Improving the quantitative and qualitative of Manfalouty pomegranate cultivar

Abstract

One of the major physiological disorders for pomegranate cultivation is the excessive of fruit cracking. lately, a pomegranate physiological syndrome called ‘aril paleness’ in which a part or all of the arils appear discoloration, affect the quality of fruit and such fruits are not desired for consumer. The present research designed to evaluate the effects of methyl jasmonate (MJ), humic acid (HA) and potassium (K) on reducing these disorders and improving fruit quality. Seven treatments including MJ (5 and 10 ppm), HA (50 and 100 ppm), Liquid K (1 and 2%) and control, were tested on pomegranate trees spraying three times, at the beginning of flowering (during April), after full bloom (end of June) and before harvesting (mid-September), during the two seasons of study. Different parameters including yield, fruit cracking and fruit quality were measured. The obtained results indicated that spraying HA at 100 ppm and MJ at 10 ppm are considered the best in their effects on the yield components, fruit quality and anthocyanin content, however for decreasing the fruit cracking, it could be recommended to spray the fruits with K at 1% or MJ 10 ppm compared to the rest of the treatments.