Performance of arid zone fruit trees in watershed areas of Tamil Nadu.
Veeraputhiran R., Dawood M. S., Rani A. S.
Author Affiliation: Agricultural College and Research Institute, Killikulam 628 252 Tamil Nadu, India.
Journal of Ecobiology 21 : 197-199
Abstract : Field experiments were conducted at farmer's fields of eight watershed areas (Thogamalai, Peramnalur, Vaiyampatti, Marungapuri, Thonthoni, Aravakurchi, Vennamalai & Manapparai) in Trichy, Karur and Perambalur districts of Tamil Nadu during 1998-2002 to study the performance of fruit tree crops. The seedlings of fruit trees namely mango, amla, sapota and guava were planted in 0.50 acre area each restricting two types of fruit trees in a watershed. The results revealed that the survival rate of fruit trees was higher for mango and sapota followed by amla. The growth parameters like plant height and number of secondary branches were also higher in amla, mango and sapota at all the stages of observation. Similarly these fruit trees also recorded higher canopy spread and girth at a ground level. However, the performance of guava in this watershed areas was poor in terms of all above establishment, survival and growth characters. Thus, it may be concluded from the study that amla, mango and sapota fruit trees may be suitable for watershed areas for sustainable watershed development.