Soil Management Practices in Fruit Crops

Soil Management Practices in Fruit Crops

Soil management practices include the methods to manage the orchard soil as to maintain and conserve organic matter, soil moisture, aeration & nutrient conditions to get the higher yield with good quality of fruits throughout the year. Soil management system depends on altitude, types of fruit trees, rainfall, climate, type of soils etc.

Some commonly soil management practices followed in the orchards are followings:

1. Sod Culture/Permanent Sod

Sod means – grass.

On sloppy land in which vegetative cover is established around the tree basin through growing grass, legumes to prevent severe soil erosion.

• This system is used in temperate region mostly apple and pear orchards.

• In the plains of the India this system is not recommended due to scarcity of available nutrients and soil moisture.

2. Sod Mulch

It implies to use cut grasses as mulch in fruit cultivation.

• In sub-tropics where prevalence of high temperature regime especially during summer is followed sod mulch.

3. Sod + Herbicide Strip

Supplement a permanent sod with band application of herbicide along the tree rows.

• Nowadays most commonly used.

• It eliminates the need for hand moving beneath the trees.

4. Clean Cultivation

It is just opposite to sod culture.

• Killing the weeds in the orchard which compete for moisture & nutrients.

• Clean cultivation is more useful during the summer months.

5. Clean Cultivation + Cover Crop

Partial advantages of both clean cultivation and permanent sod.

• Clean cultivation – Just during the growing season to improve productivity.

• Cover crops – During off-season to protect soil erosion.

6. Intercropping

Growing of more than two crops on the same piece of land to maximum utilization of in time and space dimension.

• Main objective is to maximise land and space use efficiency to generate supplement income.

• For intercropping fast growing and early fruiting like papaya, pineapple, banana, guava etc. fruit crops are suitable.

7. Cover Cropping

Cover cropping refers to practice of growth of crop to serve as temporary or permanent cover to the soil and are not ploughed like green manures and main aim to prevent soil erosion.

8. Multi Storied Cropping/Multi-Level Cropping/Multi-Tier Cropping

Arrangement crops of different height, rooting pattern and duration (multi-tier) are grown on the same piece of land.

• It is very efficient method of utilization of vertical space.

• Solar radiation trapping is also maximum in this system.

• Coconut, arecanut, betel, black pepper, pineapple, coffee, banana crops are best multi-storeyed combinations.

• It is most commonly used in coastal area where high rainfall occurs.

Examples

• Coconut – black pepper – cocoa – pineapple

• Coconut – black pepper – banana – ginger/turmeric

• Arecanut – banana – pineapple

9. Mulching

Covering the top surface of the soil around the plants to make conditions more favourable for growth and conserve the available soil moisture.

• The primary objective of mulching is conservation of soil moisture.

• The use of plastic mulch is becoming popular.

• In the temperate region black polyethylene mulch maintain better soil temperature.

• Black plastic mulch also used for soil moisture conservation and weed control.

• Yellow mulch is repeats the white fly.

• Coloured plastic mulch reduced the insect damage.

• Mulched soil remains cooler in summers and comparatively warmer in the winter.

• For soil solarisation transparent mulch (30–40 micron thickness) is used to increase temperature.

• 3–4 inches thickness of compost improves water retention & physical property of soils.

• 3–4 inches thickness of wood chips vulnerable to termite attack.

10. No Cultivation

It is practiced in the citrus orchards of USA & Australia.

Suitable Soils of Different Fruit Crops