Enhancement in Fruit Retention, Yield and Quality Attributes of Aonla cv. NA-7 Through the Foliar Application of Boron and Zinc

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at the Nursery Farm Kalyanpur, Department of Fruit Science, C. S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur (UP), during 2025 to enhance fruit retention, yield, and quality attributes of Aonla cv. NA-7 through the foliar application of boron and zinc, using nine treatments viz., T1-Borax @0.4%, T2-Borax@ 0.6%, T3-ZnSO4 @ 0.6%, T4-ZnSO4 @ 0.8%, T5-Borax @ 0.4% + ZnSO4 @ 0.6%, T6-Borax @ 0.4% + ZnSO4 @ 0.8%, T7- Borax @ 0.6% + ZnSO4 @ 0.6%, and T8-Borax @ 0.6% + ZnSO4 @ 0.8%, T9-Control (Water spray) on twenty eight year old plants of aonla cv. NA-7 replicated thrice in Randomized Block Design. From the experiment, it is reported that the higher concentration of Borax @ 0.6% + ZnSO4 @ 0.8% (T8) significantly enhance fruit retention (33.88%), fruit yield (86.12kg/plant), fruit length (4.16cm), fruit width (4.98cm), fruit volume (31.24cc), fruit weight (36.55g), specific gravity (1.17g/cc), pulp weight (35.23g), pulp: stone ratio (26.71), T.S.S. (14.86°Brix), ascorbic acid (625.56mg/100g pulp), total sugars (12.90%) and with minimum stone weight (1.32g) reduced fruit drop (66.12%), and titratable acidity (1.65%) followed by Borax @ 0.4 % (T1) as compared to control (T9) treatments.