Abstract

The investigation was undertaken with a view to determine the “Effect of foliar spray of various micronutrients on growth, yield and quality of papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Madhu Bindu” and results revealed that the individual application of ZnSO 4 0.5% and borax 0.3% exerted great influence on plant height, stem girth and number of leaves as well as earlier initiation of flower bud and minimum days taken from fruit setting to first harvest. The yield characters i.e. average weight of fruit, number of fruit and yield of fruits per plant with maximum yield per hectare was also recorded maximum with ZnSO4 0.5% and borax 0.3% when the plants sprayed at 30, 60 and 90 days after transplanting. In quality point of view, different levels of ZnSO4 and borax had markedly influenced the quality of papaya fruits i.e., ascorbic acid (mg/100g), total soluble solids (%), reducing sugar (%), non-reducing sugar and total sugar (%).

Keywords: borax, zinc sulphate, foliar, micronutrients, yield and quality