Peach
based agroforestry systems in degraded foothills of north-western
Himalayan region. |
Saroj, P.
L.,Tomar, D. S.,Arora, Y. K. |
Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute,
Dehradun (UP) - 248 195, India. |
The
investigation revealed that peach orchard can be raised successfully
even on degraded land by adopting site specific agrotechnique. The
porous profile with only 60 cm top soil depth (T3) favoured better
vegetative vigour of peach plants as compared to those sites having soil
only throughout the profile (T4 and T5). The drip system of irrigation
had good response on plant survival but overall plant vigour was not
influenced much in juvenile peach plants compared to rain fed control
under humid subtropical climate. Introduction of urd (Phaseolus
vulgaris cv. T-9) in kharif and toria (Brassica campestris [B.
campestris var. toria ] cv. Pant-303) in rabi season was a compatible
combination with peach plantation but growing of annual crops
particularly rabi season crop was uneconomical on highly gravely sites
(80% gravels distributed throughout profiles-T2). The yield of
groundstorey crops were affected by rainfall distribution pattern during
crop growing period coupled with canopy cover of the overstorey
component but there was no any adverse effect of groundstorey crops on
peach plantation. By this rotation, a net income of Rs 9068/- ha- can be
obtained every year under rainfed conditions. The yield and net income
were increased with increasing depth of top soil in the profiles. |
|
|