Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

CONTRIBUTION OF MICRONUTRIENT FERTILIZERS IN IMPROVING YIELD AND QUALITY OF FIG (FICUS CARICA) AND ECONOMICS OF THEIR APPLICATION

P. B. Jagtap , S. P. Gaikwad and Anju A. Bhagat

Abstract

The investigation was undertaken on four years old fig orchards (Cv. Deanna) at National Agricultural Research Project, Ganeshkhind, Pune, India during the year 2008-2010, with a view to study the effect of foliar and soil application of iron, zinc and boron on yield and quality of fig on Inceptisol. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. The treatments included foliar and soil application of FeSO4, ZnSO4, boric acid and borax. The soil was clay loam in texture, DTPA extractable Fe 3.0 mg kg-1, Zn 0.40 mgkg-1, and hot water soluble B 0.42 mg kg-1. The soil was deficient in Fe, Zn and boron content. The pooled results of three years revealed that the soil application of FeSO4 + ZnSO4 each 20 kg ha- 1 + Borax 5 kgha-1 at pruning recorded significantly higher yield attributing parameters like number of fruit per plant (227), average fruit weight (62.58g) and yield (14.01kg tree-1). The Soil application of FeSO4 + ZnSO4 20 kgha-1 each + Borax 5 kg ha-1 to fig increased significantly TSS (22.71%) ,reducing sugars (17.59%) over water spray and decreased acidity (0.17 mg /100 NaOH). The similar treatment recorded significantly higher gross monetary returns (Rs. 168109 ha-1), net profit (Rs. 94139 ha-1) and B:C ratio (2.27). The micronutrient content in soil was increased due to application of micronutrient fertilizers.