Ground-cover management studies in kinnow orchard

Abstract

The six ground-cover species viz. aloe vera, brahmi, lemongrass, mentha, stevia and turmeric, were grown
in the kinnow orchard. The cultivation of mentha, intercropped with kinnow, exhibited better performance in
terms of fruit length (5.81cm), fruit breadth (6.77 cm), fruit weight (156.50 g) and fruit yield (61.04 Kg), followed
by brahmi as compared to other treatments. The quality attributes like juice content, total soluble solids (TSS),
titratable acidity (TA), and TSS/TA of fruits grown under different intercropping systems were statistically at par
with control during the first year of study. However, the highest juice content (46.32 %), TSS (11.28 %), TSS/TA
(14.25) and minimum TA (0.79 %) were recorded in kinnow intercropped with mentha. The highest leaf N content
was recorded in the cover crops of Kinnow + mentha (1.97 %), P and K content in Kinnow + brahmi (0.20 and
1.35 %, respectively), while these were found to be the lowest in control. Overall, Kinnow + mentha and Kinnow
+ brahmi proved to be effective intercropping systems in the Kinnow growing areas