ICAR-Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Rehmankhera, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226 101, India

Abstract

Improvement of sustainable yield index (SYI) in fruit crop is the most important aspect of orchard sustainability and economic enhancement of fruit growers for which an investigation was laid out to improve SYI in guava (Psidium guajava L.) cv Shewta under different integrated nutrient management systems. Higher SYI was obtained using organic + inorganic systems (0.66) followed by NPK fertilization in soil (0.67) or foliar application of micronutrients (0.71) as compared to control (0.45) or adoption of sole organic sources of nutrition (0.45). A range of variation in SYI from 0.44 to 0.77 was recorded across treatments and seasons. The Reference ET0 and pan evaporation was varied between 0.82 to 5.33 mm/day and 1.30 to 7.0 mm/day respectively during reproductive stages of guava. Changes in soil physical properties were recorded across three depths (0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm); water holding capacity and porosity varied across the depths and treatments; 19.53 to 24.48% and 39.92 to 50.20 % respectively. Improvement in these two parameters might have contributed towards better SYI in guava. The co-efficient of variation (CV%) of guava productivity based on yield stability indicated lower the variation (1.2 to 4.9) higher is the stability. The dynamic variations in total fruit yield 31.4 to 72.5 kg/tree indicated immediate need for precise soil management to enhance yield potentiality. Conclusively for better SYI in guava, the nutrient requirement through organic (FYM, Azotobacter, PSM, organic mulching Trichoderma etc.) and inorganic (NPK, micronutrients) sources are essentially required in soils of inherently low or poor fertility status.

Yield sustainability through micronutrient management in Guava

“…The ecological significance is also acts as precursor for supporting the robust life cycling of trees considering micronutrient distribution pattern based on vast area (Adak et al, 2019c). Kumar et al (2017) recommended green manuring and precision farming in mango, and soil & tree health management in guava for enhancing the sustainable yield index (Adak et al, 2020). The present investigation was, thus, laid out with the objective of assessing the sustainable yield index in guava along with nutrient dynamics in fruit pulp under the influence of micronutrient spray at different critical developmental stages of guava.…”