Evaluation on the Effect of Silica (DE) for Growth and Quality of Mango Kesar

An experiment was conducted during 2012-2014 at Kittur Rani Channamma College of Horticulture, Arabhavi, Gokak (Karnataka), India to study the effect of silicon on yield and quality of mango cv. Kesar. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with nine treatments replicated five times. The results revealed that, the highest yield per tree (140.93 kg/tree) was recorded in the treatment supplemented in (T5) Half of RDF + DE 600 kg/ha which significantly more than the compared to control during 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and pooled data. It was noticed that the (T7) RDF + DE 300 kg per hectareas RDF + DE 300 kg/ha was best on the basis of physical characteristics like increased in length, diameter and volume of the fruit, and the treatment was significantly higher than the untreated control mango fruits. The treatment also helped in better chemical characteristics like increased TSS, total sugars, and reducing sugars and optimum physiological loss in weight, resulting in improved keeping quality at ambient conditions (25-350C, 50-60% RH). The T7 treatment was judged as the most effective soil application for the mango cv. Kesar that helped in increasing the quality of the mango fruits during storage even after 18 days of storage. The same treatment was also found to be more effective and significantly more than the compared to control during 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and pooled data with respect to organoleptic parameters for the mango cv. Kesar.