Influence of Different Feeding Methods of NPK and Boron on Vegetative Growth and Biochemical Attributes of Dragon Fruit [Hylocereus costarecencis]
摘要
The present study was conducted to assess the impact of water-soluble NPK and boron on vegetative growth and biochemical attributes of dragon fruit. The experiment comprised nine treatments viz. T1-Control, T2-200 g NPK, T3-200 g (50% basal + 50% aerial roots) NPK, T4-300 g NPK, T5-300 g (50% basal + 50% aerial roots) NPK, T6-200 g NPK + 0.5% boron, T7-200 g NPK (50% basal + 50% aerial roots) + 0.5% boron, T8-300 g NPK + 1% Boron, T9-300 g NPK (50% basal + 50% aerial roots) + 1% boron in Randomized Block Design with three replications. NPK and boron were applied per pillar comprising three plants under all treatments through different feeding methods. The highest plant height (213.51 cm), stem diameter (12.84 cm), number of stem areoles per rib (71.15), number of branches per plant (17.07), fresh weight of shoot (331.91 g), dry weight of shoot (42.17 g), number of ribs per plant (3.77), number of spines per areole (3.89) and minimum numbers of segments per plant (5.06) were recorded under T9-300 g NPK (50% basal + 50% aerial roots) + 1% boron. The same treatment also recorded higher soluble solids (15.5°B), fruit juice pH (5.73), titratable acidity (0.145%), ascorbic acid (8.44 µg/g), reducing sugar (9.72%), non-reducing sugar (1.98%) and total sugars (11.70%). All treatments showed highly significant effects, except fruit juice pH, number of spines per areole, and number of ribs per plant, which exhibited non-significant effects.