Effect of plant growth regulating substances on available nutrients in pear cv. Carmen
Abstract
Pear leaves and fruits are rich source of nutraceuticals especially minerals which are beneficial for human consumption. These minerals also play crucial roles in numerous physiological processes, fostering vigorous and healthy plant growth. In light of this, the present investigation was designed to evaluate effect of plant growth regulating substances on available leaf and fruit nutrients in pear cv. Carmen which was conducted at the experimental field of the Division of Fruit Science, SKUAST-K, Shalimar, during the years 2022 and 2023. Ten-year-old trees of the exotic pear cultivar Carmen, planted at a spacing of 3m x 1m, were selected for experimentation. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with seventeen treatments: T0-Control, T1-GA3 @100 ppm, T2-Ca(NO3)2 @0.5%, T3-KNO3 @0.5%, T4-Boric acid @0.25%, T5–Salicylic acid @1.0%, T6-Kaolin @5%, T7-Ca(NO3)2 @0.5% + KNO3 @0.5%, T8-Ca(NO3)2 @0.5% + Boric acid @0.25%, T9–Ca(NO3)2 @0.5% + Salicylic acid @1.0%, T10-KNO3 @0.5% + Boric acid @0.25%, T11-KNO3 @0.5% + Salicylic acid @1.0%, T12-Boric acid @0.25% + Salicylic acid @1.0%, T13-Ca(NO3)2 @0.5% + KNO3 @0.5% + Boric acid @0.25%, T14-GA3 @100 ppm + Ca(NO3)2 @0.5% + Boric acid @0.25%, T15-Ca(NO3)2 @0.5% + KNO3 @0.5% + Salicylic acid @1.0%, and T16-Ca(NO3)2 @0.5% + KNO3 @0.5% + Boric acid @0.25% + Salicylic acid @1.0%. Each treatment had three replications. The treatments were applied as foliar spray on the trees at 20, 40 and 60 days after full bloom. The obtained results revealed that, the treatment T16-Ca(NO3)2 @0.5% + KNO3 @0.5% + Boric acid @0.25% + Salicylic acid @1.0% was found superior in respect of maximum available leaf N, P, K, Ca and B (2.97 %, 0.59 %, 1.97 %, 1.83 % and 0.0046) and fruit N, P, K, Ca and B (0.60 %, 0.06 %, 0.44 %, 0.45 % and 0.0038 %), respectively. The results showed that the foliar application of growth regulating substances significantly increased the available nutrients in leaves and fruits, indicating a way to agronomic biofortification of pear fruits.