Abstract:
Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) belongs to family Clusiaceae considered as one of the
highest demanded tropical fruits with a higher economical potential. In Sri Lanka, Mangosteen
plants found as backyard plants or small cultivations in both mid and wet low-country areas.
This plant has inherent slow growth habit with long juvenile period of 8-12 years to bear fruits
and seedlings should be maintained at the nursery for 02 years or more. Therefore, it is
important to investigate possible growth enhancement at the nursery stage to expedite early
growth and development of mangosteen. For this purpose, an experiment was carried out at
Fruit Research and Development Institute, Kananwila, Horana, Sri Lanka during October 2019 to
February 2020. Nine treatments were formulated with sole and combined application of
Gibberellic Acid (GA3) and Cytokinin (6-Benzylaminopurine/6-BAP). Treatments were arranged
in Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates. Hormones were applied
at weekly intervals for 12 weeks as foliar sprays. The growth measurements of stem height (cm),
internodal length (cm), stem diameter (mm) and number of leaves were taken at two weeks’
intervals. Results revealed that, combine application of Gibberellin 200 ppm + Cytokinin 100
ppm (T8) had the highest stem height (6.0 cm) and internodal length (2.13 cm). The same
treatment also resulted in relatively high stem diameter (1.36 mm) and number of leaves (3.9)
at the end of 12 weeks’ period.