Effect of N and K application on yield and quality of pomegranate cv. Ganesh under rainfed conditions

The pomegranate plants were treated with five levels of nitrogen (250, 375, 500, 625 and 750 g/plant) and potassium (200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 g/plant) to evaluate their influence on fruit yield and quality. The plants were raised and maintained under crescent bund with open catchment pits. Basal dose of FYM (15 kg/plant) and phosphorus (250 g/plant) were applied in mid December. Full dose of phosphorus (single super phosphate), potassium (muriate of potash) and half of nitrogen (calcium ammonium nitrate) were applied in the first fortnight of January and second half in the second fortnight of May. The experiments were conducted in randomized block design with three replications. The maximum fruit set (28.85 and 27.37%), fruit yield (14.94 and 14.91 kg), TSS (16.07 and 16%), total sugars (11.46 and 11.44%), non-reducing sugars (2.80 and 2.68%) and reducing sugars (9.56 and 9.58%) were recorded with the treatment N3K4 (N- 500 and K 500 g/plant). Whereas, maximum fruit weight (458.3 and 458.1 g) and fruits with high acidity (0.52 and 0.54%) were obtained with N5K4 (N-750: K- 500) and N5K5 (N-750: K-600) for both the years. The vitamin C content of the fruits was reported to increase with the higher doses of N and K (16.36 and 16.40 mg/100 g, respectively). The fruits with minimum yield, lowest TSS, total sugars, non reducing sugars and reducing sugars were obtained with higher doses of N and K (N-750: K-600) application. Thus, the application of N and K at optimum level of 500 g/plant/year of each was found to be superior as compared to other treatments for enhancing fruit set, yield, and quality.