ISHS Acta Horticulturae 735: I International Guava Symposium
EVALUATION OF ORCHARD MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF GUAVA (PSIDIUM GUAJAVA L.) FOR ROOT ACTIVITY DISTRIBUTION AND APPROPRIATE PLACEMENT OF FERTILIZER USING TRACER TECHNIQUE |
| Author: | S.C. Kotur |
| Keywords: | orchard management, root distribution, fertilizer placement, tracer technique, leaf nutrient, yield, fruit quality |
| Abstract:
An evaluation of cultural practices of orchard management was studied on 16-yr-old healthy and productive guava cv. Arka Mridula trees. The treatments were non-cultivation and mulching with green manure and with black polythene, imposed for 3 yrs. The intensity of root activity was the highest under polythene mulch (299643 & 26397 dpm g-1 leaf, late rainy and winter seasons) followed by under green manure (240033 & 15596 dpmg-1 leaf) and under non-cultivation (125582 & 15072 dpmg-1 leaf). The depth-totals of root activity was distinctly higher at 160 cm distance from trunk under black polythene mulch during winter (50.19%) and under green manure mulch during late rainy season (40.92%). In rest of the treatments and seasons 31.25 to 36.53 per cent of active roots were present at this distance. Significantly higher Pdff of 20.7 per cent was evident when superphosphate was applied between 130 and 190 cm distances. Among cultural practices, the recovery of superphosphate was significantly superior under black polythene mulch (17.4% Pdff) while the recovery under non-cultivation was the least (12.9% Pdff). The highest Pdff of 28.6 per cent was observed under polythene mulch when superphosphate was placed between 130 and 190 cm distances. Significantly higher fruit yield of 154.25 kg plant-1 was obtained under polythene mulch followed by 119.38 kg plant-1 under green manure mulch. The lowest yield of 104.38 kg plant-1 was observed under non-cultivation. Conversely, the fruit quality declined as fruit yield increased and the corresponding values of TSS of fruit were 9.20, 10.68 and 12.73 per cent, respectively. Soil chemical properties showed that polythene mulch significantly lowered soil pH, organic carbon, exchangeable Ca and increased exchangeable acidity, exchangeable Mg and exchangeable K. Non-cultivation maintained better soil quality parameters among the cultural practices. The composition of leaf in respect of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S and Cu contents significantly increased among the cultural practices in the order: non-cultivation>green manure mulch>black polythene mulch. Among the orchard management practices, polythene mulch promoted high yield but, reduced TSS of fruits, degraded the soil and caused lower contents of most nutrients in leaf. Therefore, under black polythene mulch special care of soil in terms of fertilizer application and of correctives like lime are warranted for sustainable guava production. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
