Articles
OPTIMUM PLANT DENSITY FOR SOME TROPICAL FRUIT CROPS
The results of the experiments are summarised hereunder:
Pineapple: In cv.
Kew, plant density of 64,000/ha is found optimum considering the yield (84.18 tonnes/ha) and fruit quality, further increase in density reduce the fruit quality and canning ratio.
Banana: The optimum yield (36.8 tonnes/ha), size and quality of fruit incv.
Giant Governor were obtained in a plant density of 2500/ha.
Papaya: A plant to plant spacing of 2m x 2m (2500/ha) incv.
Ranchi showed significant increase in yield (95.0 tonnes/ha) compared with 3m x 3m (1111/ha), without affecting the fruit size and quality.
Guava: Increasing plant density above 400/ha in cv.
L-49 markedly reduced fruit size and increased fruit acidity.
The optimum density was found to be 278 plants/ha.
Litchi: Observations over a period of 9 years revealed that spacing of less than 8m x 8m (156/ha) is not suitable for litchi cv.
Bombai in warm humid climate.