Agri varsity prepares model fruit nutrition garden for year round organic produce

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 19

Fruits contain all the essential elements but apart from being expensive, fruits brought from the market are also sprayed with chemicals.

Keeping this in view, a model of fruit nutrition garden has been prepared by Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). The main aim behind developing this model is to get fruits all year round at domestic level.

“Through this model, 22 different types of fruit trees are grown in an area of 625 square meters. The fruit nutrition garden provides all kinds of essential nutrients like calcium, phosphorus, iron, etc. Fruits are a long-term crop, so it is important to have right selection of fruits for better establishment and yield. Evergreen fruit trees and deciduous trees should be planted separately. Very tall trees like mango, lychee, jamun and sapota are recommended to be planted in the northern part of the home garden so that they get shade,” said an expert Dimpy Raina from department of fruit science.

Citrus fruits and guavas can be planted in the inner part of the garden and deciduous fruit trees like apple, pear, peach, plum and pomegranate can be planted in the south-eastern part. Papaya and banana can be cultivated in the last row on the southern side. On the eastern side, different varieties of grapes can be planted using the Y-trellis method. Karonda and phalsa on the western side and sweet lime on the northern side should be planted as a hedge, added Dr Monika Gupta, another expert from the department.

Five important points to keep in mind

• Before establishing nutrition garden always follow the recommendations for selection of different varieties of fruit plants, time of planting, layout, basic maintenance of garden, training pruning, fertiliser application, watering , insect pest management and harvesting.
• The layout of fruit nutrition garden should be planned before digging and filling holes for planting. Layout should contain provision of road, water pits and paths between the garden.
• Indulge in organic way of making nutrition garden following methods like use of mulch and straw/plastics for weeds, farm yard manure, manure for feeding, spraying of neem compounds for insect control, and PAU fruit fly traps for fruit fly. All these measures also reduce the use of pesticide chemicals.
• Take measures to protect fruit plants especially papaya and banana from frost. Apart from this, it is very important to protect newly planted plants such as mango, litchi, amla and guava plants from cold and frost.
• Get plants for fruit nutrition garden from authentic nurseries like the nurseries established at Ludhiana, Ladhowal, Bathinda, Gurdaspur, Bahadurgarh (Patiala), Gangian (Dasuya), Jallowal (Jalandhar) and Abohar.

#Punjab Agricultural University PAU