Effect of plant growth regulators on growth, yield and quality of tissue cultured papaya (Carica papaya) cv. Red Lady

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to find out the response of plant growth regulators on the growth, yield and quality of tissue cultured papaya (Carica papaya L.) cv. Red Lady in Mizoram, north-east India. The study indicates that growth yield and quality of the papaya fruits were significantly influenced by plant growth regulators studied. Among treatments, the highest vegetative growth, yield attributing characters and yield were recorded with GA3 200 ppm. It also recorded maximum value with respect to different growth parameters, viz. plant height, girth and E-W and N-S spread. Treatment with 200 ppm GA3 also showed superiority in different yield-attributing characteristics, such as fruit set percentage, number of fruits/plant, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit circumference, fruit weight, and fruit volume. Quality parameters, such as TSS, acidity, total, reducing and non-reducing sugars of fruits, 400 ppm of ethrel, exhibited significantly maximum value.