Seaweed Extract as a Biostimulant Agent to Enhance the Fruit Growth, Yield, and Quality of Kiwifruit

The kiwifruit [Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C.F. Liang & A.R. Ferguson] has attained significant importance for commercial cultivation in the mid-Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent during the last three decades. The fruit quality matching international standards has remained a concern. Keeping in mind the bio-stimulatory effects of seaweed extract, a marine bioactive component in horticultural crops, the current study conducted to elucidate the impact of seaweed extract on kiwifruit growth, yield, and quality was conducted in the Department of Fruit Science's kiwifruit block at Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Himachal Pradesh, India. For the studies, nine-year-old Allison kiwi vines of uniform size and vigor were planted at a spacing of 4 m x 6 m. With 11 treatments, the experiment was set up in a randomized block design viz, T-1: Spray treatment of 1000 ppm (seaweed extract) SWE at fruit set (FS); T-2:Spray treatment of 2000 ppm SWE at FS; T-3: Spray treatment of 3000 ppm SWE at FS; T-4: Spray treatment of 1000 ppm SWE at FS and 10 days after Fruit set (FS); T-5: Spray treatment of 2000 ppm SWE at FS and 10 days after FS (DAFS); T-6: Spray treatment of 3000 ppm SWE at FS and 10 days after FS; T-7: Fruit dip treatment of 1000 ppm SWE at 10 days after FS; T-8: Fruit dip treatment @ 2000 ppm SWE at 10 days after FS; T-9: Fruit dip treatment @3000 ppm SWE at 10 days after fruit set; T-10: Fruit dip treatment @ 5 ppm CPPU at 10 days after fruit set; T-11: Control. The current study compared several seaweed extract treatments, which were applied at various times and concentrations, to N-(2-chloro-4-pyridyl)-N-phenyl-urea (CPPU-5ppm) and untreated control. Seaweed extract (SWE) dip at 3000 ppm 10 days after the fruit set produced significant growth in fruit length and diameter in growing kiwifruit, which was non-significant with CPPU treatment and superior to control. The shape index, fruit weight, and total fruit yield were also found to be the highest with the same treatment. Fruit quality parameters, namely fruit soluble solids contents (SSC) and total sugars, were recorded at a maximum with the SWE Spray dose of 3000 ppm at FS and 10 DAFS. The SSC: Acid ratio and reducing sugars were recorded as the highest with an application of SWE dip at 3000 ppm 10 DAFS. The application of SWE dip at 2000 ppm 10 DAFS) was found to advance the harvesting maturity by 6 days and also exhibited the lowest physiological loss in weight (% PLW) with the highest ascorbic acid content. After 15 days of storage at ambient room temperature (25 +/- 2 degrees C), the application of SWE dip at 3000 ppm 10 DAFS recorded the highest SSC acid ratio and the lowest titratable acidity. Thus, the application of seaweed extract dip at 3000 ppm 10 days after the fruit set can be recommended to the farmers as an appropriate alternative to the chemical treatment.