Vol. 8, Issue 12, Part F (2024)

The present investigation entitled “Standardization of time of pruning and use of PGR for growth, yield, and quality in Custard apple (Annona squamosa L.) Cv. Balanagar” was carried out at All India Coordinated Research Project on Arid Zone Fruits, Department of Horticulture, MPKV., Rahuri during March, 2023 to December, 2023 with objective to study the effect of different pruning dates on growth, yield and quality of custard apple and to study the effect of PGR on growth, yield and quality of custard apple. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) comprised of two factors viz. pruning dates (4 level) i.e., P₁ (15^th March), P₂ (15^th April), P₃ (15^th May), P₄ (15^th June) and different concentration of plant growth regulator NAA (3 level) i.e., G₁ (25 ppm), G₂ (50 ppm), G₃ (75 ppm) which makes 12 treatment combinations with separate control treatment i.e. T₁₃ and were replicated 2 times. However, as regard growth characters minimum number of days to sprout (15.08 days), number of shoots per tree (168.58), minimum days to flowering (34.91 days), maximum number of flowers per shoots (18.41), maximum fruit retention (47.94 %) was recorded in treatment P3 (15^th May). Regarding the days required for last harvesting is minimum (112.33 days) in treatment P₄ (15^th June) and days required for last harvesting (113.41 days) were recorded in treatment P₃ (15^th May). It is evident from results that, the growth parameters viz., minimum number of days to sprout (15.68 days), number of shoots per tree (167.93), minimum days to flowering (36.12 days), maximum number of flowers per shoots (17.31), maximum fruit retention (45.38 %), the days required for last harvesting is minimum (117.62 days) were noted under the treatment G₃ (NAA 75 ppm). The interaction of 15^th May pruning (P₃) and 75 ppm NAA (G₃) was consistently superior across most parameters. This combination significantly reduced days to sprouting (14.25 days) and days to flowering (34.50 days) while maximizing the number of shoots per tree (173.50), flowers per shoot (19.75), and fruit retention (52.45 %). Yield parameters, including the number of fruits per tree (68.25), fruit length (8.99 cm), fruit diameter (9.08 cm), and fruit weight (297.75 g), were also highest under P₃G₃. Furthermore, the shortest duration for last harvesting (111.50 days) was observed in 15th June pruning (P₄) combined with 75 ppm NAA (G₃), indicating its potential to expedite the fruiting cycle.