ISHS Acta Horticulturae 11: IV International Symposium on Apricots and Apricot Culture
EFFECT MULCHING ON THE YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITY IN SHIPLEY'S EARLY APRICOT |
| Authors: | S.M Bajwa, L.K Chadha |
| Abstract:
Apricot culture is finding favour in the North India at elevations ranging from 3000 to 5000 ft. above sea level. During the last decade, large area has been put under important varieties of apricot like New Castle, Kaisha and Shipley's Early. One of the factors affecting apricot production adversely is the limited supply of irrigation water available in this region. At present, the major source of irrigation are the natural springs with limited supply of water. Water shortage if allowed to continue, adversely affects the production and quality of apricot. It is therefore, necessary that measure should be sought to conserve both irrigation and soil moisture available during the hot-summer months from March to June when the fruit sets and develops to maturity. Work has been carried out in various countries with a large variety of materials viz. grass mulch451017, black polythylene sheets381721, white alkathene18, leaf mulch1219, straw114, rice straw20, Excap11 and black granular cake7. As a result of mulching increase in fruit size913 and yield291920 have been reported. Mulches have been especially found beneficial for conserving moisture in the soil36714151617. A number of indigenous as well as commercial mulching material is now available in this country. An experiment was, therefore, laid out to find out their usefulness in conserving soil moisture, increasing fruit size and yield: The present paper embodies the results of this work carried out over a two-year period. | |
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