A Study on Impact of Silixol (OSA) on Berry Cracking in Fantasy Seedless Grapes

Abstract

Berry cracking, a disorder where fruit surface cracks mainly due to heavy irrigation or rain after long dry spell resulting in significant commercial losses in the table and wine grapes production. A research experiment was conducted under field conditions during the session 2016-17 at National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune to evaluate the effect of Silixol (OSA) on berry cracking in Fantasy Seedless grapes. The experiment was performed in the randomised block design, with five replications. Foliar spraying of Silixol in combination of different chemicals was applied thrice at an interval of 10 days before veraison stage. Total rainfall, temperature and humidity were also recorded timely during the experiment. Among the all treatments, T6 (Si + Ca gluconate + Boron) showed significantly lowest percentage of berry cracking followed by T8 (Si Powder + Ca gluconate + Boron) as compared to control. The quality parameters such as T.S.S. and acidity were greatly influenced by the application of Silixol. The highest total soluble solid (21.5 °β) was recorded with the application of T1 (Silixol @ 4 ml/l). Yield per hectare (20.43 t/ha) and Brix yield (234.6 t/ha) were found highest in treatment T1 (Silixol @ 4 ml/l). This approach demonstrated the ability of Silixol to reduce the berry cracking and also improve the quality of grapes.