Tamilnadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
1 Present address: Department of Horticulture, A. P. Agricultural University, Rajendra-nagar, Hyderabad-500030.
* Part of thesis approved for award of Ph.D. degree by Tamilnadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.
Investigations were conducted for two seasons to study the effect of growth retardants, alar and cycocel each at 5000 ppm concentration on certain biochemical changes in shoots of Mango Cv. Mulgoa in relation to flowering. Glucose content of both leaf and stem decreased considerably due to retardant applications during the year of subnormal flowering and increased in the ‘normal’ year. Fructose content was lower in treated shoots up to November and thereafter the trend was reverse up to January. In case of stem, however, the fructose content continued to be lower in treated shoots almost throughout the season. Sucrose, starch, RNA and protein contents were enhanced by treatments both in leaf and stem throughout the season, the increases being more pronounced during, or a little prior to flower-bud formation stage. Increases in RNA were more marked in leaf than in stem, and treatment effects were more pronounced in ‘lean’ year than in ‘normal’ year. The implications of these changes due to retardant treatments have been discussed in relation to flowering.
