Effect of different nutrient sprays on growth, fruit yield and quality of litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) cv. Early Large Red.

An experiment was conducted at Regional Research Station (Horticulture), Buria in district Yamunanagar of Haryana state during 2014-15 on 23-year old trees of litchi cultivar Early Large Red to improve the growth, yield and quality by foliar application of nutrients i. e. calcium, zinc and boron with different concentrations. Tree growth characters like tree height, diameter and girth were not affected by any of the treatments. Borax application at 0.80% spray resulted in highest number of fruits per branch (196.1), fruit weight (21.97 g), fruit length (3.69 cm) and fruit yield (70.33 kg/plant). Also, the quality parameters including TSS content, sugar : acid ratio, reducing and non-reducing sugar and yield of quality fruits were observed with borax at 0.80% spray treatment, while highest fruit breadth (3.15 cm) was recorded with borax at 1.0% spray. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]