Kinnow belongs to the citrus group of fruits. It is botanically known as Citrus reticulate Blanco with a chromosome number of 2n=18. It is also known as King’s willow mandarin, an interspecific hybrid between Citrus nobilis x Citrus deliciosa. It was first developed by H.B Frost in the year 1915 at the University of California Research Center, Riverside.
In India, kinnow came in acquaintance during 1954 when it was first introduced by J.C Bakshi at the Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Fruit Research Station, Abohar. Kinnow gain its popularity in India mainly due to its high yielding attribute as well as of its flavor also. The tree grows vigorously and has an upright form, with a strong tendency of bearing heavy fruit yield. The fruit is the rich source of vitamin C and their daily consumption protects mankind from scurvy. The rind of the citrus fruit contains a number of alkaloids, out of which is limonene which have the potential to act as an insect repellent.
Prayagraj comes under the sub-tropical region of India, due to its climatic conditions it experience only one bahar in a year i.e mrig bahar (winter flowering). The kinnow orchard of SHUATS was first established by W.B Hayes in the late 90’s who was the British Agriculture scientist also the first HOD(Head of Department) of Department of Horticulture, SHUATS. The soil of the Prayagraj is clay loam which is enrich with nutrients and also good for the cultivation of most of the fruit crops. And thus this soil type provides suitable environment for the growth of micro-organisms and suitable for the use of bio-fertilizers. Being a sub-tropical region, it experiences a hot dry summer with a maximum temperature of 48°C. Due to this, kinnow cultivation at Prayagraj region need more frequent irrigation in order to prevent the june drop. It experiences an annual rainfall of 981mm (approx) which leads to the heavy infestation of flies and moth in the kinnow plants and causes a huge pre-harvest loss (upto 80-90% yield losses).
Kinnow is a nutrient loving plant and requires an adequate amount of nutrients in order to produce a good quality yield. It also requires a fair quantity of micronutrients in order to enhance its juice quality. Use of organic farming as well as bio-fertilizer reported to increase the quality of fruits as well as it helps in restoring the soil nutrients in a natural way. It not only provides good quantity of nutrients to plants also helps in saving the soil fauna. One can use bio-fertilizers like Azotobacter, PSB (Phosphorus Solublizing Bacteria), Azospirillum as a replacement of chemical fertilizer. These bio-fertilizers require substrate to grow, so using FYM as a substrate is very effective. FYM not only serves as a good substrate for these eco-friendly bacteria but also acts as a chelate and makes other micronutrient available to plants.
Phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (PSB) under acidic or calcareous, fixes large amounts of phosphorus in the soil but are unavailable to the plants. Phosphobacterins are mainly bacteria and fungi which can make insoluble phosphorus available to the plants. The solublization effect of phosphobacterins is generally due to the production of organic acids that lower the soil pH and bring about the dissolution of bound forms of phosphate and hence making the soil available with the phosphorus. Azospirillum is the associative symbiotic nitrogen fixer, aerobic bacteria, which have the ability to associate with growing root system of a variety of crop plants. This nitrogen-fixing Azospirillum when applied to the soil undergoes multiplication and fixes atmospheric nitrogen in the soil for utilization of various crops. Azospirillum is a gram-negative bacteriumthat fixes atmospheric nitrogen and makes it available to plants in non symbiotic manner. Azotobacter, aerobic, free living bacteria, acts as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in the rhizosphere of almost all crops. Azotobacters are abundant in well-drained, neutral soil. They can fix 15-20kg/ha N per year. Azotobacter spp. can also produce antifungal compounds to fight against many plant pathogens.
In order ensure the maximum benefit of these bio-fertilizers; it is very important to apply them in a right way. These fertilizers are mainly applied along with compost, mix the recommended amount of bio-fertilizer with the compost and leave it overnight in order to multiply the bacteria in compost and then apply it. In this may the bio-fertilizers give the best result.
Kinnow mandarins are medium sized with thin, tight and orange colored skin. It is rich in vitamin-C, sugars and in addition to this it also contain vitamin-A, vitamin-B, and vitamin-K and contains a sweet sour taste. Due to this it fetches a high price in the market and also utilized by the processing industry. India earns a sizable amount of foreign exchange by exporting kinnow to various countries of the world like Iran, Singapore, Qatar, Nepal, Switzerland etc. In India, the best quality of kinnow was obtained from the Nagpur region of Maharashtra where these fruits got its characteristic flavor due to the climatic conditions of that region.
Kinnow is also heavily attacked by insect and pest out of which one of the most damaging pests of kinnow is fruit sucking moth (Eudocima fullonia). They mainly puncture the fruit and suck out the juice from them, a heavy infestation results in yield loss of upto 80-90% was reported. As they are nocturnal in nature it is hard to control them, setting light trap or poison bait is effecting against them. Dilute suspension of fermented molasses or jaggery and malation 0.05% (50 EC at 1ml/l) as poison bait is effective, or bagging of fruits with 500 gauge polythene bags also prevent the adult moth attack.
Plant nutrients are the key factor in order to increase the fruit yield. Adopting organic means of farming practices are not immediate result giving but it improves the quality of fruits in the successive years. Organic farming improves the soil physical properties such as aeration, texture, water holding capacity, infiltration as well as chemical properties such as pH, CEC, etc. Apart from this the price of organic produce are fetching good price in the market. So, this is the high time that we should slowly move towards the organic farming and make our food a little more healthy and free from chemicals. Thus keeping in mind, the climatic conditions and the soil type of the Prayagraj region adoption the organic farming not only in Kinnow but in other fruit crops not only helps in enhancing the fruit yield but also helps in restoring the soil fertility.
Mandeep Rawat
Msc.Fruit Science (Student), SHUATS, Prayagraj
email:mandeeprawat107@gmail.com
