Response of Different Concentrations of Urea, KNO3 and Micronutrient Mixture on Fruit Retention, Yield and Physical Parameters of Sapota cv. Kalipatti

In sapota a peak season harvesting always result in market glut and thus reduction in prices. However in non-peak season yield is not so high. For sustenance in non-peak season an experiment was conducted during the year 2013–14 at College Farm, College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Bharuch Campus, Bharuch (Gujarat). The experiment was laid out with ten treatments in randomized block design and replicated three times. The treatment comprised of three different concentrations of Urea (T₁: 1%, T₂: 1.5% and T₃: 2%), KNO3 (T₄: 1%, T₅: 1.5% and T₆: 2%), micronutrient mixture grade-4 (T₇: 1%, T₈: 1.5% and T₉: 2%) along with control as water spray (T₁₀). All the chemicals were sprayed twice: first in the month of November at the marble stage and second in the month of January. Among different treatments, KNO3 at 2% (T₆) was found best treatment with respect to fruit retention, highest number of fruits per plant, yield per plant and yield per hectare. Among the physical characters, highest fruit weight, pulp weight, fruit length and fruit breadth and fruit volume was found in T₆.