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Uniconazole improves mango flowering and fruit yield by regulating gibberellins and carbon–nitrogen nutrition

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Abstract

The present study was aimed to assess the efficacy of foliar-applied uniconazole on flower induction, and fruit yield of mango cv. ‘Dusehri’ at Department of Fruit Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India. The experiment was conducted simultaneously at two different locations, for two cropping seasons during 2019–20 (ON year) and 2020–21 (OFF year). The pre-flowering treatments of paclobutrazol and uniconazole were sprayed during September and October at different rates. Experimental plants were observed for various biochemical, vegetative, reproductive and yield parameters. According to the results, foliar application of uniconazole (T6) @ 1.0 g a.i/m canopy applied twice significantly enhanced chlorophyll, carbohydrates, and C:N ratio and negatively affected shoot growth, nitrogen content by inhibiting the gibberellin biosynthesis. Ultimately, uniconazole improved flowering, fruit retention, fruit yield, and fruit size in mango cv. ‘Dusehri’. Therefore, the foliar application of uniconazole can be considered as a better alternative to paclobutrazol in flower induction of mango.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully thank to Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi for award of Senior Research Fellowship (ICAR-SRF) to Naveena Kumara K T.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fruit Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, 141004, India

    K. T. Naveena Kumara, Harminder Singh & Indira Devi

  2. Department of Botany, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, 141004, India

    Nirmaljit Kaur

  3. Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, 141004, India

    B. K. Kang

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  1. K. T. Naveena Kumara
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NKT: Conceptualization, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Visualization. HS: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Writing—review & editing, Project Administration. NK: Resources, Supervision. BKK: Resources, Supervision. ID: Resources, Supervision.

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Naveena Kumara, K.T., Singh, H., Kaur, N. et al. Uniconazole improves mango flowering and fruit yield by regulating gibberellins and carbon–nitrogen nutrition. Hortic. Environ. Biotechnol. 64, 735–752 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-023-00541-y

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