An Asian Journal of Soil Science

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Evaluation of Soil Fertility and Yield Regression in Apple Orchards of Western Himalayas


Affiliations
1 S.K. ATTAR, Agricultural Experimental Station (N.A.U.), Paria Farm, Ta. Killa Pardi, Valsad (Gujarat), India
2 Department of Pomology, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan (H.P.), India
     

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A nutritional survey was carried out to evaluate soil fertility status in major apple growing belts viz., Jubbal-Kotkhai, Karsog, Kalpa, Kotgarh and Naggar of Himachal Pradesh (India) situated in the core of Western Himalayas and also to study the effect of nutrient concentrations on influencing yield. Soil samples were collected from twenty five orchards for two years and concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, copper and zinc were determined. The soil macro-nutrients N, P, K, Ca, Mg in different locations were found in the range 95.11-202.58, 8.03-68.03, 53.11-278.07, 726.12-2727.11 and 126.28- 446.10 ppm, respectively while, the micro-nutrients Fe, Zn, Cu and Mg varied from 31.27- 78.23, 0.64-4.23, 1.18-4.80 and 9.97-52.11 ppm. Multiple regressions have been calibrated for predicting apple yields at different locations and for low and high yielding (>150 kg/tree) trees, where the models were found to have a high and significant predictability value. Using the data, fertilizer adjustment equations can be developed for prescribing optimum fertilizer doses for attaining high yields in the apple production areas in the Western Himalayas and indeed elsewhere with similar c1imatic and soil conditions.

Keywords

Fertilizer, Apple, Essential Nutrients, Regression Plane, Critical Limits.
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  • Evaluation of Soil Fertility and Yield Regression in Apple Orchards of Western Himalayas

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Authors

S. K. Attar
S.K. ATTAR, Agricultural Experimental Station (N.A.U.), Paria Farm, Ta. Killa Pardi, Valsad (Gujarat), India
N. K. Joolka
Department of Pomology, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan (H.P.), India

Abstract


A nutritional survey was carried out to evaluate soil fertility status in major apple growing belts viz., Jubbal-Kotkhai, Karsog, Kalpa, Kotgarh and Naggar of Himachal Pradesh (India) situated in the core of Western Himalayas and also to study the effect of nutrient concentrations on influencing yield. Soil samples were collected from twenty five orchards for two years and concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, copper and zinc were determined. The soil macro-nutrients N, P, K, Ca, Mg in different locations were found in the range 95.11-202.58, 8.03-68.03, 53.11-278.07, 726.12-2727.11 and 126.28- 446.10 ppm, respectively while, the micro-nutrients Fe, Zn, Cu and Mg varied from 31.27- 78.23, 0.64-4.23, 1.18-4.80 and 9.97-52.11 ppm. Multiple regressions have been calibrated for predicting apple yields at different locations and for low and high yielding (>150 kg/tree) trees, where the models were found to have a high and significant predictability value. Using the data, fertilizer adjustment equations can be developed for prescribing optimum fertilizer doses for attaining high yields in the apple production areas in the Western Himalayas and indeed elsewhere with similar c1imatic and soil conditions.

Keywords


Fertilizer, Apple, Essential Nutrients, Regression Plane, Critical Limits.

References