Effect of plant growth regulators and nutrients on growth, yield and quality attributes of Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.)

Introduction

Indian jujube, sometimes known as "poor man's fruit," is a hardy fruit crop that has been grown for centuries in semi-arid and tropical regions of Africa, China, and India.Ber is a well-known member of the Rhamnaceae family because it can withstand extreme heat, drought, and salt, three of the most common environmental stresses that kill off most fruit crops. It is deciduous and highly resistant to frost. Its draught hardiness, xerophytic nature, tolerance to salt (40 ESP and 12-15 dSm -1 ), deep tap root system, spiny nature and ability to shed its leaves during hot summer have helped the plant to adopt well to the arid and semiarid conditions (Singh and Kumar, 2017) [1] . The cultivation of ber crop is gaining popularity in many parts of India such as Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu. In the world, China is the largest producer of ber and India holds second rank. India occupies an area of 53000 hectares with an annual production of 586000 MT per year in India (Annonymous, 2024) [2] . It is also grown in other countries like Iran, Syria, Australia, USA, France, Italy, Spain, and Africa. Ber can be grown on variety of soils including marginal soil and various kinds of waste land situation such as sodic saline soil, ravines, arid, semi-arid region. Crop growth and fruit quality are all heavily influenced by macro and micronutrients. Nutrients such as potassium (K), phosphorus (P), and nitrogen (N) are essential for the metabolic processes and growth of plants. Chlorophyll production, protein synthesis, and vegetative growth are all dependent on nitrogen. The growth and development of ber trees involve several complex physiological processes which are highly influenced by external inputs like PGRs and nutrients. Flowering in ber is often asynchronous and irregular, leading to heavy fruit drop and low fruit set. PGRs such as NAA, 2,4-D, and GA₃ have been used successfully to regulate these processes by improving fruit retention and fruit growth.

Materials and Methods

The present study was conducted on the Agricultural Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, School of Agriculture at Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur (Rajasthan) during 2025-26. Variety Gola was selected for this study and it was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design of two factors which were first factor: Plant growth regulators with 5 levels viz. control (P 0 ), NAA @ 25 PPM (P 1 ), NAA @ 50 PPM (P 2 ), GA 3 @ 25PPM (P 3 ) and GA 3 @ 50 PPM (P 4 ) and second factor with five levels viz. Control (N 0 ), Borax @ 0.2% (N 1 ), Borax @ 0.4% (N 2 ), ZnSO 4 @ 0.2% (N 3 ) and ZnSO 4 @ 0.4% (N 4 ) replicated thrice. On October 15th, the PGR and micro-nutrient spray was applied, and on November 15th, the second spray was applied. The observed data was analyzed in OPSTAT.

Results and Discussion

The results showed that plant growth regulators and nutrients had a significant effect on growth, yield and quality of Ber. Among the different treatments, maximum fruit length (3.940 cm), fruit diameter (3.317 cm) were recorded with treatment N 4 P 4 (GA 3 @ 50 ppm X ZnSO 4 @ 0.4%) (Table 1). The findings in line with Devi et al.

(2019) who reported that foliar application of GA 3 gave best result in term of fruit set of ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.) cv. Banarasi Karaka. Similar results were obtained by Rathod et al. (2019) [4] in aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) cv. Gujarat Aonla. Gill and Bal (2009) [3] stated that reductions in fruit drop and increase in fruit size of ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk) and Kaur (2021) [5] stated that application of 50 ppm GA 3 increased the fruit setting, fruit retention and size in Litchi. Yadav et al. (2014) [6] also recorded highest fruit sizt and set with (15 ppm NAA + 20 ppm GA 3 + 1.5% urea) in ber. Among the different treatments parametes related to fruit yield like fruit yield per tree (kg), average fruit weight (gm), number of fruit per tree were recorded maximum with treatment N 4 P 4 (GA 3 @ 50 ppm X ZnSO 4 @ 0.4%) (Table 1, 2). Result found in conformity with Sharma et al. (2017) [1] who reported that application of GA 3 @ 50 ppm recorded significantly higher fruit yield (83.27kg/plant) in Aonla cv. NA-7. Sultana et al. (2016) [7] observed highest fruit yield (121.67 quintal/ha) of litchi by foliar application of NAA at 20 ppm similar finding observed Kundu and Ghosh (2017) [8] . Among the different treatments best results of quality attributes of fruits i.e. acidity (%), total soluble solids, total sugars and ascorbic acid (mg/100 g) were recorded with treatment N 4 P 4 (GA 3 @ 50 ppm X ZnSO 4 @ 0.4%) (Table 3). The results corroborated with the findings of Singh (1973) [9] who recorded the highest TSS in the fruits of ber cv. Banarasi Karaka with application of growth regulators. Bal et al. (1982) [10] reported that application of plant growth regulators had significant positive effect on TSS contents of ber fruits. The increase in ascorbic acid content may have resulted owing to enhance synthesis of ascorbic acid, due to favorable metabolic activity involving certain enzymes and metallic ions under the influence of plant growth regulators and micronutrients. An Increase in ascorbic acid content might be due to perpetual synthesis of glucose-6-phosphate throughout the growth and development of fruits which is thought to be the precursor of vitamin C (Bhadauria et al., 2018) [11] . The application of GA 3 and zinc results an increase in ascorbic acid content in ber cv. Gola. (Rathore and Chandra, 2002) [12] in ber cv. Gola. Among all treatments, T 24 recorded the maximum gross income of Rs 243,771/ha, net income of Rs 167,971/ha and highest benefit: cost ratio of 2.22, while T 0 (control) recorded the minimum values with gross income of Rs 170,202/ha, net income of Rs 101,202/ha and B:C ratio of 1.47. Among NAA treatments, T 14 (NAA @ 50 ppm × ZnSO 4 @ 0.4%) recorded highest gross income of Rs 236,853/ha, net income of Rs 161253/ha and B:C ratio of 2.13, while among GA 3 treatments, T 22 (GA 3 @ 50 ppm × Borax @ 0.4%) recorded highest gross income of Rs 240,713/ha, net income of Rs 165513/ha and B:C ratio of 2.20 (Table 10). The treatments T 22 and T 24 were found most remunerative giving highest returns and maximum B:C ratio (>2) indicating their economic feasibility for ber cultivation.

Conclusion

The ber (Ziziphus mauritiana L.), commonly referred to as Indian jujube, has long been recognized as a hardy fruit tree well adapted to arid and semi-arid climates, with its economic and nutritional significance steadily increasing in recent decades. From the present study it can be concluded that application of plant growth regulators (PGRs) like GA 3 @ 50 ppm and nutrients like ZnSO 4 @ 0.04% enhanced not only the vegetative performance of Ber trees but also their reproductive efficiency and fruit quality traits and benefit cost ratio.

References

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