Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
very important. Modified crescent bund and coconut husk burial are the two
best soil and water conservation techniques for cashew orchard grown along
medium to steep slopes. The available water during premonsoon, monsoon
and post monsoon season can be efficiently harvested and used for higher
yields (25-30% more than control) using proper soil and water conservation
techniques.
Soil moisture stress in cashew orchard can be reduced by adopting
various cultural practices such as mulching, green manuring or growing
cover crops whichconserve soil health in term of soil moisture and nu-
trient conservation for crop production. Methods to minimize rise in
soil temperature and maintaining optimum soil moisture may help in
reducing the decomposition rate of the soil organic matter and thereby
reducing the CO 2 emissions. Higher soil moisture content was observed
in cashew orchard with glyricidia as green manuring crop (17.0 to 18.6%
dry basis) compared to sunhemp (17.8 to 18.3% dry basis), sesbania (15.5
to 18.2% dry basis), cover crop (14.7 to 17.4% dry basis) and control
(15.5 to 17.0% dry basis). Similarly, a significant increase in nut yield
was observed with glyricidia as green manuring crop (2123 kg/ha/year)
compared to control (1290 kg/ha/year) (Yadukumar et al., 2008). Mulch-
ing helps in many ways likeraising organic carbon content of the soil,
improving water-holding capacity, reducing runoff and erosion, and
making more water available for plants. The basin area of cashew plants
can be mulched either with green leaves, dry leaves or weeds soon after
planting. Black polythene mulch was helpful to conserve soil moisture
(Nawale et al., 1985). Using coconut coir pith as soil mulch in cashew
plantations resulted in 14.15% more water retention and suppression of
weeds to an extent of 73.52% (Kumar et al., 1989).
Although cashew is considered to be a drought resistant plant, it
does benefit from supplementary irrigation. Supplemental irrigation of
200 L of water/plant once in 15 days during January-March from ater col-
lected in ponds through rainwater harvesting helps in flowering and nut
development by improving the microclimate with increased humidity. It
also leads to increased nut and kernel weight by reducing the flower and
nut drying to some extent. Drip irrigation during fruit development may
be helpful to rainfed cashew crop under climate change drought situations.
Forewarning the outbreak of the dreaded inflorescence blight disease
in west coast region of India is of utmost importance for its effective man-
agement. Proper training of cashew trees from early stages and timely
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