Induction of Off-season Flowering and Fruiting Using Paclobutrazol and Ethephon in Mango (Mangifera indica L.) cv. Bangalora

Abstract

Mango (Mangifera indica L.), ‘King of Fruits’ which is the most popular fruit in the world particularly in India, it is considered as the best choice among the indigenous fruits. Chemically induced manipulations in vegetative growth have been attempted in many fruit crops. Among the chemicals suggested, paclobutrazol is considered as one of the important plant growth retardants which restricts vegetative growth and induce flowering in many fruit species including mango. This study was carried out for inducing the off-season flowering and fruiting using Paclobutrazol and ethephon in Mango (Mangifera indica L.) cv. Bangalora. Among the different soil drenching and spraying treatments, Soil drenching of paclobutrazol @ 0.75 g a.i. per canopy diameter along with light pruning significantly improved the flowering parameters viz., days taken for first flowering (186.04 days), inflorescence length (36.25 cm), inflorescence breadth (26.33 cm), number of panicles per tree (133.22), number of flowers per panicle (3364.37), number of male flowers per panicle (2776.94), number of perfect flowers per panicle (559.42), percentage of perfect flowers per panicle (16.63) and sex ratio to perfect to male flowers (20.15) and yield parameters viz., number of fruits per tree (392.03), fruit weight (383.42 g), fruit yield per tree (150.32 kg) and fruit yield per hectare (15.03 t ha-1). The experiment concluded that Soil drenching of Paclobutrazol at the rate of 0.75 a.i. per canopy diameter along with Light pruning have better results than the control group.