AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE www.arccjournals.com/www.ijarjournal.com *Corresponding author’s e-mail: jatinder.19305@gmail.com Indian J. Agric. Res., 53(1) 2019: 96-99 Print ISSN:0367-8245 / Online ISSN:0976-058X Response of organic practices, mulching and plant growth regulators on growth, yield and quality of papaya (Carica papaya L) cv. Taiwan Red Lady Anis Mirza 1 , Rahul Jakhar 2 and Jatinder Singh* Department of Horticulture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144 411, Punjab, India. Received: 11-09-2018 Accepted: 15-11-2018 DOI: 10.18805/IJARe.A-5127 ABSTRACT The experiment was carried out to study the effect of organic practices, mulching and plant growth regulators on growth, yield and quality of papaya cv. Taiwan Red Lady 786 under subtropical conditions of Punjab. In this experiment, farmyard manure, vermicompost and mulching along with different concentrations of GA 3, NAA and Ethrel were tested in randomized block design. Maximum plant height (145.33cm), stem diameter (37.66cm), number of leaves/plant (32.33), number of flowers (135.66/plant), number of fruits (40.66/plant), fruit set percentage (78.18%), fruit length (17.13cm), fruit breadth (12.23cm), specific gravity (0.92) and ascorbic acid percentage (83.77%) was recorded in GA 3 200ppm with FYM, vermicompost and black mulching, whereas maximum TSS (16.71 0 B) and minimum acidity percentage (0.129%) was recorded with application of Ethrel 200ppm with FYM, vermicompost and black mulching. The results of this experiment revealed that integration of PGR’s application with farmyard manure, vermicompost and black mulch yield better results. Key words: Ethrel, FYM, GA 3 , Mulching, NAA, Papaya, Red Lady, Vermicompost. INTRODUCTION Papaya belongs to family Caricaceae with four genera and thirty-one species of that 3 are in tropical zone of America and one in Africa. It is a native of tropical America. Among the other species, C.cauliflora, C.pubescens K.Koch and C.quercifolia are possible sources of breeding material for inducing frost and virus confrontation in cultivated species of papaya (Krishna et al. 2008). It has emerged from a home garden plant to that of commercial plantations because of the availability of fruits throughout the year, ease of cultivation and the rapid returns (Drew et al, 1998). The use of plant growth regulators has assumed an integral part of modern fruit production to improve the quality and production of fruits, and it has resulted in improvements in yield and quality (Jain and Dashora, 2011). GA 3 upsurge fruit size, progresses fruit firmness, intensifies vitamin-C, TSS and overall sensory ratings of Red Delicious in apples (Hajam, 2017). Ethrel sprays are used for induced harvesting in walnut, pecan, olive and grapes (Yaloni et al. 2014). Because of its diverse effects; it is possible to use certain PGR at particular stages of fruit growth and development to exhibit maximum effects. Occasionally, they are needed to be supplemented exogenously for additional stimulus for plants such as papaya, which require quick responses for increased growth, fruit set and yield (Singh and Singh, 2009). Organic practices like FYM, vermicompost additionally contributes to extend in vegetative growth, yield and quality characters in papaya (Ravi Shankar et al, 2010). MATERIALS AND METHODS The present investigations were carried out at Experimental Farm of Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, (punjab) during the year 2017-18, to study the ‘the impact of plant growth regulators, vermicompost and mulching on growth, yield and quality of Papaya cv. Taiwan Red Lady 786’. Black polyethylene mulching with three plant growth regulators were used viz., GA 3 (150, 200ppm), NAA (150, 200ppm), Ethrel (150, 200 ppm) and control with four replications. Plants were subjected to uniform application of manures, protection measures and other cultural practices.There were eight treatments and total 32 plants were used for study. The different treatment combinations used were FYM 25% + Vermicompost 75% + Mulching + GA 3 150ppm (T 1 ), FYM 25% + Vermicompost 75% + Mulching +GA 3 200ppm (T 2 ), FYM 25% + Vermicompost 75% + Mulching + NAA 150ppm(T 3 ), FYM 25% + Vermicompost 75% + Mulching + NAA 200 ppm (T 4 ), FYM 25% + Vermicompost 75% + Mulching + Ethrel 150ppm (T 5 ), FYM 25% + Vermicompost75% + Mulching + Ethrel 200 ppm (T 6 ), FYM 25% + Vermicompost75% + Mulching (T 7 ), Control (T 8 ). Observations on growth, yield and quality parameter were recorded. The titratable acidity, total and reducing sugars and ascorbic acid content were determined by methods suggested in AOAC (1989).Data analysis was done through Randomized Block Design as advocated by Gomez and Gomez (1984). Overall significance of differences in the treatments was tested by using CD at 5% level of significance.