Disease management in conventionally and high-density planted Kinnow

Kinnow is the leading citrus fruit with 55.47 thousand ha in terms of area and 1312.4 million tons in terms of production during 2019-20 in the state among citrus crops. The study was conducted in the sub-mountainous zone of Punjab and a total of 120 Kinnow growers were selected for the study. The study revealed that higher returns in high density due to various factors such as faster returns on investment, better spray coverage at lower cost and easier harvesting etc. as compared to the conventional spacing system was ranked first by the respondents as the reason behind preferring high-density planting kinnow cultivation with a mean score of 0.94. Further, it was also found that 10.8 per cent of the respondents applied recommended plant protection measures in high-density planting orchards to control citrus canker while For control of Gummosis/foot rot, in high density planting14.2 percent of respondents administered recommended pesticides. Among cultural practices, it was found that the training and pruning method was followed by a majority (90.8%) of the respondents in densely planted orchards whereas in conventional planting method, it was adopted by all respondents.