The effects of foliar fertilizers on the Red Pitaya (Hylocerus polyrhizus) fruit weight.

摘要

Red Pitaya (Hylocerus polyrhizus) is a new fruit crop in Malaysia that was introduced in the early of 2000's. Due to its high content in vitamins, antioxidants properties and attractive appearance it is highly demanded in the domestic market. The market price of Red Pitaya is based on the fruit size, where a fruit weighing more than 450 g is categorized as grade A fruit, which lead to better market price. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of foliar fertilizer on Red Pitaya fruit weight and quality by spraying the branches and aerial roots. Four types of foliar fertilizers; Box-FruitReg. (1% v/v), Box-MBFReg. (1% v/v), potassium nitrate (1% w/w) and mono-potassium phosphate (1% w/w) were used. The fertilizers were sprayed at weekly intervals and the yield performance was recorded after three months of treatment's application. Fourteen batches of fruits were harvested during this study. The results showed that treated plants were not significantly different from untreated plants in fruit production and total yield, except for the plants treated with Box-MBFReg. which recorded lower yield. The Box-FruitReg. treated plants however produced heavier fruits with an average of 342.0 g than the untreated plants with an average of 279.9 g/fruit. Meanwhile, potassium nitrate treated plants showed slightly heavier fruit as compared to untreated plants at 295.3 g but this was not significantly different. Both Box-FruitReg. and potassium nitrate fertilizers improved the fruit quality of Red Pitaya by producing 22.1% and 16.2% grade A fruits respectively compared to the untreated plants which only produced 10.4% of the grade A fruit.