (10.11 g; 9.96 g) and seed weight (3.61 g; 3.56 g, respectively). However, the spray of ABA @ 150 ppm alone proved best for bringing high TSS, TSS/Acid ratio, total sugars and anthocyanin contents in the fruits. The control trees had highest titratable acidity and vitamin C content. Further, the fruit colour of the litchi pericarp was much better in almost all treatments as compared to the control trees. Thus, pre-harvest spray of KNO3 (1 % or 2 %) improved the fruit yield and many quality attributes. TSS, total sugar and anthocyanin content of the fruits was improved because of spray of ABA @ 150 ppm (alone) in litchi cv . Deshi.