Influence of Plant Bio-Regulators on Vegetative Growth, Yield and Fruit Quality of Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) cv. Camarosa under Protected Cultivation
Sahil Kumar
Faculty of Agriculture, Guru Kashi University, Talwadi Sabo, Bathinda - 151 302, Punjab, India.
Krishan Kumar Singh *
Faculty of Agriculture, Guru Kashi University, Talwadi Sabo, Bathinda - 151 302, Punjab, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The present investigation was conducted to study the influence of plant bio-regulators on vegetative growth, yield, and fruit quality of strawberry, Fragaria × ananassa Duch. cv. Camarosa under protected cultivation. The experiment comprised nine treatments, namely T₀ - Control (0 ppm), T₁ - GA₃ 200 ppm, T₂ - GA₃ 250 ppm, T₃ - NAA 150 ppm, T₄ - NAA 200 ppm, T₅ - BA 100 ppm, T₆ - BA 150 ppm, T₇ - GA₃ 200 ppm + NAA 150 ppm + BA 100 ppm, and T₈ - GA₃ 250 ppm + NAA 200 ppm + BA 150 ppm. The treatments were replicated three times in a CRD (Completely randomized design) under protected conditions. Various parameters related to vegetative growth, flowering, yield, and fruit quality were recorded during the study. The findings revealed that treatment T₂ (GA₃ 250 ppm) performed significantly better than the other treatments by recording maximum plant height, number of leaves, runners/plant, crowns/plant, number of flowers, fruits/plant, fruit length, fruit diameter, yield/plant, TSS, ascorbic acid, total sugars and TSS Acid ratio. The study concluded that the application of plant growth regulators, particularly GA₃ at 250 ppm, can effectively enhance growth, yield, and fruit quality in strawberry under protected cultivation.
Keywords: Strawberry, PGRs, growth, fruit quality, yield