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Effect of paclobutrazol on source-sink
relationship in mango (Mangifera indica L.).
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| Kurian, R.
M.,Reddy, Y. T. N.,Sonkar, R. K.,Reddy, V. V. P. |
| Division of
Fruit Crops, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta
Lake Post, Bangalore - 560 089, India. |
| The effects
of paclobutrazol on the fruit-leaf ratio of twelve-year-old trees of
mango cultivars Alphonso and Dashehari were studied in Bangalore,
Karnataka, India. The soil was drenched with paclobutrazol at 0.0, 2.5,
or 7.5 g a.i. per tree. In each paclobutrazol-treated tree,
photosynthate and metabolite translocation to 30 leaves with a single
fruit was inhibited by girdling the branch (1 cm wide ring of bark) at a
uniform distance from the fruit. Girdling was conducted when Dashehari
fruits were 4.9 plus or minus 0.7 cm long and weighed 27.9 plus or
minus 8.5 g, and when Alphonso fruits were 4.0 plus or minus 1.0 cm
long and weighed 32.9 plus or minus 7.5 g. Twenty-eight fruits on
ungirdled shoots of trees not treated with paclobutrazol served as the
control. In the two cultivars, thirty leaves were not sufficient to
promote the growth of a single fruit, especially when the tree was not
treated with paclobutrazol. In untreated trees, the weight of fruits
from girdled trees of Alphonso and Dashehari was only 60.2 and 64.9%,
respectively, of the control. However, the weight of fruits of girdled
trees treated with 2.5 and 7.5 g a.i. paclobutrazol was on a par with
that of the control. Paclobutrazol appeared to favourably alter the
source-sink relationship of mango to support fruit growth with lower
leaf number and area. |
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