Role of Soil Characteristics on the Growth of Kinnow Trees

A study was undertaken to compare the characteristics of soil profiles from kinnow orchard in Abohar to study the reasons of declining kinnow trees. The analysis of samples from soils supporting healthy and declining kinnow trees revealed that there was not much difference in pH, organic carbon, available P, available K, DTPA extractable Zn, Cu and Mn. Soil salinity was not a problem in 3 of the orchards surveyed, but higher salinity in the vicinity of declining trees as compared to healthy trees in Chhuriwala orchard may be one of the contributing factor for decline. In all the orchards except Alamgarh, CaCO₃ was more than 10 per cent in lower layers of profile. Though, three of the four orchards surveyed (except Alamgarh) had CaCO₃ content over 10 per cent, the lime content do not appear as the cause of decline due to occurence of declining trees in orchard with less than 10 per cent CaCO₃. However in Chhuriwala orchard the CaCO₃, in lower layers was high especially in case of declining trees. Hence none of the soil characteristics studied except EC and CaCO₃ appeared to have bearing on kinnow decline.