Department of Fruits and Orchard Management, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Faculty of Horticulture, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India
*Corresponding author: kaushikdas.bckv@gmail.com
Online published on 5 July, 2018.
An experiment was conducted to study the effect of mulching on soil properties and post harvest quality of Himsagar mango grown in new alluvial zone of West Bengal at Central Research Farm, Gayeshpur, BCKV in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 3 replications during two consecutive years from 2013 to 2015. The results revealed that mulching with different materials on 15 years old mango tree cv. Himsagar having uniform growth and vigour, significantly increased the soil moisture content, available soil N, P and K, along with increase soil microbial population. Among the different mulching treatments, black polythene showed maximum soil moisture retention with improved soil properties. This treatment also exhibited maximum physico-chemical qualities of fruits followed by paddy straw and paddy husk. Black polythene mulch gave 80% marketable fruits on the 9th day of storage while control showed minimum storage life as evident from CO2 evolution and total soluble solids content of fruit.
To study the effect of different mulches on the soil properties and microbial population in Himsagar mango at new alluvial zone of West Bengal.
To study the post harvest quality attributes of Himsagar mango due to different mulching practices at new alluvial zone of West Bengal.
Mulching, soil properties, microbial population, post harvest quality, Mangifera indica L
