Effect of Soil and Foliar Applied Fungicides On Production and Quality of ‘Blood Red' Sweet Orange In Pakistan

The current research studies involved a comprehensive study on effect of soil drenching of fungicides on yield and fruit quality of ‘Blood Red’ sweet orange. The experiment was performed on 13-14 years old sweet orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck L. cv. Blood Red) trees grafted on rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri Lush.) rootstock, growing at Sq. No. 9 Experimental Fruit Garden, Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (Latitude 31°- 26´ N  and Longitude 73°- 06´ E) Province Punjab, Pakistan. Two fungicides Alliette and Ridomil Gold MZ and CuSO₄ were used alone, and in different combinations. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with nine treatments including control with three replications. A single tree was taken as treatment unit hence data were collected from 27 trees.  The experiment was performed for two years and data on fruit drop, fruit yield and fruit quality including physical and biochemical characters were recorded. Physical characters of the fruit included average fruit weight, fruit diameter, peel thickness, number of seeds per fruit, seed weight per fruit, seed health, peel pulp and juice ratio while biochemical characters were TSS, acidity, sugars profile, vitamin C. The results showed non significant differences among treatments with to fruit drop and yield. Similarly all the treatments produced fruit of same quality of fruit except number of seeds per fruit which were significantly affected with different treatments. It was revealed from these two year studies that for such a field experiment, so short period was insufficient to get concrete results of fungicides application. However general health and vigour was improved which was attributed to better uptake of nutrients by improved health of diseased roots of the trees. Further it was evident from the results that best management practices could improve the production of sweet oranges in Pakistan for diversification of monoculture citrus industry of Pakistan through productivity enhancement of sweet oranges.