INDUCTION OF FLOWERING BY USE OF CHEMICALS AND CINCTURING IN ‘BOMBAI’ LITCHI

This study was carried out at farmer’s field, Beniagram, New Farakka, Murshidabad, West Bengal, India to measure the effect of chemicals viz., paclobutrazol (2 and 3 ml a.i./m² of canopy surface area); Ethrel (1.0 and 2.0 ml/L) and KNO₃ (1 and 2%) and cincturing (during September and October) on flower induction of the cultivar ‘Bombai’. The result showed that plants treated with ethrel (2 ml/L) had the highest C/N ratio both in leaves and shoots before flowering.
Number of flowering panicles (71.58%), number of fruits per panicle at the initial stage (63.92) and also at harvest (23.09) was found the highest under this treatment.
However, the highest sex ratio (male:hermaphrodite) (3.26) of flowers was found in untreated control plants and maximum percentage of fertile pollen was observed in plants treated with KNO₃ (2%). Application of paclobutrazol (3 ml a.i./m² canopy surface area) advanced the flower emergence by six to seven days.
Thus, among the treatments, Ethrel (2 ml/L) proved to be the most effective for flowering and fruit induction in litchi cultivar ‘Bombai’.

IV International Symposium on Lychee, Longan and Other Sapindaceae Fruits

D. Mandal, A. Sarkar , B. Ghosh

litchi, cincturing, Ethrel, potassium nitrate, paclobutrazol

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1029.32