Lowering Chemical Fertilizers Rate in ‘Black Amber’ Plum Orchard for Improving Sustainable Resource Management: Effect on Soil Health and Fruit Quality

ABSTRACT

The combined application of chemical fertilizers and organic material is a transitional approach toward more sustainable and productive farming. This study aimed to investigate the response of low chemical fertilizer rates and supplementing with organic materials on soil health and fruit quality. In plum orchard, combination of reduced chemical fertilizer rates (R₈₀; R₇₀; R₆₀) with organic manures (F; V) at varying levels based the loss in nitrogen requirement and microbial inoculants (Bf; J) were studied over the conventional approach (R₁₀₀) on soil health and fruit quality in a 2-year experiment. Soil analysis showed soil physico-chemical properties and enzymes activity with application of R₇₀+V₁₀+Bf. Compared to integrated treatments R₁₀₀ saw highest availability of soil potassium and calcium. Application of R₇₀+V₁₀+J resulted in maximum improvement in fruit weight, TSS and soluble sugar content. Fruit set percentage was higher in treatment R₇₀+V₁₀+Bf. Fruit yield showed significant changes with treatments R₇₀+V₁₀+Bf and R₇₀+V₁₀+J having similar yield to R₁₀₀. Our results suggest that by reducing the amount of chemical fertilizer by 30% and partially replacing it with organic materials had a positive effect on soil health without affecting the fruit production and quality.

KEYWORDS:

• Biofertilizer
• orchard nutrition
• soil fertility
• TSS
• vermicompost

Acknowledgements

The author(s) are thankful to Department of Fruit Science, Dr. YS. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India for supporting this research. Author(s) also acknowledge Mr. Deepak Singh for allowing conducting the research trail in his orchard.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00103624.2024.2378972

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [DPS], upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.