Effect of drip irrigation and nutrient management of Mango (Mangifera indica) in alfisols of semi- arid tropics

Abstract

A field experiment on 'Kesar' mango was conducted in Alfisols at Hayathnagar Research Farm of Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad during June 2001 to May 2003 in an orchard established during 1993 at a high density of 6 m x 5 m. The effect of 4 irrigation levels (no irrigation, drip at 0.25,0.5 and 0.75 Ep as main treatments) and five nutrition levels (no nutrition, 75 kg farmyardmanurei tree, recommended NPK (100 g each of N, P,O, and K,O/ tree/year of age), 100 per cent NPK+75 kg farmyard manure1 tree, and 50% NPKi-37.5 kg farmyard manurehee (sub treatments) was evaluated on growth, yield and quality parameters of mango in split-plot design. Drip irrigation at 0.75 Ep registered higher fruit weight during first year and number of fruits in second year than no irrigation. Application of organic and inorganic forms of nutrients individually or in combination increased the fruit number and weight significantly over control. All irrigation levels produced comparable fruit yield in first year, but drip irrigation at 0.75 Ep gave significantly higher fruit yield (44.9 kgttree) than no irrigation (1 8.4 kgitree) in the second year. Conjunctive use of recommended NPKt75 kg farmyard manureltree recorded maximum fruit yield of 26.9 kgitree in 2001-02 and 55.2 kg1 tree in 2002-03. Drip at 0.25 Ep resulted in maximum wateruse efficiency in both the years.