Assessing the relationship of soil and leaf boron status with fruit yield, nutrients and biochemical constituents of Mallika mango

Abstract

An experiment was conducted on 20 year old trees of Mallika mango to assess the yield, nutrient contents and enzymatic and protein activities as influenced by different boron treatments. Results indicated that the lower foliar B content (15.3 to 24.1 mg kg-1) and yield were significantly correlated. Highestpulp B content was observed in metalosate treated (T-9) fruits (4.30 mg kg-1) as compared to control (2.63 mg kg-1), boric acid spray (3.17 to 3.47 mg kg-1) and soil application of borax (3.33 mg kg-1). Boron spray improved thefruit yield which, in turn showed positive and significant correlation with pulp B content (r = 0.727*). Enzymatic activities like that of invertase increased inmetalosate treated fruits as compared to control. A range of 0.002 to 0.028 and 0.013 to 0.0145 ΔOD/ 100 mg fresh weight polyphenol oxidase (PPO) was recordedamong the treatments. The protein content increased significantly in the B treated plots (T-9 and T-10) as compared to its non-application with the highest being 0.854 and 0.974 mg per 100 mg tissue protein in the respective years. The study concluded that foliar or soil application of B proved effectivein the improvement of quality in respect of pulp nutrients and protein content of mango cv. Mallika.