EFFECT OF GIBBERELLIC ACID AND BORON ON DEVELOPMENT AND QUALITY OF AONLA FRUITS ¿BANARASI¿

Aonla or Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.), a member of family the Euphorbiaceae, is one of the indigenous minor fruits of India. It thrives well throughout tropical as well as sub-tropical regions of India. The fruit is highly nutritive and the richest source of ascorbic acid after Barbados cherry. Fruits are made into preserves, jam, pickles, candy, sauce, dried chips, powder, etc. In order to investigate the effect of gibberellic acid and boron on aonla fruits ‘Banarasi’, the present experiment was carried out in the Department of Horticulture, C.S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur-208002 (U.P.), India, during the years 2004-2005. There were in all 15 treatment combinations comprising borax at three levels (0, 0.2 and 0.4%) and GA₃ at five levels (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 ppm), applied as foliar spray on 1 August, replicated thrice in randomized block design taking a single plant as a unit treatment. From this experiment, it was concluded that among borax concentrations 0.4% proved most effective in increasing the length (4.64 cm), diameter (4.96 cm), weight (47.46 g), volume (43.62 cc), TSS (10.75°Brix), total sugar (8.75%), ascorbic acid (582.8 mg per 100 g of pulp) and reduced titratable acidity (2.14%); whereas among GA3 concentrations, application at 150 ppm increased the length (4.74 cm), diameter (5.11 cm), weight (48.26 g), volume (44.24 cc), TSS (11.21ºBrix), total sugar (9.07 %), ascorbic acid (596.66 mg per 100 g of pulp) and reduced titratable acidity (2.04%). The combined application of B at 0.4% and GA₃ at 150 ppm recorded maximum length (4.86 cm), diameter (5.14 cm), weight (48.60 g), volume (44.45 cc), TSS (11.50ºBrix), total sugar (9.32%), ascorbic acid (605 mg per 100 g of pulp) and minimum titratable acidity (2.01%).