Responsiveness of Mulberry Plant (Morus alba L.) towards the Agro-climatic Conditions and Its Influence on Growth and Yield Parameters under Sub-tropical Conditions of Poonch District of Jammu & Kashmir, India

Abstract

An experiment was undertaken to analyse the impact of fluctuating climateon growth and development of mulberry cuttings (T-1), saplings (T-2), wild tree (T-3) and cultivated tree (control) of the same variety (Chakmajra). Various growth parameters like survivability percentage, rooting percentage, number of sprouted cuttings, fresh and dry weight of leaves and moisture retention capacity (MRC) were studied. Poonch district experienced temperature (temp.) of 3.8 to 15.3 ºC, relative humidity (RH) of 56 to 62%, rainfall 560 to 87mm and snowfall of 213 to 461mm during January to April, 2022. Maximum survivability and rooting percentage of 85.6% in case of T-1 and least 60% in T-3. Whereas, maximum values of longest shoot length and thickest diameter was recorded in T-2 as 16.2 cm and 1.1 cm respectively. T-2 showed more positive results in terms of total no. of available fresh leaves (09), fresh (64g) and dry (16g) weight of the shoots, no. of primary roots (78), MRC (86.2%) and diameter of shoot (1.1cm). Therefore, it can be concluded that farmers should plant saplings directly to save time and resources as it showed better results in terms of various traits under the agro-climatic conditions of Poonch district.