Effect of different irrigation regimes on leaf nutrient status of young ber plants and soil nutrient status

The water and nutrient application is crucial for initial establishment of ber plants. The ber fruits are considered major source of nutrient removal from soil. Judicious manuring and fertilizers are necessary to replace these losses and to correct deficiencies. The study was conducted at PAU, Ludhiana to see the effect of irrigation regimes on leaf and soil nutrients status. The irrigation to young plants was applied in two cropping years on the basis of width of class A Pan evaporation (CPE) of 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150 mm. The depth of irrigation was kept 5 cm (32 L plant(-1)) in first year and 7 cm (45 L plant(-1)) in second year and water was given in the ring of 0.5 m diameter around the plants. The frequency of irrigation ranged from 4 in high CPE (150 mm) to 16-17 in frequently irrigated plants (CPE 50 mm). The maximum N content was found in high soil moisture conditions of CPE 50 and 75 mm plants whereas the low soil moisture reduce the leaf N content in CPE 150 mm plants. The P content significantly decreased with the increase in irrigation frequency. The per cent leaf N and P was significantly higher during second cropping season in frequently irrigated plants of CPE 50, 75 and 100 mm. The leaf K content was not affected by frequency of irrigation. The micro-nutrients like Zn, Mn and Cu did not affected much but the Fe content significantly increased with the increase in water stress conditions. The experimental field soil was found deficient in available N and P. The N and P content in soil decreased with increase in soil profile depth but observed nonsignificant among the treatments. The P content was found slightly higher in irrigated plants of CPE 50-100 mm. The soil K content was found in normal range in field soil but it was not affected by application of water.