Influence of organic and inorganic nutrient sources on soil properties and quality of aonla in hot semi-arid ecosystem

Abstract

An experiment was conducted on young of NA-7 aonla trees to evaluate the influence of various levels of organic and inorganic nutrient sources on morphomatrix, productivity and quality attributes and soil quality during 2007 and 2008 under hot semi-arid ecosystem. Significant improvement was recorded in soil quality by application of different combinations of cakes, FYM and CPP. The vegetative growth, yield and quality of aonla were influenced significantly by different sources of nutrients. Vegetative growth was recorded significantly highest in the plants treated with farm yard manure coupled with standard dose of NPK. Various treatment combinations of organic nutrient sources increased the fruit yield and quality. Maximum yield per plant (32.15 kg) was recorded with the plants, which were treated with FYM plus standard does of NPK. Quality parameters like TSS, total sugars, vitamin C and total phenols were influenced considerably by the application different organic sources of nutrients. The soil parameters in terms of pH, EC, bulk density, hydraulic conductivity and organic carbon were also improved significantly by different sources of organic nutrients. Considerable improvements in the soil physical and chemical properties were observed by the use of different sources of organic nutrients.