Indian Journal of Plant Physiology

Two local cultivars of water chestnut (Trapa bispinosa) red fruit bearing Haldipada red and green fruit bearing Haldipada green were grown for 125 days to observe the effect of triacontanol on fruit quality and yield of nuts. Foliar application of plant growth regulator triacontanol 0.05% at 1:100 dilutions was done at 75, 90 and 120 days after planting over floating canopy of two cultivars of water chestnut. The control treatment was sprayed with distilled water instead of triacontanol. The triacontanol treatment increased the volume of individual fruit by 45.32% in Haldipada green and 47.11% in Haldipada red cultivars. The fresh fruit yield also increased 32% in green and 31.25% in red cultivars. But the soluble carbohydrate content in fresh fruits decreased by 25.46% to 29.61% in triacontanol treated green and red fruit cultivars, respectively compared to that in control. But on dry weight basis there was no significant decrease in soluble carbohydrate content in treated fruits. This is mainly due to decrease in dry matter content by 22.40 to 25.60% per unit fresh weight in treated fruits compared to control. Thus to increase fruit size Triacontanol application might be beneficial, but to extract flour it may not be suitable due to less dry matter content in the fruit.