Canopy and micronutrient management of Thailand ber Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk

Abstract

The present experiment on Canopy and micronutrient management of Thailand newlineber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.) was carried out for two successive years during 2020- newline21 and 2021-22 in the farmerand#8223;s field at Pundibari village, Dompara, Bongaigaon with newlinethe objective to standardize the pruning height and to find out optimum doses of boron newlineand zinc. The experiment was laid out in factorial Randomized Block Design with 3 newlinefactors viz. variety, pruning height and micronutrient sprays with three replications and newlinethe data of individual years were subjected to pooled analysis. The varieties V1 (Round newlinegreen type) and V2 (Roundish ovate reddish type) were pruned at height P1 (50 cm from newlineground level) and P2 (75 cm from ground level). A total of nine micronutrients newlinetreatment were given i.e. N0 (control), N1 (Borax 0.4%), N2 (Borax 0.5%), N3 (ZnSO4 newline0.4%), N4 (ZnSO4 0.5%), N5 (Borax 0.4% + ZnSO4 0.4%), N6 (Borax 0.4% + ZnSO4 newline0.5%), N7 (Borax 0.5% + ZnSO4 0.4%) and N8 (Borax 0.5% + ZnSO4 0.5%). newlineThe plant height was not influenced by any of the treatments. The variety V1 newline(Round green type) recorded the earliest flowering (121.25 days), heavier fruits (35.49 newlineg) leading to higher yield per plant (31.17 kg) although the variety V2 (Roundish ovate newlinereddish type) exhibited better fruit quality, viz., the highest TSS (15.00 oBrix), total newlinesugar (15.14%), reducing sugar (8.08%), carotenoid (0.33 and#956;g/g), vitamin C content newline(68.49 mg/100 g) and DPPH scavenging ability (9.96%). Pruning at 75 cm above newlineground level (P2) resulted in more number of primary branches (8.28) leading to more newlinefruits (148.90/branch) and better quality fruits in terms of size, TSS, total sugar, newlinereducing sugar, carotenoid content and the lowest titratable acidity. Among the newlinemicronutrient sprays, borax 0.5 per cent along with zinc sulphate 0.5 per cent (N8) was newlinemost effective with respect to fruit retention (56.65%), more fruits per branch (146.90) newlineand better quality fruits. The N8 treatment favourably influenced the TSS, total and newlinereducing sugars, titratable acidity and total