EFFECT OF IRRIGATION SCHEDULE AND FERTIGATION LEVEL ON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF MANDARIN (Citrus reticulata Blanco.) CV. NAGPUR MANDARIN
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Date
2021-12-31
Authors
KUMAR, SANDEEP
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
College of Horticulture and Forestry, Jhalawar
Abstract
The field experiment entitled “Effect of irrigation schedule and fertigation level on growth and development of mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco.) cv. Nagpur Mandarin” was conducted deploying 10 treatments in RBD with four replications covering 160 plants in all during two successive years commencing from March, 2019 to February, 2021 at the Instructional Farm, Department of Fruit Science, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Jhalawar, Rajasthan.
The experiment revealed that among various irrigation schedule treatments, application of treatment I1 (100% ETc) was observed significantly superior over other treatments with regard to growth and development parameters in which the increase in height of plant was 43.06%, in plant volume 2.39%, in number of leaves per shoot 53.63%, in number of branches per plant 2.06%, in leaf area 2.17%, in leaf NPK content particularly N: 2.53%, P: 0.23%, K: 1.72% and maximum leaf chlorophyll content (2.39 mg/g), besides minimum leaf proline content (7.75μg/g) were observed under this treatment I1 (100% ETc). The treatment I1 (100% ETc) was found better in improvement of the soil parameters (0-15 cm depth) including soil pH (7.19), EC (0.46 dSm-1), organic carbon (0.53%), porosity (52.77%), available N (319.33 kg ha-1), P (24.58 kg ha-1), K (290.92 kg ha-1) and microbial population in soil (Bacteria 18.17 x 106 CFU/g soil and Fungi 12.62 x 104 CFU/g soil).
As regard to individual effect of fertigation, maximum plant height (47.11%), plant volume (2.47), number of leaves per shoot (61.45%), number of branches per plant (2.07%), leaf area (2.23%), leaf NPK content (N: 2.56% P: 0.23%, K: 1.75%) along with leaf chlorophyll content (2.41 mg/g), besides minimum leaf proline content (9.50μg/g) were observed under the treatment F1 (100% RDF). The treatment F1 (100% RDF) was found better in improvement of the soil physical and chemical properties including soil pH (7.16), EC (0.47 dSm-1), organic carbon (0.55%), porosity (53.08%), N (322.58 kg ha-1) P (26.10 kg ha-1) and K (295.25 kg ha-1). However, better influenceon microbial population (Bacteria 19.33 x 106 CFU/g soil and Fungi 13.78 x 104 CFU/g soil) was found under treatment F3 (60% RDF).
Among the interaction of irrigation schedule and fertigation levels, all plant parameters were observed significantly superior except number of branches per plant and petiole length in treatment I1F1 (Irrigation Scheduling at 100 % ETc + Fertigation 100 % RDF) while treatment I2F1 (Irrigation Scheduling at 80 % ETc + Fertigation 100 % RDF) was registered at par with it in most of the parameters studied. In treatment I2F1 at par to maximum values in all parameters were recorded in which increase in height of plant was 49.32%, in leaf area 2.30%, in leaf NPK content particularly N: 2.57% P: 0.23%, K: 1.78% and the leaf chlorophyll content was 2.43 mg/g, besides minimum leaf proline content was observed (9.25μg/g) under this treatment. Further, this treatment was found better in improvement of soil parameters at 0-15 cm depth such as soil pH (7.14), EC (0.48 dSm-1), organic carbon (0.56%), porosity (53.27%), besides N (326.25 kg ha-1), P (27.05 kg ha-1) and K (297.75 kg ha-1). The soil microbial population (Bacteria 20.75 x 106 CFU/g soil and Fungi 15.20 x 104 CFU/g soil at 0-15cm depth of soil) had significantly better improvement in treatment I1F3 (Irrigation Scheduling at 100 % ETc + Fertigation 60 % RDF).
Summarizingly, from the present investigation it may be concluded that I2F1 treatment (Irrigation Scheduling at 80 % ETc + Fertigation 100 % RDF) was better over all other treatments. There had been water saving of 580.54 litres per irrigation per hectare which calculates to 76631.28 litres per hectare all along 132 irrigations supplied under fertigation treatment of mandarin at the average cumulative pan evaporation of 24.14 mm in comparison to I1F1 (Irrigation Scheduling at 100 % ETc + Fertigation 100 % RDF). Further, under this treatment (I2F1: Irrigation Scheduling at 80 % ETc + Fertigation 100 % RDF) over all better plant growth parameters as well as soil properties were also recorded.
Description
EFFECT OF IRRIGATION SCHEDULE AND FERTIGATION LEVEL ON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF MANDARIN (Citrus reticulata Blanco.) CV. NAGPUR MANDARIN