High density planting in papaya (Carica papaya L.)
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Date
2005
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Department of Pomology and Floriculture, College of Agriculture, Vellayani
Abstract
An experiment was conducted in the Department of Pomology and Floriculture, College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2003-2004 to study the effect of different spacings on growth, yield and quality of papaya and to standardise the optimum spacing. The experiment was conducted in randomised block design with five treatments and four replications.
The results of the study indicted that the vegetative characters were influenced by the spacings tried. As the plant spacing decreased, the plant height also increased and upto the spacing 1.75 x 1.75 m it was reasonable. The girth and number of leaves per plant decreased with decrease in spacing. Closer spacings upto 1.75 x 1.75 m resulted in reasonably good plant girth. Closer spacings upto 1.5 x 1.5 m did not have very harmful effects on the number of leaves produced. Wider spacings upto 2 x 2 m showed early flowering. The spacing upto 1.75 x 1.75 m could be considered to be flowering at lower height. The time taken for harvest decreased with increase in spacing upto 2 x 2 m. The root spread also increased with increase in spacing. Leaf area index and root : shoot ratio increased with decrease in spacing. Dry matter production increased under wider spacing upto 1.75 x 1.75 m.
The number of fruits per plant and market acceptance of the fruits were not influenced by the spacing. Fruit weight increased as the spacing increased and was high under wider spacing upto 2 x 2 m. Fruit length, fruit girth, seed content and cavity index were high upto 1.75 x 1.75 m. Pulp percentage increased as the spacing decreased and it was reasonable upto the spacing of 1.75 x 1.75. Yield per plant was higher under wider spacing. The yield per hectare increased as the plant population increased. The closest spacing of 1.25 x 1.25 m gave the highest tonnage per hectare.
Quality of the fruits was also affected by the spacings tried. TSS, total sugars and shelf-life increased under wider spacing and was superior upto the wider spacing of 2 x 2 m. Acidity and ascorbic acid showed a reduction as the spacing increased. Carotenoids was not significantly affected by different spacings.
Organoleptic evaluation indicted that the spacings upto 1.75 x 1.75 m were superior than further closer spacings.
The highest net profit was observed for spacing 1.75 x 1.75 m. But the cost of cultivation increased with increase in plant population and hence the benefit : cost ratio was the highest under wider spacings upto 2 x 2 m.
From the results it can be concluded that a spacing of 1.75 x 1.75 m was suitable for papaya cultivation in commercial scale under Kerala conditions. However, for better fruit quality, spacing of 2 x 2 m and above was suitable.
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PG
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Citation
172398