Author: Msc reserach scholar Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni Solan (H.P).

1. Effect of drip irrigation and fertigation
on the productivity of High Density
Planting of fruit crops
Credit Seminar
Altaf Hussain
F-19-63-M
Department of Soil Science and Water Management

2. Concept of High Density Plantation
• It is the modern novel concept of accommodation of maximum
number of plants per unit area to reduce the gestation period, increase
productivity, get maximum return per unit tree volume and improve
fruit quality without imparting the plant and soil fertility (Robinson,
2014).
• HDP system was first pioneered in Europe for apple in the early
sixties.
• Now days, high density planting techniques have been developed on
various fruits for different agro-climatic regions. In India, HDP
technology has been successfully demonstrated in apple, peach, pear
pomegranate, papaya, mango, guava and Kinnow mandarin etc.

3. Principles of High Density Planting
• To make the best use of vertical and horizontal space per unit time.
• To harness maximum possible returns per unit of inputs and resources.
• Grow fruit, not trees

4. Components of HDP
 Dwarfing rootstocks and inter-stocks
 Dwarf scion varieties
 Judicious training and pruning
 Use of chemicals/PGRs
 Suitable orchard management practices

6. Categories of High Density Planting
• Low – less than 250 plants/ha
• Moderate – 250-500 plants/ha
• High – 500-1250 plants/ha
• Ultra high density- > 1250 plants/ha
• Super high-density plantings or meadow orcharding - 20,000 to 70,000
plants/ha
High density system of planting is easily manageable, has higher yield
potential, with better quality fruits and higher returns per unit area. But it
cannot be adopted efficiently in steep, unfertile, shallow and drought prone
places.

7. Drip irrigation and Fertigation
• Drip irrigation is a micro irrigation method which optimizes the use of
irrigation water by providing it uniformly and directly to the roots of
the plants rather than the entire land surface on which the crop is
grown, through a closed network of plastic pipes and emitters.
• Drip irrigation is the slow localized application of water drop by drop,
at a point or grid of points on or just below the soil surface. Water is
delivered to the plants via a set of plastic lateral tubes laid along the
ground or buried just beneath it for protection .
• Fertigation is the technique to apply water soluble solids or liquid
fertilizers through the drip irrigation on weekly or monthly basis so as
to reach each and every plant regularly and uniformly.

9. • Fertigation permits application of a nutrient directly at the site of a
high concentration of active roots and as needed by the crop.
Fertigation allows adopting the amount and concentration of the
applied nutrients in order to meet the nutritional requirement of the
crop throughout the growing season (Raina et al. 2011).
Source: Precision Farming Development Centres Research Findings on Fertigation Techniques

12. Why should we prefer drip irrigation ?
• High water use efficiency, reductions in deep percolation, surface runoff and
evaporation from the soil
• Highly uniform distribution of water
• High returns per unit area and time
• It reduces water contact with crop which stops incidences of water borne
diseases, weed growth
• Maximize profit by applying right amount of water and fertilizer at right
time.
• Minimize adverse environmental effects by reducing leaching losses of
fertilizers and other chemicals below the root zone.
• Reduced labour cost
• No need for a separate drainage system

13. Constrains in Drip Irrigation
• The small openings or paths in an emitter can be clogged by soil particles,
organic matter, minerals and sediment in the water and algae growth.
• The sun can affect the tubes used for drip irrigation, shortening their usable
life and their longevity is variable.
• System is subject to damage by animals, rodents, insects, and machines.
• Requires a higher level of design and management than other systems.
• May require higher initial and annual investment than other types of
irrigation.
• Require skilled labour for operating the system.

14. EFFECT OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF DRIP AND BASIN IRRIGATION
ON GROWTH, YIELD, FRUIT QUALITY AND LEAF NUTRIENT
CONTENTS OF PEACH CV. REDHAVEN
 During the course of experiment five treatments were given and each
treatment were replicated five times viz.,
 Drip irrigation at 100 % ETc
 DI at 80 % ETc
 DI at 60 % ETc
 Basin irrigation at 100 % ETc
 Rainfed (control)

15. Table: Effect of different levels of drip and basin irrigation on
cropping parameters of peach cv. Redhaven
Treatments Fruit set (%) Fruit drop (%) Fruit yield
(kg ha-1)
Fruit yield
(tonne ha-1)
T1(DI at 100% ETc) 82.46 11.29 16.21 20.26
T2 (DI at 80 % ETc) 82.00 11.53 15.28 19.10
T3 (DI at 60 % ETc) 79.97 13.44 10.77 13.46
T4 (BI at 100 % ETc) 80.44 12.90 13.07 16.33
T5 (control) 77.62 15.68 8.08 10.10
CD (0.05) NS 0.05 0.18 0.22
Verma and Chandel (2017)

16. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana
• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was launched in
1st July, 2015, by Central Government with an overarching vision to ensure
access to some means of protective irrigation for all agricultural farms in the
country, and to produce ‘Per Drop More Crop’, thus bringing much
desired rural prosperity.
• Four components of PMKSY are
Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP),
Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP),
Per Drop More Crop and Watershed Development.
• PMKSY adopts State level planning and projectised execution that allows
States to draw up their own irrigation development based on District
Irrigation Plans and State Irrigation Plans.
• The cumulative total coverage under the PMKSY during 2015-2020 was
50,07,403.71 ha.

18. Micro Irrigation Progress Monitoring System
Physical Progress Monitoring Report, Himachal Pradesh
Source: Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana
website:pmksy.gov.in

19. Irrigation scheduling and fertigation in pomegranate cv.
Bhagwa under high density planting system
Haneef et al. 2014
• The trial was conducted on 4-year-old
pomegranate plants of cv. Bhagwa
growing under high density planting
system (2 m x 2 m) at Horticultural
Farm, Rajasthan College of
Agriculture, MPUAT, Udaipur during
2010-11.
• Four fertigation treatments, i.e., at 50,
75, 100 and 125 % recommended
dose of fertilizers and three drip
irrigation treatments, i.e., 50, 75 &
100% on pan evaporation basis.

20. It is evident from the data presented in above table, that fertigation and drip irrigation levels had
significant effect on the yield attributes. Fertigation level F3 (125% RDF) recorded the maximum
number of fruits (52.0), average fruit weight (170.56 g) and yield (8.90 kg plant-1)

21.  The interaction between fertigation and drip irrigation levels were
found to be quite superior to their individual effect.
 Among the treatment combinations I2F3 (100% DI + 125% RDF)
exhibited significantly higher values of plant height (2.37 m) and plant
spread (2.07 m E-W x 2.10 m N-S).
 The combined treatment I2F2 (100% DI + 100% RDF) recorded
significantly higher fruit weight (176 g) and yield (10.03 kg plant-1)

23. Vegetative Growth and Foliage Nutrient Content
of Super Chief Apple under Different Irrigation and
Fertigation Schedules in NW Himalayan Region
Thakur et al. 2020
• The aim of the current experiment was to determine how
fertigation would affect productivity in a high-density apple
orchard located in Himachal Pradesh.
• Sixteen treatment combinations of four irrigation levels and
four fertigation levels were given i.e.,
I1 – drip irrigation at 100% ETc
I2 – drip irrigation at 80% ETc
I3 – drip irrigation at 60% ETc
I4 – conventional irrigation
F0 – No fertilizer application (absolute control)
F1 – 100% of AD (NPK)
F2 – 75% of AD (NPK) and
F3 – 50% of AD (NPK)

25. Thakur et al. 2020

26. • It is evident from the data presented in previous table that fruit yield was
significantly influenced by different irrigation and fertigation levels.
• On pooled analysis, it has been found that maximum yield was under
irrigation level I1 (25.29 t ha−1), while the lowest was under I3 (18.85 t
ha−1) and fertigation level F1 (25.53 t ha−1) had the highest yield while
lowest was under F0 level (19.19 t ha−1).
• Interaction I1F1 (29.92 t ha−1) had a maximum significant effect on the
yield of apple which was statistically at par with interaction I4F1 (27.49 t
ha−1) and lowest was under I3F0 (16.67 t ha−1).
• From the study, it can be concluded that trees irrigated with 100% ETc and
application of 100% RDF through fertigation showed the highest values for
yield characters.

27. • Use of Drip irrigation along with fertigation in HDP orchards allows
more precise management of water and fertilizer applications than
other conventional systems. The results of case studies revealed that
all the treatments of drip irrigation, fertigation was found to enhance
the water and fertilizer use efficiency over conventional methods.In
the case of drip irrigation, however, the depletion of available soil
moisture from the same soil depth was quite low as very frequent
applications of irrigation water created an adequate environment in the
soil-plant-atmosphere system and helped proper growth of the fruit
trees.
CONCLUSION

28. THANK YOU