Effect of Hydrogen Peroxide on the Growth, Fruit Set, Yield andQuality of Ewais Mango Trees

Abstract

T HIS investigation was conducted to assess the regulatory effect of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2) on the growth, development, yield and fruit quality of mango cv. Ewais grown under sandy soil during 2017 and 2018 seasons. The trees received five foliar sprays of water (control), 5, 10, 20 and 50 mM H 2 O 2 under field conditions. Results showed that 5mM H 2 O 2 treatment has significantly increased total chlorophyll content of the leaves, fruit set / panicle, fruit retention/panicle, peel weight, pulp/fruit percentage and reduced fruit drop of the fruits of mango (Mangifera indica linnaeus). Using 20 mM H 2 O 2 was reasonable in enhancing vegetative growth (number of leaves / shoot and leaf area), resulting in large fruit length and fruit width, increasing number of fruits/ tree,fruit weight and yield as compared with control. Regarding to fruit quality, it was observed that the application with 20 mM H 2 O 2 treatment significantly improved total sugar, phenol and carotenoids content. It was concluded that spraying 5 and 20 mM H 2 O 2 once a week, two times before anthesis (5 th of March and 13 th of March) and eight times after anthesis (from 20 th of April to 15 th of June)maximized the yield, productivity and fruit quality of Mango fruits under field conditions.