Effect of soil physicochemical properties on yield and quality of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) osbeck) Reddy A. Ramanjaneya*, Munaswamy V., Reddy P. Venkataram Muni, Reddy B. Ravindra1, Sudhakar P.2 Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, 517502, Andhra Pradesh 1Department of Statistics and Maths, S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, 517502, Andhra Pradesh 2Department of Crop Physiology, S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, 517502, Andhra Pradesh *Corresponding author Email: arnreddy.2000@gmail.com
Online published on 19 September, 2020. Abstract A large number of biotic and abiotic factors are responsible for decline and low fruit yield both in quantity and quality observed in the citrus across the YSR district, hence the present study was conducted to determine the effect of soil physicochemical properties on fruit yield and quality of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) in YSR district of Andhra Pradesh, India. To carry out this investigation 50 sweet orange orchards aged between 12 to 13 years were selected. Soil samples were collected from 0–30 and 3060 cm depth of the orchards, and analyzed for physicochemical properties. Determined soil parameters like pH, free CaCO3, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), organic C, and assessed the impact of these properties on fruit yield and quality of sweet orange. Results indicated that soil pH (r = -0.512**), free CaCO3 (r = -0.329*), SAR (r = -0.424**) and ESP (r = -0.522**) were influenced the fruit yield negatively significantly. Fruit yield (r = 0.360*) and fruit weight (r = 0.330*) was positively and significantly influenced by soil organic C content. Soil pH, SAR and ESP showed a significant negative relation with per cent fruit juice and vitamin C, whereas soil CEC had significant positive correlation with total soluble solids (r = 0.366**) and vitamin C (r = 0.364**) content of the fruit juice. Top Keywords Sweet orange, Ph, EC, CEC, SAR, ESP, Yield, Quality. Top |