Chemical manipulations in the fruit yield and quality of Shan-e-Punjab peach

Abstract

Shan-e-Punjab peach despite of being an old variety still is the choicest variety for the commercial cultivation in subtropical plains of northern India. The present investigation was carried out on 10 years old Shan-e-Punjab trees grafted on Sharbati seedling rootstock of peach. The trees were sprayed twice with calcium nitrate (1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 %), silver nitrate (0.005, 0.010 and 0.015 %) and zinc sulphate (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 %). Results revealed that the foliar sprays of nutrients significantly influenced the yield and quality of peach fruit. The foliar sprays of calcium nitrate (2.0%) significantly increased the fruit yield (65.21 kg/plant), fruit weight (71.65 g), fruit length and breadth (5.62 and 5.02 cm), pulp weight (67.65 g), fruit firmness (14.73 lb/inch2), TSS (12.36oB), total sugars (8.01%) and juice content (37.32%), while it decreased the titratable acidity (0.74%) and polyphenol content (341.00 unit/ml/min) in peach fruits over the other treatments. The sprays of zinc sulphate (0.50%) also proved effective in respect of TSS improvement with lowest content of acid. The highest level of polyphenol oxidase activity (360.11 unit/ml/min) in pulp was registered in the fruits, harvested from untreated control peach trees