EFFECT OF NUTRIENT SOURCES ON SOIL PROPERTIES AND PRODUCTIVITY OF KIWIFRUIT (Actinidia deliciosa cv. ALLISON)
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Date
2021-07
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UHF,NAUNI
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The present investigation entitled “Effect of nutrient sources on soil properties and productivity of
kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa cv Allison)” was conducted on 6 years old kiwifruit vines cultivar ‘Allison’ at a spacing
of 4.0 m × 6.0 m for two consecutive years 2018-19 and 2019-20 at experimental block of Department of Fruit Science,
Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (HP). The experiment was laid out in triplicate
in Randomized Block Design with 8 treatments under three farming systems viz., Chemical Fertilizer Based System
(CFBS), Organic Farming Based System (OFBS) and Subhash Palekar’s Natural Farming System (SPNFS). The eight
treatments are T1 (N: 800 g, P2O5: 600 g, K2O: 800 g + 40 kg FYM per vine) under CFBS, four treatments under
OFBS namely T2 {100% Recommended dose of N (RDN) through vermicompost (VC) and poultry manure (PM) on
50: 50 basis + 40 kg FYM per vine}, T3 (90% RDN through VC and PM on 50: 50 basis + 40 kg FYM per vine) and
T4 (80% RDN through VC and PM on 50: 50 basis + 40 kg FYM per vine) and T5 (70% RDN through VC and PM on
50: 50 basis + 40 kg FYM per vine) and three treatments under SPNFS namely T6 {15 liters of Jeevaamrit (JM) + 3
kg of Ghana Jeevaamrit (GJ) + 40 kg FYM per vine}, T7 (22.5 liters of JM + 3 kg of GJ + 40 kg FYM per vine) and
T8 (30 liters of JM + 3 kg of GJ + 40 kg FYM per vine). The maximum leaf area (158.1 cm2), leaf area index (4.36),
chlorophyll index, photosynthetically active radiation was found with the application of 30 liters JM + 3 kg GJ + 40
kg FYM (T8) of SPNFS) followed T2 treatment of OFBS over T1 under CFBS. The treatments T2 and T8 observed
comparable fruit yield, high percent proportion of A-grade fruits, lower fruit length and weight and comparable fruit
diameter over chemical fertilizer treatment. Best fruit quality parameters namely; TSS content (16.87 ºB), total sugars
(11.77%), reducing sugars (8.31%), non-reducing sugars (3.28%) and ascorbic acid (81.55 mg/100g) were recorded
with treatment T2. The T2 treatment also witness maximum soil organic carbon (31.23 g kg-1), available soil N (365.8
kg ha-1), available soil P (104.6 kg ha-1), available soil K (449.1 kg ha-1), DTPA extractable Cu (3.63 mg kg-1), Mn
(14.92 mg kg-1) and Zn (4.23 mg kg-1) in surface soil layers. However, T8 treatment of SPNFS estimated manyfold
increase in bacterial (200 cfu × 105 g-1), fungal (25 cfu × 103 g-1), actinomycetes count (22 cfu × 103 g-1), dehydrogenase
activity (35.8 μg TPF g-1 hr-1) and acid phosphatase activity (119.8 μg PNP g-1 hr-1) in addition to soil physico-chemical
properties. Maximum benefit: cost ratio of 12.36:1 was obtained in T1 followed by 12.22:1 in T8 treatment while
organic treatment T2 enumerated much lower benefit cost of 4.17:1 despite improvement in soil quality parameters
and comparable yields. This might be due to the high cost of organic inputs viz. VC and PM. Finally, it is concluded
that the treatment comprising application of 30 litres JM + 3 kg GJ (3 equal splits in end of January, February and
April) + 40 kg FYM per vine was found to be better option instead of chemical fertilizers to the Allison cultivar of
kiwifruit under mid-hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh to achieve comparable yields and nearly equal returns
accompanied by maintaining soil healt