Effect of Dose and Time of Paclobutrazol Application on the Flowering, Fruit Yield and Quality of Mango Cv. Alphonso

Abstract

A field trial was conducted for eight years at Indian Institute of Horticulture Research, Bengaluru to find out the effect of dose and time of application of paclobutrazol (PBZ) on flowering, fruit yield and quality of 'Alphonso' mango. The percentages of flowering, vegetative and dormant shoots were affected by paclobutrazol application. Different dose and time of application of paclobutrazol increased the percentage of flowering shoots significantly and most pronounced effect was with treatment D₁T₂ (3ml/m canopy PBZ applied 90 days before bud break) which recorded 89.9% flowering shoots as compared to 73.8% in control treatment. Regarding fruit yield, maximum mean fruit yield of 22.0kg/plant was recorded with treatment D₁T₂ (3ml/m canopy PBZ applied 90 days before bud break) and least was with control (13.1kg/plant) which accounts for fruit yield increase of 67.9%. No particular trend was observed in respect of shoot length in different treatments. However in general, paclobutrazol application reduced the shoot length compared to control. With respect of fruit quality attributes, acidity and TSS were found to be non-significant among different treatments during different years. Average fruit weight was found to be significant during different years and paclobutrazol application reduced the average fruit size compared to control. Cost benefit ratio was maximum of 1:2.52 was with treatment 3ml/m canopy PBZ applied 90 days before bud break and least cost benefit ratio of 1:1.06 was with control.