ORCHARD horticulture

 

Orchard refers to an area where intensive cultivation of fruit crops is done. Or it is an area

where fruit crops like mango, citrus, papaya, banana etc. are cultivated. Or it is an enclosed area where a fruit /group of fruit trees are grown. Establishment of orchard is a long term investment. It is require a proper planning, any

mistake during the selection of site, planting distance, choice of crop/variety, quality of nursery stock etc. reflect greatly on the orchard performance and efficiency. Orcharding: Refers to growing of fruit plants in an orderly manner and maintain them for successive economic returns. Garden: The term garden refers to fruit farm, where sophisticated agro-techniques are employed for commercial cultivation e.g. Vineyard/vinery- grape garden, Pinery- Pineapple, OrangeryOrange garden Plantation: Refers to a fairly large area where cultivation is done with a particular type of fruit crop e.g. Mango plantation, apple plantation, coconut plantation etc. Estate: Refers to large area (more than 1000 acres) of sole crop cultivation. This terminology was used in earlier days (British Empire) e.g. Coffee estate and Tea estate. Following points are keep in mind at time of orchard planning➢ Road- Orchard should be well connected with the road for facilitate transportation of material to the orchard and produce of orchard to the market.

➢ Orchard structure- In structure office, implement shed, go-down come store etc. are required. Area under these structures is not more than 10% of total area.

➢ Fencing and wind break- Before planting of plants, installation of fence is necessary for protecting the undesirable element. Fencing can be done by erecting a wall or by fixing iron angle or concrete cement pillar and tightening with running 4 to 5 times at a distance of 30-40 cm barbed wire.

Fencing can be done by two ways1- Permanent fencing-by barbed wire. 2- By suitable hedge plant.Height of the hedge can be maintained with regular pruning. Pruning should be done twice in a

year. The suitable plants are- Karonda, Henna plant, Chloredendran, Durenta, Ber, etc.

Wind break- Orchard tree should be protected from high velocity wind which could harm by

uprooting tree, breaking branches, causing pre-maturing fruit drop, erosion of top soil and

evaporation of soil moisture. Suitable plants are- Karonda, Putranjiva, Sheesham etc.

➢ Irrigation- For irrigation source of water should be at the centre of the orchard.

➢ Demarcation of block- Block should be demarcated according to nature of the plants. The

water requirement of the plant, cultural requirement of the plants, training pruning

requirement of the plant etc. are different i.e. why the specific nature of the plant should be

demarcated in separate block.

➢ Spacing-Proper spacing should be keep provide favourable condition to root and shoot

development. An optimum distance between row and within the row is most essential.

Closely planted tree grows poorly and give poor yield and quality of fruits, suffer more

with disease and pest. Planting distance varies with climatic condition, soil type, growth

habit, root stock use etc. in general there are two type of growth habit i.e. spreading type

and erect type. The spreading type plants required more spacing whereas, the erect type

plant required less spacing. Some of the important fruit crops and there spacing are as

follows:

Crop Plants

Mango, Jamun, Litchi, Ber

Jack fruit and Bread fruit

Date palm, Fig, Mandarin, Lime, Lemon

Pummelo, Grape fruit

Guava and Cashew nut

Sapota, Loquat, Avacodo

Custard apple

Distance

10×10 or 12×12

12×12

6×6

6 ×6 or 7×7

6 ×6 or 8× 8

8× 8 or 9× 9

4.5 ×4.5

➢ Selection of planting material- At the time of selection of planting material the following

points are keep in mind.

- They should be true to type

- They should not have been budded or grafted not more than 20-30 yrs. old plant.

- Planting material should have to certify by competent authority.➢ Planting of fruit tree- At the time of planting of fruit tree following points are keep in

mind- i.e. growth behaviour, canopy development and fruiting habits. The fast growing

tree should be planted in separate block whereas, the slow growing tree planted separately.

In canopy development the erect type of plant and spreading type of plant are planted in

separately in separate block. Regarding fruiting habit there are two types of plant i.e.

terminal bearing and axillary bearing each type of plants are planted separately.

