STUDY THE EFFECT OF FOLIAR APPLICATION OF GIBBERELLIC ACID (GA3) AND LIQUID CALCIUM ON GROWTH AND FRUIT QUALITY OF POMEGRANATE TREES (PUNICA GRANATUM L.) CV. SAWA

Abstract

This study was carried out during the growing season 2021 in a local private orchard located outskirts of Erbil city nearby to Bahrka, Kurdistan Region/ Iraq. On pomegranate trees (Punica granatum L.) cv. Sawa which were 12 old years, all trees that chosen had uniform in size and growth were trained with multi stems system and planted at 4x4 m, to study the effect of foliar application of Gibberellic acid at three concentrations (0, 150, 300 mg. L­­-1), and liquid Calcium at (0, 1.5, 3 ml. L­-1) on growth and fruits quality. Three rates of GA3 and liquid Calcium were applied twice the first one after two weeks of complete fruit set, and the second time when the fruit pill was change in color. The study was arranged as a factorial experiment in (RCBD) with three replications by using one tree as the experimental unit. The results were summarized that: foliar spray of (GA­­3) at (300 mg. l-1) rates led to a significant increase and gave the highest mean values of leaf content of (nitrogen, phosphor, potassium and calcium), leaf content of chlorophyll, leaf area, fruit size, epicarps content of Ca, TSS, anthocyanin and vitamin - c content. While foliar spray of liquid Calcium at (3 ml. l­­-1) gave the best results of leaf content of (nitrogen and potassium), leaf area, fruit size, epicarps content of Ca, TSS, anthocyanin and vitamin - c content.

Keywords

• pomegranate
• ga3
• liquid calcium
• foliar application
• fruit quality