Response of salicylic acid on flowering, floral malformation, fruit set, yield and associated bio-physical and biochemical characters of mango

Salicylic acid @ 0, 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 ppm was applied on Amrapali and Dashehari mango plants at flower bud-differentiation stage in October. Salicylic acid was found to promote the flowering, fruit set and yield in both the cultivars. Maximum increase in yield characters was recorded with 2000 ppm concentration. The incidence of floral malformation was significantly reduced and trees treated with 2000 ppm showed minimum level of malformation, i.e. 3.7 and 3.0% in Amrapali and Dashehari respectively compared to the control (10.9 and 9.1% respectively). Enhanced rate of photosynthetic activity, elevated internal leaf temperature, intercellular CO₂ concentration, stomatal resistance and reduced level of transpiration with the application of salicylic acid indicate its plant growth regulatory role in mango trees. Substantial improvement in fruit quality in terms of TSS, pH, reducing and total sugar content and α-amylase was also noticed with its treatment.