Integrated Nutrient Management as a Low Cost and Eco-Friendly Strategy for Sustainable Fruit Production in Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.)

ABSTRACT

Prolonged and excessive use of chemical fertilizers has resulted in serious harm to soil health and ecosystems. This study aimed to reduce the cultivation costs for apricot trees, nearly 1/3^rd of which are spent on fertilizers. The research was conducted on fully grown apricot trees of the cultivar “New Castle,” in the Solan district of Himachal Pradesh, India. The experiment consisted of fourteen treatment combinations evaluated in triplicate and statistically analyzed using a randomized block design (RBD). Results revealed that treatment T₁₂ [50% Nitrogen (Calcium Nitrate) + 50% Nitrogen (Urea) + Azotobacter + Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria + Vermicompost] resulted in the highest percent increase in tree trunk girth (6.82%), highest leaf chlorophyll content (3.00 mg g⁻¹ fresh weight), leaf area (58.29 cm), fruit set (61.00%) and total yield (61.9 kg tree⁻¹). In terms of nutrient status, T₁₂ had the highest leaf N (2.95%), leaf K (2.60%), soil N (386.33 kg ha⁻¹), soil P (51.00 kg ha⁻¹) and soil organic carbon (1.81%). The highest net return and profit over recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) was also recorded in treatment T₁₂. The results of this study show that judicious fertilizer use along with integrated organic manure and bio-fertilizers can reduce cultivation costs, improve soil health, and increase fruit production with minimum ecosystem damage.

KEYWORDS:

• Integrated nutrient management
• apricot
• low-cost
• Azotobacter
• phosphate solubilizing bacteria
• vermicompost
• eco-friendly

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to B S Thakur (Professor and Head, Department of Fruit Science) for providing all of the resources needed to carry out this research. The authors extend their appreciation to the Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP2024R118), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Disclosure statement

The authors state that there are no known competing personal or financial interests that would appear to have influenced the work presented in this research.

Author Contributions

AK and DDS conceived the research and planned the study; The research work was carried out by AK; DPS, BS, PV contributed to the morphological and biochemical work; US contributed to the plant and soil nutrition work; NSP, OAS and MM contributed to data and statistical analysis; AK and PV wrote the initial draft manuscript; DPS, RC, KFA, and HOE revised and edited the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Data availability statement

The data which supported the outcomes of this research are accessible from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15538362.2023.2273356

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by University funding of Dr YSP UHF Nauni, Solan, (H.P.) India and Researchers supporting project (RSP2024R118), King Saud University.