Coimbatore: The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Banwarilal Purohit inaugurated the Demonstration Plot on Ultra High Density Planting (UHDP) in Mango at the College Orchard of Horticultural College and Research Institute (HC&RI), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in Coimbatore, today.
Coimbatore: The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Banwarilal Purohit inaugurated the Demonstration Plot on Ultra High Density Planting (UHDP) in Mango at the College Orchard of Horticultural College and Research Institute (HC&RI), Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in Coimbatore, today.
The Minister for Agriculture, Govt. of TN, R Doraikkannu, Dr. N Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, TNAU, Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Agrl. Production Commissioner and Principal Secretary to Govt., Agriculture Department, Board of Management Members, staff and students of TNAU participated in the event.
The Governor planted the first mango graft (Banganapalli) inside the Demo Plot, which was followed by more planting by undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D. students and staff members.
Mango is one of the most important crops cultivated in Tamil Nadu. It is generally cultivated in an area of 1.6 lakh hectares, with production and productivity of 11.56 lakh tonnes and 8.7 tonnes per hectare respectively. Major mango-growing districts in Tamil Nadu are Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem, Vellore, Theni, Tirunelveli and Tiruvallur. With increased demand for mangoes but shrinking land availability and increasing population, there is a need to increase the productivity per unit area.
Ultra High Density Planting (UHDP) is a new planting technique developed especially for orchard trees, whereby fruit trees are planted at a closer distance than conventional spacing, combined with improved orchard management practices, for the purpose of utilizing the natural resources of land, light, water and nutrients more efficiently to achieve increased productivity. UHDP combined with micro-irrigation, fertigation, canopy management by proper training and pruning can play an important role in achieving quick, high, stable and sustainable yields in mango orchards.
TNAU has established a Demo Plot in 1.5 acres with UHDP in mango at the College Orchard of HC&RI at TNAU, Coimbatore with a closer spacing of 4 X 2 m, which means 4 m spacing between rows and 2 m spacing between two plants, so that 500 plants can be grown in an acre. Whereas, in the conventional method of planting, mango is planted with 10 m X 10 m spacing, thereby accommodating only 40 plants per acre. Mango varieties viz., Salem Bangalora, Imam Pasand, Banganapalli and Bangalora have been planted in the Demo Plot.
Benefits of UHDP method of planting include: increase in productivity (up to 2-3 times) to the extent of 5-12 tonnes per acre (12.5-30 tonnes / hectare), optimizing the use of vertical and horizontal space, increased water-use efficiency by reducing irrigation water use by up to 50 %, increased fertilizer-use efficiency and consequent saving of upto 30 % of applied fertilizers, effective weed control as water is applied only to the root zone, and allows for intercropping during early years thereby making orchard crops profitable as other cash crops. The UHDP Demo Plot will be utilized for educating students and farmers, and also for conducting research studies.
The program was organised by Dr. L Pugalendhi, Dean, HC&RI and his team.
The Minister for Agriculture, Govt. of TN, R Doraikkannu, Dr. N Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, TNAU, Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Agrl. Production Commissioner and Principal Secretary to Govt., Agriculture Department, Board of Management Members, staff and students of TNAU participated in the event.
The Governor planted the first mango graft (Banganapalli) inside the Demo Plot, which was followed by more planting by undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D. students and staff members.
Mango is one of the most important crops cultivated in Tamil Nadu. It is generally cultivated in an area of 1.6 lakh hectares, with production and productivity of 11.56 lakh tonnes and 8.7 tonnes per hectare respectively. Major mango-growing districts in Tamil Nadu are Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem, Vellore, Theni, Tirunelveli and Tiruvallur. With increased demand for mangoes but shrinking land availability and increasing population, there is a need to increase the productivity per unit area.
Ultra High Density Planting (UHDP) is a new planting technique developed especially for orchard trees, whereby fruit trees are planted at a closer distance than conventional spacing, combined with improved orchard management practices, for the purpose of utilizing the natural resources of land, light, water and nutrients more efficiently to achieve increased productivity. UHDP combined with micro-irrigation, fertigation, canopy management by proper training and pruning can play an important role in achieving quick, high, stable and sustainable yields in mango orchards.
TNAU has established a Demo Plot in 1.5 acres with UHDP in mango at the College Orchard of HC&RI at TNAU, Coimbatore with a closer spacing of 4 X 2 m, which means 4 m spacing between rows and 2 m spacing between two plants, so that 500 plants can be grown in an acre. Whereas, in the conventional method of planting, mango is planted with 10 m X 10 m spacing, thereby accommodating only 40 plants per acre. Mango varieties viz., Salem Bangalora, Imam Pasand, Banganapalli and Bangalora have been planted in the Demo Plot.
Benefits of UHDP method of planting include: increase in productivity (up to 2-3 times) to the extent of 5-12 tonnes per acre (12.5-30 tonnes / hectare), optimizing the use of vertical and horizontal space, increased water-use efficiency by reducing irrigation water use by up to 50 %, increased fertilizer-use efficiency and consequent saving of upto 30 % of applied fertilizers, effective weed control as water is applied only to the root zone, and allows for intercropping during early years thereby making orchard crops profitable as other cash crops. The UHDP Demo Plot will be utilized for educating students and farmers, and also for conducting research studies.
The program was organised by Dr. L Pugalendhi, Dean, HC&RI and his team.