Diagnosis of nutrient imbalance by Diagnostic and Recommended Integrated System in pomegranate growing soils of south-western Maharashtra

Diagnostic and Recommended Integrated System (DRIS) approach was employed to develop soil diagnosticnorms of major, secondary and micronutrients for pomegranate cv. Bhagwa. For this purpose, pomegranategrowing 150 orchards having Bhagwa variety of 4-to 6-year-old under drip irrigation with hasta bahar were selected from south western Maharashtra (Solapur, Satara and Sangli districts). The DRIS norms developed forsoil nutrients along with DRIS indices and order of nutrient requirement in the selected orchards at bahar, 50 per cent flowering, fruit development and I^st harvesting stages of pomegranate are presented and discussed inthis paper. The DRIS norms developed for very low, low, optimum, high and very high status of soil nutrients inpomegranate at various crop growth stages can serve as nutrient guide and diagnose the nutrient deficiencyand excess or imbalance of nutrients. In this study, the DRIS indices indicated that calcium was the most neededplant nutrient by pomegranate at 50 per cent flowering, fruit development and even at I^st harvesting stage.