Vol. 9, Special Issue 9, Part E (2025)

The present investigation, entitled “The effect of different fertilizer levels on the vegetative and reproductive growth of mango cv. Kesar” was conducted on a 10-year-old, well-established mango orchard at the Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Latur, VNMKV, Parbhani, during the year 2024-25. The experiment was carried out using a factorial randomized block design with two factors and three replications. The first factor was fertilizer dose (D₁: 1000 g N, 500 g P, and 500 g K tree^-1_, D₂: 1500 g N, 500 g P, and 750 g K tree^-1_, D₃: 2000 g N, 500 g P, and 1000 g K tree^-1). The second factor was time of application of fertilizer dose on (M₁: 50% of N and 100% of P, K in June and 50% of N in August, M₂: 50% of N, K and 100% of P in June and 50% of N and 50% of K in August, M₃: 50% of N and 100% of P in June and 50% of N, 50% of K in August and 50% of K in November). The treatments were applied as per the experimental plan, and observations were recorded on vegetative and reproductive growth parameters.

The results revealed that the application of a fertilizer dose of 2000 g N, 500 g P, and 1000 g K tree^-1 recorded the best performance. This treatment resulted in the maximum shoot length (12.25 cm), internodal length (2.71 cm), number of panicles tree^-1 (606.77) and length of panicles (31.63 cm). The treatment with time of fertilizer application, the schedule of applying 50% of N and 100% of P in June, followed by 50% of N and 50% of K in August, and 50% of K in November, resulted in the maximum shoot length (11.98 cm), internodal length (2.53 cm), number of panicles tree^-1 (618.68) and length of panicles (34.69 cm). However, the interaction effect of fertilizer dose and time of application showed no significant effect on vegetative and reproductive growth parameters.