Effect of spraying some chemical substances on flowering, fruit set, fruit drop, yield and fruit quality of Taimour mango trees.
Abou-Rawash M., El-Nasr N. A., El-Masry H., Ebeed S.
Author Affiliation: Dept. of Horticulture, Fac. Agric., Ain Shams Univ., Shoubra El-Kheima, Cairo, Egypt.
Egyptian Journal of Horticulture 25 : 83-99
Abstract : Mature Taimour mango trees were sprayed with various growth regulators in experiments in an orchard in Giza governate, Egypt during 1992/93 and 1993/94. Results indicated that application of NAA at 200 ppm + ethrel [ethephon] at 500 ppm once in November per season as well as S3307D [uniconazole] at 500 ppm + ethrel at 500 ppm twice in December per season advanced the time of flower bud opening and produced the lowest percentage of malformed panicles, greatest percentage of perfect flowers and lowest sex expression ratio (male/perfect). In addition, they reduced percentage fruit drop at the pea stage and maximized fruit retention at harvest and also increased tree yield compared with the control in both seasons. Moreover, these treatments increased fruit and pulp weight, %TSS and TSS/acid ratio in fruit juice, but failed to have a significant effect on fruit diameter, fruit shape, seed weight and acidity of the fruit juice.