Analysis of Citrus Orchard Efficiency in Relation to Soil Properties

ABSTRACT

Orchard efficiency (OE) is one of the indices of evaluating the sustainability in production behavior of citrus orchards. A wide range of soil properties broadly categorized into particle size distribution, water soluble and exchangeable cations, and soil available nutrients were investigated in relation to efficiency of Nagpur mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) orchards established on smectite rich three soil orders (Entisols, Inceptisols, and Vertisols) representing 18 locations of central India. The soil properties, viz., free calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), clay content, water soluble- and exchangeable-calcium (Ca^{2 +}), available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and zinc (Zn) contributed significantly towards variation in OE. The threshold limit of these limiting soil properties was further established using multivariate quadratic regression models as: 132.1 g kg^{− 1} free CaCO₃, 418.1 g kg^{− 1} clay, 149.9 mg L^{− 1} water soluble Ca^{2 +}, 25.9 cmol(p⁺) kg^{− 1} exchangeable Ca^{2 +}, 114.6 mg kg^{− 1} available N, 12.8 mg kg^{− 1} available P, and 0.96 mg kg^{− 1} available Zn in relation to optimum OE of 82.1%. These reference values were very close to those obtained from best fit models, and could be effectively utilized in addressing soil related production constraints for precision-aided citriculture.

Keywords:

• orchard efficiency
• soil properties
• central India
• Citrus reticulata Blanco

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The financial assistance received from Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi for during the course of study, is gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

∗and

∗∗expressed in in mg L^{− 1} and cmol(p⁺) kg^{− 1}, respectively.