Improvement of Flowering, Yield and Quality Attributes in Acid Lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) by Exogenous Application of Plant Nutrition

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at south farm, of Vanavarayar Institute of Agriculture, Manakkadavu, Pollachi, Tamil Nadu. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design with nine treatments and three replications. Acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia swingle) is an important commercial species of citrus considered to be indigenous to India, and is extensively cultivated in almost all states of India under tropical and subtropical climatic conditions. In the present investigation, the highest number of fruits per tree was observed in T3- Panchakavya - 5% (380.80) followed by T1- IAA - 50 ppm (350.30). The highest mean fruit weight was observed in T3- Panchakavya - 5% (53.60) followed by T1- IAA - 50 ppm (50.40). The treatment T3- Panchakavya - 5% was recorded the highest per tree yield (20.41 kg) followed by T1- IAA - 50 ppm (17.65). the highest fruit length was noticed in T3- Panchakavya - 5% (6.50 cm) followed by T1- IAA - 50 ppm (5.53 cm), the highest fruit girth was noticed in T3- Panchakavya - 5% (6.86 cm) and also the highest fruit volume was recorded in T3- Panchakavya - 5% (51.20 ml) followed by T1- IAA -50 ppm (48.85 ml). In this investigation, the highest Juice content (ml/100 g) was noticed in T3- Panchakavya - 5% (55.0 ml), the highest ascorbic acid content was recorded in T3- Panchakavya - 5% (35.65 mg/100 g) and the highest acidity was recorded in T4- Vemivash – 5 ml (7.25%).