Optimizing Fe, Zn and Mn Dosages for Potential Fruit Yield and Quality of Strawberry Under North-Western Indo-Gangetic Plains
摘要
Micronutrients supplementation improve vegetative growth, productivity and quality of strawberries under the deficient soils of North-western Indo-Gangetic plains. Considering it as a potential approach, a region-specific study has been conducted to optimize the doses for enhancing the quality production of strawberries. The study was conducted for two successive years comprising various combinations of micronutrients (Fe, Zn & Mn) at intervals of 60, 75 and 90 days and the treatment plots were subjected to morphological, biochemical and nutritional analysis at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (India). A significant improvement in physical and biochemical attributes including antioxidant activity (phenols, flavonoids, anthocyanin content), sweetness index and pericarp colour coordinates (L*, a*, b*) was observed. Fruit weight and fruit yield was considerably improved by 2.33 to 31.58% and 4.34 to 39.50%, respectively, besides, fruit and leaf nutrients concentrations with the application of micronutrients. FeSO4 + ZnSO4 + MnSO4 (0.2%, each) identified as optimized tank mix doses for the higher production of strawberries with acceptable marketable quality parameters under North western Indo-Gangetic plains.