Enhancement in Yield and Quality Attributes of Litchi Through the Foliar Application of NAA, Boron and Zinc Sulphate

Abstract

An experiment was conducted during 2025 at the Department of Fruit Science, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur (U.P.), to assess in the enhancement of yield and quality attributes of litchi through the foliar application of NAA, Boron, and Zinc Sulphate. Nine treatments comprising two concentrations of NAA (40 and 60 ppm), three concentrations of boron (0.4, 0.6, and 0.8%), three concentrations of ZnSO4 (0.6, 0.8, and 1.0%), and one control were evaluated in a Randomised Block Design with three replications. Foliar sprays were done twice, once before flowering and again at the pea stage of fruit development. Significant differences were observed among treatments. NAA @ 40 ppm recorded highest fruit set (57.46%), lowest fruit drop (61.28%), and highest fruit retention (33.82%). However, Boron @ 0.6% proved superior in improving fruit quality and yield by recording minimum fruit cracking (7.95%), maximum fruit length (4.62 cm), fruit diameter (3.90 cm), fruit weight (20.00 g), pulp weight (16.42 g), TSS (22.55 °Brix), total sugars (18.52%), vitamin C (25.36 mg/100 g), pulp: stone ratio (5.97) and fruit yield (25.31 kg plant-1), with minimum seed weight (2.75 g) and titratable acidity (0.35%). Therefore, a foliar application of boron at 0.6% is recommended to improve yield and quality of litchi cv. Dehradun under the plains of northern India.