Studies on initial establishment of mango seedling in saline environment.
Gupta N. K., Sen N. L.
Author Affiliation: Department of Horticulture, Rajasthan Agriculture College, Duaipur (Rajasthan), India.
South Indian Horticulture 51 : 106-109
Abstract : A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the salt tolerance of mango cultivars, and determine the soil and irrigation water suitable for initial establishment of mango seedlings. Treatments comprised: four soil types (S1: pH 7.86, EC 0.49 mmhos/cm, ESP 11.9), S2 (pH 7.24, EC 1.1 mmhos/cm, ESP 13.1), S3 (pH 8.35, EC 1.65 mmhos/cm, ESP 13.45) and S4 (pH 7.68, EC 2.6 mmhos/cm, ESP 14.2), and three types of water quality (W1: EC 0.50 mmhos/cm, pH 7.46; W2: EC 2.30 mmhos/cm, pH 7.12; and W3: EC 2.7 mmhos/cm, pH 7.06). The different qualities of water growing mango seedlings in various types of soil significantly decreased all morphological characters (plant height, leaf number, trunk diameter, plant spread), indicating that increases in salinity levels in all soils adversely affected the plant morphological characters. Water with higher electrical conductivity adversely affected the plant growth compared to other treatments. Overall, soil was the major factor for decreasing plant growth. Soil type S1 and water type W1 were the most suitable for initial establishment of mango seedlings.