EFFECT OF INTEGRATED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF MANDARIN (Citrus reticulata Blanco.) cv. NAGPUR MANDARIN
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Date
2023
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College of Horticulture and Forestry, Jhalawar
Abstract
A field experiment entitled “Effect of integrated nutrient management on growth, yield and quality of mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco.) cv. Nagpur Mandarin” was carried out during the year 2021-22 and 2022-23 on 12 years old mandarin plants at the Instructional Farm, Department of Fruit Science, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Jhalawar. The experiment was consisting of 21 treatments of different organic source of NPK viz., vermicompost, cotton fortified vermicompost, neem cake, cotton cake, mustard cake and bio fertilizers such as PSB and VAM with three levels of recommendation dose of fertilizers. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications.
Among all the treatments, T9 (75 % RDF + 10 kg Vermicompost + 7.5 kg Neem Cake + 50 g PSB) was found significantly superior over other treatments with respect to plant growth parameters, yield attributes, physical characteristics and chemical or quality parameters of mandarin. Treatment T9 (75 % RDF + 10 kg Vermicompost + 7.5 kg Neem Cake + 50 g PSB) was found best with regards to maximum increase in plant height, plant spread (East-West and North-South), canopy volume, leaf area, chlorophyll content of leaves, leaf N, P, K content, fruit set and fruit retention per cent, number of fruit per plant, fruit yield per plant and per hectare, diameter of fruit, fruit weight, fruit volume, TSS, sugar per cent, sugar/acid ratio, ascorbic acid, juice per cent, soil NPK and minimum specific gravity, peel weight, peel thickness, peel per cent, days taken to first harvesting, days taken to complete harvesting and acidity per cent, which was closely followed by T20 (50 % RDF + 10 kg Vermicompost + 7.5 kg Neem Cake + 50 g PSB).
However, the soil parameters such as organic carbon per cent, water holding capacity and microbial population were found maximum and bulk density, particle density and porosity found minimum under treatment T20 (50 % RDF + 10 kg Vermicompost + 7.5 kg Neem Cake + 50 g PSB) and T9 (75 % RDF + 10 kg Vermicompost + 7.5 kg Neem Cake + 50 g PSB) was also found at par.
Similarly, T9 (75 % RDF + 10 kg Vermicompost + 7.5 kg Neem Cake + 50 g PSB) has resulted the maximum gross return of Rs. 4,03,770/ha which was Rs. 1,28,760/ha excess over control. Further, the highest net profit (Rs. 73,299/ha or 27.19 per cent over control) was also estimated at this treatment which was 46.82 per cent higher than control in pooled analysis.