Effect of foliar application of calcium and boron on growth, productivity and quality of Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis)

An experiment was conducted in ‘NA7’ cultivar of Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis Gaertn) to assess whether pre-harvest foliar application of Ca (as calcium carbonate), B (as borax) individually or their combination influences physiological problems (poor fruit set, blossom and fruit drop, deformation of fruits etc.), fruit yield and quality or not. Treatments consisted of Ca as CaCO3 at 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, boron as borax at 0.2%, 0.4% 0.6%, Ca+B (mixed) 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6% and plants sprayed with water served as the control. Treatments were applied five times on full grown tree of Indian gooseberry cultivar ‘NA7’ at pre bloom, full bloom, at fruit set initiation, pea stage (fruit development stage) and pre-harvest stage (one month before harvest). Results indicated that fruit harvested from plants which were sprayed with Ca+B 0.4% had significantly lesser incidence of fruit deformation (0.8%), blossom and fruit drop (32.6%) than in the plants kept under control (2.8% and 79.2%, respectively). The maximum yield (158.6 kg/tree) was recorded with the application of calcium carbonate + borax 0.4%, while minimum was recorded under control (105.2 kg/tree). In totality all the treatments have increased the fruit weight, fruit size, number of fruit/shoot, and quality of fruits as compared to control. The maximum dry matter (20.2%), juice content (78.5%), vitamin C (626.49 mg/100 g) was recorded with calcium carbonate + borax 0.4%. Similarly, it was also observed that such fruit (sprayed with Ca+B 0.4%) were bold, had slightly higher TSS (16.5%) at harvest than those in control (15.1%). Studies indicated that preharvest foliar application of Ca+B is quite useful for reducing the incidence of physiological problems and getting higher marketable yield in ‘NA7’ Indian gooseberry. Ca+B 0.4% significantly increased fruit size, fruit length and breadth. Calcium carbonate at concentration of 0.4% significantly reduced the fruit drop and increased the retention of blossom and deformed fruit.