Soil and Fertilizer Management

The following practices are adopted

1. Clean cultivation

• This practice involve regular ploughing, disking and harrowing of the area between plant rows
• So the land will be free from weeds, increase the infiltration and makes easy too mix fertilizers and green manure
• It is not a desirable practice to the horticulturist if nutrient supply and irrigation are limited
• It is done to keep the field free from weeds and to make the top soil loose

2. Cover cropping

• It is a practice of growing wepy and bushy plants with dense vegetative growth under horticulture trees
• It is more important in the areas of high rainfall
• Eg: berseem, Lucerne, beans, sweet potato, etc.

3. Inter cropping

• It is growing up of two or more crops on the same piece of land
• It is also known as companion or mixed cropping

• Eg: fruit trees+ vegetable crops, coconut+ banana+ pineapple (multi-storeyed crops)

4. Crop rotation

• It is growing of two or more crops one after another on the same piece of land
• Eg; rice-vegetables, cabbage-beans-cole crops- cucurbits, tomato-okra-cowpea

5. Mulching

• This is the process of covering naked soil around the stem of growing plant with layer of organic material usually plant residues and several other materials
• Mulching helps to conserve soil moisture, reduce evaporation, reduce compactness, maintain soil fertility, decrease soil erosion and control weeds population

6. Green manuring

• Green manuring plants like dhaincha and other legumes are grown when they are needed and then buried by ploughing
• Flowering stage is appropriate for ploughing
• Ideal green manuring crops should be fast growing to produce large amount of organic matter and also to fix atmospheric nitrogen

7. Terracing

• Land which are slopy and where there is more problem of erosion would require the use of terracing
• Cultivation by terracing checks the soil from erosion by reducing the velocity of run-off water

8. Reclamation of problematic soil

• Soil reaction (P H ) is a measure to determine concentration of hydrogen ions in the soil, although not directly influencing plant growth
• It has a number of indirect effects such as the availability of various nutrients and the activity of beneficial microbial activity
• A P H range of 5.5-7.0 is best for plant growth usually. 7.0 is a neutral point and below this is called acidic and above it is alkaline
• To lower the P H of an alkaline soil, calcium sulphate (CaSO 4 ) is used and to higher the P H of soil, calcium nitrate and quick lime (CaO) is applicable

9. Sod culture

• Literally, sod means grass
• Under sod culture system of soil management, orchard crop is grown under grass cover
• Natural grasses are allowed to grow and soil is not tilled in any way
• It prevents erosion and thus washing away of nutrients
• Grown grass is mown time to time to use as a mulch
• But, this system lays competition with growing crops and accordingly its use in young orchard is not suggestive
• Sod also depletes available soil moisture and nitrogen and especially in plain area where erosion is not as aggressive as in hilly areas, its follow up is restricited

10. Sod mulch

• It emphasizes weed free growth in the orchard
• All types of vegetation except main crop is removed
• With repeated utilization of organic matter, soil fertility gets depleted under clean cultivation
• Specially in orchards under clean cultivation, during summer due to exposed surface, moisture loss aggravates and the tree growth is restricited
• Closely spaced plants suffer a lot from pests/diseases and fail to produce proper crop in want of adequate nourishment and also due to poor exposure to solar radiation
• Depending upon soil, climate, type of plant, technique of cultivation etc. proper spacing can be recommended as:

Fig : Planting distance of various fruits