Effect of Deficit Irrigation Regimes and Mulching on VNR Bihi Guava Agronomical and Fruit Quality Performance

Author: Rajkumar Jat*, Vijay P. Singh, Ratna Rai, Omveer Singh and P.K. Singh

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Abstract

The scarcity of irrigation water is one of the major causes of low productivity of guava orchards. Deficit Irrigation (DI) is a recently proposed water saving technique in irrigated agriculture. The impact of deficit irrigation regimes and mulching on VNR Bihi guava agronomical and quality performance was studied during the year 2019-20 and 2020-21. The experiment was carried out in two factorial randomized block design with 12 different treatment combinations consisted of three deficit irrigation levels i.e., DI at 50% ETc (DI50), DI at 75% ETc, and FI at 100% ETc. with four types of mulches (silver-black, black-black, organic mulch and without mulch) which are replicated thrice. Results revealed that fully irrigated trees had the highest vegetative growth in terms of plant height, plants spread and stem girth. However, DI50 along with silver-black mulch produced maximum total soluble solids, TSS: acid with minimum titratable acidity during both the years of experimentation.

Keywords

Deficit irrigation, mulching, fruit quality and guava

Conclusion

Deficit irrigation is found as a productive and water saving technique in drip-irrigated guava orchard. This study demonstrated that mild water deficit during fruit growth period could impose desirable water stress on the guava plants, resulting improved internal fruit qualities (total soluble solids and acidity) in the crop.

References

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How to cite this article

Jat, R., Singh, V.P., Rai, R., Singh, O. and Singh, P.K. (2021). Effect of Deficit Irrigation Regimes and Mulching on VNR Bihi Guava Agronomical and Fruit Quality Performance. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 13(3a): 153-159.