EFFECT OF PRE-HARVEST APPLICATION OF MICRO-NUTRIENTS ON QUALITY OF GUAVA (Psidium guajava L.) CV. SARDAR

The present investigation was conducted on uniform, healthy, nine year old budded trees of guava (Psidium guajava L.) cv. Sardar. Various doses of calcium nitrate, boric acid and zinc sulphate were sprayed twice i.e. 45 and 25 days before harvesting and compared with untreated ones. Each treatment was applied on two trees and replicated thrice in a randomized block design. It was observed that the size of fruit comprises length, diameter,volume were maximum in fruits collected from trees sprayed with zinc sulphate (0.4 per cent).The maximum weight was observed under 0.4 per cent boric acid and it was at par with zinc sulphate at 0.4 per cent. The zinc sulphate 0.4 per cent also improves the physico-chemical parameters at harvest. Among the different treatments pre harvest spray of zinc sulphate at 0.4 per cent was found most effective for improving the physico-chemical parameters at harvest and prolonged the shelf-life of fruits exhibiting lower degree of post-harvest losses.