Soil Characterization, Leaf Nutritional Status and Fruit Quality of Acid Lime Orchards in Patur Block of Akola District, Maharashtra

Abstract

The present investigation on “Soil characterization, leaf nutritional status and fruit quality of Acid Lime orchards in Patur block of Akola district” was undertaken during the year 2018-19. Twenty healthy lime orchards were selected on the basis of their yield performance and visual observations from five locations of Patur block viz., Wadegaon, Sasti, Patur, Mazod and Goregaon. The study was framed to evaluate the soil characteristics, leaf nutritional status and fruit quality of Acid Lime. Twenty soil samples were collected from 0-30 and 30-60 cm depth in randomly selected acid lime orchards. Similarly, the leaf and fruit samples were collected and analyzed for quality parameters. The results indicated that, the soil reaction was neutral to slightly alkaline with pH value varied from 7.35 to 8.14, EC ranges from 0.23 to 0.32 dS m-1 indicating the non-saline nature of these soils. Free calcium carbonate varied from 5.63 to 9.42%, Organic carbon showed decreasing trend with soil depth and having medium to moderately high in organic carbon. The available nitrogen was found to be low to medium, phosphorus was low, potassium was high to very high and sulphur was low to moderate. The DTPA extractable micronutrients in soil were moderately high in zinc, iron, copper and manganese. The leaf nutrient status was found to be low to optimum in total nitrogen, phosphorus and micronutrient and optimum to high in potassium. Fruits of acid lime were found to be of good quality. Since, the correlations obtained in the present studies did not show any consistent trend.