PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck), valued for its health benefits and flavour, requires balanced nutrition for optimal productivity. A field study was conducted on the 'Sathgudi' variety to evaluate the impact of synergistic inputs for the enhanced citrus nutrition - an integrated management approach on growth and yield of sweet orange. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design with ten treatments, replicated thrice. Treatments involved various combinations of farmyard manure (FYM), recommended chemical fertilizers (RDF), Arka Citrus Special, the bio-inoculant B. velezensis and proprietary nutrient blends applied through soil and foliar methods. Results showed that treatment (T₁₀), which combined FYM with a citrus nutrient pack (in both soil and foliar application) as nutrient spray with B. velezensis was the most effective. This synergistic approach recorded the highest values across all measured parameters, including incremental plant height of (35.28 cm pooled), incremental plant spread N-S of (45.32 cm pooled) and incremental plant spread E-W (45.73 cm pooled). Yield parameters such as fruit weight of (241.91 g in pooled), number of fruits per tree (255.28 in pooled), yield in kg per tree of (61.75 kg/ha) and total yield as (17.17 t/ha in pooled). This study concludes that the synergistic application of organic, inorganic and bio inoculant constitutes a superior integrated management strategy for enhancing the growth and yield of sweet orange.