Influence of pre-harvest nutrients application on the physico-chemical quality and storage behaviour of guava (Psidium guajava L.) fruit cv. L-49.

The investigation was carried out to study the influence of pre-harvest application of calcium nitrate, boric acid and zinc sulphate on the physico-chemical quality and storage behavior of guava (Psidium guajava L.) fruits cultivar L-49 at Department of Horticulture, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur. Experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with ten treatments consisting of T0 control (water spray), T1 (calcium nitrate 1%), T2 (calcium nitrate 1.5%), T3 (calcium nitrate 2%), T4 (boric acid 0.2%), T5 (boric acid 0.4%), T6 (boric acid 0.6%), T7 (zinc sulphate 0.2%), T8 (zinc sulphate 0.4%) and T9 (zinc sulphate 0.6%) and all the treatment replicated thrice. In this experiment, it was observed that the fruit length, diameter and volume were maximum under zinc sulphate 0.4 per cent. The maximum weight was observed under 0.4 per cent boric acid and it was at par with zinc sulphate 0.4 per cent. The zinc sulphate 0.4 per cent significantly improves the physicochemical quality, viz., total soluble solids, acidity, ascorbic acid, reducing, non-reducing and total sugar at harvest. The physiological loss in weight after harvest was minimum under zinc sulphate at 0.4 per cent closely followed by boric acid at 0.4 per cent. Minimum degree of spoilage was also observed with the application of 0.4% zinc sulphate followed by 0.4% boric acid.