In Vivo Evaluation of Different Fungicides for The Retention of Kinnow Fruit Against Pre-Harvest Pathological Fruit Drop

Pathological fruit drop in citrus is a widespread disease in Punjab causing huge economic losses to kinnow mandarin growers. The disorder was significantly higher during the second fortnight of September and the first fortnight of October in the Punjab. In current research, mature fruit-bearing 10 years old, 28 plants of kinnow mandarin (Citrus reticulata L.) grafted on rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri) rootstocks were selected. To examine the fruit drop, 6 different fungicides were applied in April, August, and September in a season. Amistar Top @ 1 ml /L of water, Nativo @ 0.5 g/L of water, Topsin M @ 2 g/L of water, Cabrio Top @ 1.5 g/L of water, Rally @ 0.5 g/L of water, Success @ 2 g/L of water were applied on ten years old kinnow plants. It was observed that the significantly (P<0.01) lowest (7.75%) fruit drops were recorded when Topsin. M (Thiophanate methyl) 2 g/litter of water was applied and the highest (39.86%) were dropped was observed when Success (Chlorothalonil+Metalaxyl) @ 2 g/litter of water was applied. The highest fruit yield per plant was recorded in Topsin. M (85.5 Kg) followed by Amistar Top (81.3 Kg), while the lowest was recorded in untreated plants (58.3 Kg). The highest fruit juice was recorded in Topsin M (53%) followed by Amistar Top (52%), while the lowest fruit juice was found in control (44%) where plants were left untreated and treated with Success (43%). Topsin M and Amistar Top were more effective than others in controlling fruit drop and improving the quality of the fruit of kinnow. Similar impact was observed by selected pre-harvest application of fungicide on yield and fruit quality attributes e.g., fruit length, fruit breadth, and fruit weight.