Author(s):

A Premalatha and PR Suresh

Abstract: The aim of the experiment was to study the effect of foliar application of micronutrient mixture on quality attributing parameters of banana (Musa AAB) cv. Nendran. A field experiment was carried out at Regional Agricultural Research Station farm, Nileswar during the year 2015-16 employing randomized Block design having thirteen treatments replicated thrice such that four plants were maintained in each replication. Micro-nutrient mixture was foliar sprayed at 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th month after planting. The quality attributing parameters of fruit in terms of titrable acidity, total soluble solids, pulp to peel ratio, reducing, non-reducing, total sugars, sugar / acid ratio, TSS / acid ratio and per cent loss in weight during ripening and keeping quality of the fruits at ambient condition were significantly improved with the foliar application of micronutrient mixture mostly at 1, 2 and 3 per cent mixture in three sprays. Lesser acidity indicates better quality and the lowest titrable acidity was recorded in T₁₁ (3% micronutrient mixture as 3 sprays) whereas control T₁₃ recorded the maximum acidity content of fruits. The highest TSS content (30.0 °brix) was found in T₁₁ (3% micronutrient mixture as 3 sprays) whereas T₁₂ (4% micronutrient mixture as 3 sprays) recorded highest pulp to peel ratio of 3.70. The highest total sugar content (21.3%) and reducing sugar content (19.0%) was recorded with T₁₀ (2% micronutrient mixture as 3 sprays) and the highest non-reducing sugar content was recorded in T₅ (1% micronutrient mixture as 2 sprays) whereas T₁₁ (3% micronutrient mixture as 3 sprays) recorded the lowest non-reducing sugar content. Highest sugar / acid ratio and keeping quality of the fruits at ambient condition were found in T₁₀ (2% micronutrient mixture as 3 sprays). T₁₁ (3% micronutrient mixture as 3 sprays) was found to have highest TSS / acid ratio and minimum loss in weight of fruits during ripening.

Pages: 1036-1040  |  1301 Views  652 Downloads

Download (488KB)