A. Subedi , A.K. Shrestha , K.M. Tripathi , B. Shrestha

Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal
Author    Correspondence author
Field Crop, 2019, Vol. 2, No. 1   doi: 10.5376/fc.2019.02.0001
Received: 15 Jun., 2019    Accepted: 08 Jul., 2019    Published: 30 Jul., 2019

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Subedi A., Shrestha A.K., Tripathi K.M., and Shresth B., 2019, Effect of Foliar Spray of Boron and Zinc on Growth and Yield of Papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Red Lady in Chitwan, Nepal, Field Crop, 2(1): 1-5 (doi: 10.5376/fc.2019.02.0001)

A field experiment was carried out at commercial papaya farm, Chanauli, Chitwan, from January to December 2016 to find out the effect of foliar spray of boron and zinc on growth and yield (Carica papaya L.) cv. Red Lady. The experiment consisted eleven treatments viz., "T1-Control (No spray), T2-Water Spray, T3-Borax at 0.1 % and ZnSO₄ at 0.1 %, T4-Borax at 0.1 % and ZnSO₄ at 0.2 %, T5-Borax at 0.1 % and ZnSO₄ at 0.3 %, T6-Borax at 0.2 % and ZnSO₄ at 0.1 %, T7-Borax at 0.2 % and ZnSO₄ at 0.2 %, T8-Borax at 0.2 % and ZnSO₄ at 0.3 %, T9-Borax at 0.3 % and ZnSO₄ at 0.1 %, T10-Borax at 0.3 % and ZnSO₄ at 0.2 % and T11-Borax at 0.3 % and ZnSO₄ at 0.3 %." The results revealed significantly higher growth parameters as plant height, number of leaves per plant, petiole length, leaf area, and stem girth with the foliar application of borax at 0.3 %, and ZnSO₄ at 0.2 %. Similarly, significantly lower values regarding the days for flowering (112.80 days), days for fruit set (123.60 days), and days to harvest (250.30 days) were observed with the application of the same treatment. Significantly higher results of yield parameters such as number of flowers per plant (75.33), number of fruits per plant (48.83), fruit weight (1352.00 g), fruit length (26.47 cm), fruit girth (36.79 cm), and pulp weight (1222.00 g/fruit), and yield (50.33 Kg/plant and 139.80 mt/ha) were recorded with the foliar application of borax @ 0.3 % and ZnSO₄ @ 0.2 %.

Boron; Zinc; Papaya; Growth; Yield; Red lady; Foliar Spray