SHARMA, UDAYSWETA, KUMARI2016-11-212016-11-21201548370http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/86703ABSTRACT Ten orchards of each category of low and high yielders were selected for the study. Soil and leaf sampling was done from the selected areas. The collected samples of both soil and plants were analysed for physico-chemical and nutritional properties. The soils were, in general, near neutral in reaction. There was no problem of accumulation of any excess soluble salts. But, the organic carbon levels were found to be medium to high. The distribution pattern shows that all the macronutrients decreased as the soil depth increased. The nutritional status of the soils shows that amongst the low yielding orchards the available N was low to medium in both surface and sub-surface layers. The available P , K and S were medium to high in availability, while Ca and Mg were high in soil status. For the high yielding orchards, the available N and P were medium to high, while K, Ca, Mg and S in surface soils was high. For the sub- surface soils the available N, P, K and S were found to be medium to high, while the Ca and Mg were high in status. In the surface soils of high yielding orchards the DTPA Zn, and Mn ranged from medium to high, the Cu content was high, whereas, Fe ranged from Low to High. For subsurface soils, Zn, Fe and Mn ranged from Low to High. The leaf nutrient status shows that among the low yielders, the leaf N and Ca fall under low to high categories while P,K, Mg and S are medium to high. Similarly, in the high yielding orchards the leaf Ca fell in low to medium category, while N, P, K Mg and S were medium to high. In both low and high yielding orchards the leaf Zn and Mn were low to high and Cu and Fe were high. The fruit yield was found to be positively and significantly affected by surface soil Ca and Zn, but negatively correlated with surface P. For the sub-surface layers the yield was significantly and positively correlated with soil S and Zn and significant negative correlation was found between yield and sub-surface P .enThesis