Effect of in-situ moisture conservation, forchlorfenuron and boron on growth, fruit cracking and yield of pomegranate cv. Kandhari under rainfed conditions of Himachal Pradesh

An investigation on in-situ soil moisture conservation, forchlorfenuron and boron was carried out on seven-yearold plants of pomegranate cultivar Kandhari trained as four stems during the year 2010–11. Experimental plants were subjected to 11 treatments, viz., mulching, CBOC (crescent bund with open catchment pits), CPPU (forchlorfenuron) at 5 or 10 ppm, H₃BO₃ at 0.2 or 0.4%, mulching + CPPU at 5 ppm or H₃BO₃ at 0.2%, CBOC + CPPU at 5 ppm or H₃BO₃ at 0.2% and control. These treatments were applied separately in mid-March (in-situ soil moisture conservation) and mid-May (forchlorfenuron and boron). Between the two applied soil working techniques, crescent bund with open catchments pits conserved higher soil moisture content at all the observation dates. Growth parameters like plant height, plant spread, trunk girth and annual shoot growth were observed maximum under the treatment CBOC + H₃BO₃ at 0.2% due to higher moisture availability. However, leaf area and leaf chlorophyll content were maximum under the treatment CBOC + CPPU at 5 ppm. Physiological characteristics such as photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate were higher in the plant under crescent bund with open catchment pits. The extent of fruit cracking was reduced to the lowest level and highest fruit yield was recorded when the plants grown under CBOC and given foliar application of CPPU at 5 ppm. These results suggest that, soil working technique- crescent bund with open catchment pit can be employed to conserve higher soil moisture in rainfed conditions for improving growth and production of pomegranate.