Regulation of flowering in acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle)

India is the largest producer of acid lime in the world and they are used as fresh fruit or for the preparation of pickles and beverages. They are rich in vitamin C, minerals and salts. The seasonality of production leads to market glut which results in poor returns to the farmers. Hence, an experiment was conducted to manipulate and regulate flowering by using various plant growth regulators viz., GA_-3 and cycocel, chemicals viz., KNO₃ and salicylic acid at 11 different treatment combinations. The experiment was conducted in randomized block design (RBD) and each treatment was replicated thrice. The age of the trees was seven years and the variety used was PKM1. The experiment conducted in four consecutive years. The experimental results showed that there were significant differences among the treatments. Acid lime trees sprayed with GA₃ 50 ppm in June + cycocel 1000 ppm in September + KNO₃ 2% in October recorded the highest number of fruits tree⁻¹ (1003), weight of fruits (48.60 g) and average fruit yield (28.96 kg tree⁻¹). The same treatment registered the highest values for juice content (32.13%), TSS (7.29^o Brix) and ascorbic acid content (32.56 mg/100ml).