Effect of micronutrients on fruit set, yield and quality of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) cv. Mosambi in the Gangetic alluvial region of West Bengal

The present investigation was carried out for two consecutive years of 2017 and 2018 at Horticulture Research Station, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mondouri, Nadia to study the effect of micronutrients on fruit set, yield and quality of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) cv. Mosambi in the Gangetic alluvial region of West Bengal. The experiment was laid out in RBD, replicated 3 times with seven treatments, viz., Boric acid @ 0.2 & 0.4%, Zinc sulphate (ZnSO4) @ 0.3 & 0.6%; Copper sulphate (CuSO4) @ 0.2 & 0.4% and control (water spray only) and imposed two times as foliar spray- 1st at onset of flowering and 2nd at 30 days after 1st spray on 4 years old sweet orange plants cv. Mosambi. The results revealed that, application of ZnSO4 @ 0.6%, followed by ZnSO4 @ 0.3% significantly improved fruit retention percent (20.43% and 18.46%, respectively) over control (12.35%). The highest fruit yield was obtained with foliar application of ZnSO4 @ 0.6% (33.93 kg/ha), followed by ZnSO4 @ 0.3% and Boric acid @ 0.4%. The application of ZnSO4 @ 0.6% was found to be most effective in improving physico-chemical properties of fruits in terms of fruit size, Juice %, TSS (0Brix), ascorbic acid content (mg/100g pulp). From this study, foliar spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.6% at onset of flowering and 30 days after 1st spray was suggested for improvement of fruit set, fruit retention, yield and fruit quality of sweet orange cv. Mosambi grown in the Gangetic alluvial region of West Bengal.