Effect of Cincturing and Biofertilizers Application on Flowering Attributes of Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) cv. Calcuttia

Present experiment was conducted during 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 to study the effect of cincturing and biofertilizers application on flowering attributes of Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) cv. Calcuttia on 15-year old litchi trees planted at Horticulture Research Block of Department of Horticulture, School of Agricultural Sciences, Shri Guru Ram Rai University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The Experiment was laid out in two Factorial randomized block design (RBD) with three replications comprising of 24 treatments. The treatments combinations were C0 B0 : Control, C0 B1 :C0 + Azotobacter @150g/tree, C0 B2 : C0 + VAM @ 150g/tree, C0 B3 : C0 + PSB @ 150g/tree, C1 B0 : CL1 , C1 B1 : CL1 + Azotobacter @150g/tree, C1 B2 : CL1 + VAM @ 150g/tree, C1 B3 : CL1 + PSB @ 150g/tree, C2 B0 : CL2 , C2 B1 :CL2 + Azotobacter @150g/tree, C2 B2 : CL2 + VAM @ 150g/tree, C2 B3 : CL2 + PSB @ 150g/tree, C3 B0 : CL3 , C3 B1 : CL3 + Azotobacter @150g/tree, C3 B2 : CL3 + VAM @ 150g/tree, C3 B3 : CL3 + PSB @ 150g/tree, C4 B0 : CL4 , C4 B1 : CL4 + Azotobacter @150g/tree, C4 B2 : CL4 + VAM @ 150g/tree, C4 B3 : CL4 + PSB @ 150g/tree, C5 B0 : CL5 , C5 B1 : CL5 + Azotobacter @150g/tree, C5 B2 : CL5 + VAM @ 150g/tree, C5 B3 : CL5 + PSB @ 150g/tree. The result revealed that among different cincturing levels, C5 (Cincturing level 10 mm width) was recorded significantly higher number of flowers/panicle, total number of male flower/panicle and number of female flowers/panicle in 2023. Whereas in 2024,C3 (Cincturing level 6 mm width) recorded highest number of flowers/panicle, C4 (Cincturing level 8 mm width) recorded maximum number of male flower/panicle, C3 (Cincturing level 6 mm width) noticed maximum number of female flower/Panicle, C4 (Cincturing level 8 mm width) had observed maximum percentage of male/ Panicle. Percentage of female flowers/panicle was found maximum in C1 (Cincturing level 2 mm width) and minimum in C4 (Cincturing level 8 mm width) in both the years respectively. Among bio fertilizers, soil application of Azotobacter and PSB had found positive effect on total number of flowers/Panicle and total number of female flower/ Panicle whereas, there were no significant effect of bio fertilizers were observed on percentage of male flower/panicle and percentage of female flower/panicle in both the years of investigations, respectively.