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ThesisItem Open Access High Density Orcharding of Guava (Psidium guajava L) cv. Lalit for Assam(2022) Borah, Anjan; Kotoky, U.The present research work entitled, ―High Density Orcharding of Guava (Psidium guajava L) cv. Lalit for Assam‖ was conducted at the Experimental Farm of Horticultural Research Station, Assam Agricultural University, Kahikuchi, Guwahati during the year 2017–2020 to standardize the planting density and to determine the ideal NPK levels for high-density planting system in Guava for Assam conditions. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomised Block Design (RBD) with 3 replications and two factors comprising of four planting densities i.e. S1 (4444 plants ha-1), S2 (5000 plants ha-1), S3 (6666 plants ha-1), S4 (10000 plants ha-1) and three fertiliser levels viz., F1 (50:25:15 g NPK plant-1 for first year and 110:55:45 g NPK plant-1 for second year), F2 (60:35:25 g NPK plant-1 for first year and 120:65:55 g NPK plant-1 for second year) and F3 (70:45:35 g NPK plant-1 for first year and 130:75:65 g NPK plant-1 for second year). The significant findings of the present experiment revealed that the high density planting had a substantial impact on plant growth, yield and quality of guava. The highest plant girth, canopy spread, number of branches, total number of leaves, leaf area and leaf area index were recorded in the lowest planting density (S1), while the maximum plant height was observed in the highest density (S4) during winter and rainy seasons of 2018-19 and 2019-20. The significantly higher number of flowers, fruits per branch, highest fruit set and lowest fruit drop was observed in widely spaced populations and the rainy season crop bear more flowers and fruits consistently for the two years, while fruit set percentage was recorded higher in winter season as compared to rainy season crop. The results also indicated that different levels of fertiliser had shown varied responses to vegetative and reproductive growth of plants. The fruit yield per plant increased significantly with decrease in plant population thus, maximum yield (1.74 and 1.83 kg plant-1) was obtained in the lowest density (S1) and the minimum (0.75 and 0.78 kg plant-1) at highest density (S4) respectively in the year 2018-19 and 2019-20. Further, the highest yield per hectare was obtained in planting density S2 (8.02 t ha-1) and S1 (8.15 t ha-1), while the lowest was recorded in plants under density S3 (6.04 and 6.76 t ha-1). The physical and chemical attributes of fruit were found significantly superior in lower densities during both years and the winter season crop was superior to rainy season in terms of physico-chemical characteristics of fruit. The 7 plants under the lowest population density (S1) yielded fruits with the highest length (5.79 cm and 6.17 cm), maximum weight (124.34 g and 130.21 g), highest volume (116.97 ml and 125.05 ml) and maximum pulp weight (113.39 g and 120.00 g). The lowest number of seeds (223.10 and 231.41), minimum seed weight (3.87 g and 4.37 g) and highest value of pulp:seed ratio were observed in the fruits of plants at the lowest density. The widely spaced population (S1) produced fruits with the maximum ascorbic acid, total sugars, non-reducing sugar, sugar to acid ratio, juice content and minimum acidity during both years, while the highest TSS, reducing sugar and pectin content was obtained in fruits from the plant at density S1 in 2018-19 and S2 in 2019-20. The fertiliser level also impacted the yield and quality of fruit quite significantly, the highest fruit yield per plant (1.54 and 1.64 kg per plant) and maximum yield per unit area (9.06 t ha-1 and 9.73 t ha-1) during the first and second year of investigation was obtained with the application of F3 level of fertiliser. Also, the plants nourished with the highest level of fertiliser (F3) produced fruits superior in quality irrespective of season or year. The plants under the lowest density (S1) had the highest percentage of leaf NPK, while the maximum N (1.52% and 1.61%), P (0.26% and 0.28%) and K (0.62% and 0.63%) was found in leaves of plants treated with F3 level of fertiliser. The total chlorophyll content of leaves was also varied markedly with different levels of plant density and fertiliser, the highest value of chlorophyll content (1.91 mg g-1 and 2.07 mg g-1) was noted in the lowest density (S1), while it was found maximum in the highest level of fertiliser (F3). The interaction of lower plant densities with the highest level of fertiliser produced superior results in comparison to other combinations, the S1F3 and S2F3 treatment combinations resulted in higher yield with superior quality fruits. The highest benefit to cost ratio was estimated to be 3.28 in S1F3 followed by 2.92 in the S2F3 combination. The guava plants grown at population density of 4444 plants ha-1 with the application of 70:45:35 g NPK plant-1 in the first year and 130:75:65 g NPK plant-1 in the second year exhibited optimum growth, higher yield with superior quality fruits and gave higher profitability.