TYPES OF ORCHARDS

There are various types of orcharding

1. Orcharding with single variety of a particular fruit crop.

2. Orcharding with different variety of a fruit crop.

3. Mixed orchard with different fruit crops of almost equal life span.

4. Orcharding with intercrops/intercropping.

5. Multistoried orchard.

6. High density orchard.

7. Dry land orchard.

1. Orcharding with single variety of a particular fruit crop:

✓ Mango orchard exclusively Alphonso variety.

✓ Guava orchard of Sardar variety.

Advantages:

1. Purity of the variety can be maintained.

2. Convenient for planning and management.

3. All the trees come to harvest at the same time.

Disadvantages:

1. The variety may be incompatible (which leads to poor fruit set).

2. The variety may be susceptible to pest and diseases.

3. The variety may be irregular like Alphonso variety.

4. The variety may not satisfy all consumers.

2. Orcharding with different variety of fruit crop:

✓ Mango orchard - Alphonso+ Kesar+Pairi.

✓ Sapota orchard - Cricket ball+ Kalipatti.

✓ Grape - Thomson seedless+ Sonaka +Sharad seedless.Advantages:

1. If one variety fails for some reasons other variety will give some returns/income.

2. Problem of self incompatibility can be overcome.

3. It can help in supply variety of fruits during different periods and to cater the needs of

different customers.

Disadvantages:

1. Purity of variety may be affected.

2. Management and harvesting varies.

3. Mixed orchards with different fruits of equal life span.

3. Mixed orchard with different fruit crops of almost equal life span.

✓ Mango+Sapota+Guava.

✓ Tamarind+Ber+Annona+Aonla.

✓ Fig+Pomegrante+Ber+Lime.

✓ Papaya+Banana+Pineapple.

Advantages:

a. More than one crop may be available on the same piece of land.

b. If one crop fails other crop will come to rescue and maintains continuity of income.

c. Year round income.

Disadvantages:

1. Management becomes very difficult.

2. Problems of pest and diseases.

4. Orchrding with intercrop:

This system involves incorporation of another species (fruit/vegetable) in between the

interspaces of main crop. This system uses the open space available during pre-bearing period of

main crop. The intercropping is discontinued once the main crop completely covers the canopy.

The intercrop selected should have the following characters.

i. Should be compatible with main crop in their water, nutrient and soil requirement.

ii. Compact stature and should not compete with main crop.

iii. Short duration when compared to other perennial crops.

iv. Should not act as an alternate host for pest and diseases.Advantages:

1. Helps in getting additional income from the orchard during pre-bearing stage of main

crop.

2. It also acts as a cover crop and prevents soil erosion.

3. Suppress the weed growth in open space.

4. Efficient land utilization.

✓ Banana, Papaya, Pineapple, Guava, Phalsa, Fig, Beans, Cowpea, Dolichos, Marigold,

Gaillardia, Aster etc.

5. Multistoried orchard:

✓ Coconut+Black pepper+cocoa+pineapple.

✓ Arecanut+Vanilla+Banana+Pinapple.

The principle involved in multistoried orchard is harvesting light at different height/story.

The planting should be such that sunlight is harvested by different crops at different

stories/levels/height and there won’t be any competition for soil nutrients, moisture and sunlight

because the spread and distribution of roots at different crop component is distributed in different

layers of the soil profile.

6. High density orchard:

High density aims at increasing the productivity per unit area by increasing plant

population/unit area by closer spacing. This has been successfully done in several temperate fruit

crops like apple, pear, peach etc. where there is availability of dwarfing rootstocks and plant

response for training and pruning and chemical regulation of size.

✓ Apple 3X3 ---1111 plants.

✓ 3X2 ---1666 plants.

Advantages:

1. High returns per unit area.

2. Maximum use of resources.

3. Possibility of adopting mechanization.

Disadvantages:

1. Competition in later years.

2. Pest and disease problems.3. Cultural operation is difficult.

7. Dry land orchard: Growing of fruit plants in dry lands like arid and semiarid zones as rainfed crop. This concept

is gaining importance as several fruit crops have been identified for cultivation in arid and semi arid regions e.g. Ber, Aonla, Datepalm, Tamarind, Fig, Phalsa, etc. With the advancement of irrigation technology and efficient water harvesting and

conservation some of high value fruit crops are also being grown in arid and semiarid/rainfed regions e.g. Mango, Grape, Pomegranate, etc.