Ground-cover management studies in kinnow orchard

The six ground-cover species viz. aloe vera, brahmi, lemongrass, mentha, stevia and turmeric, were grownin the kinnow orchard. The cultivation of mentha, intercropped with kinnow, exhibited better performance interms of fruit length (5.81cm), fruit breadth (6.77 cm), fruit weight (156.50 g) and fruit yield (61.04 Kg), followedby brahmi as compared to other treatments. The quality attributes like juice content, total soluble solids (TSS),titratable acidity (TA), and TSS/TA of fruits grown under different intercropping systems were statistically at parwith control during the first year of study. However, the highest juice content (46.32 %), TSS (11.28 %), TSS/TA(14.25) and minimum TA (0.79 %) were recorded in kinnow intercropped with mentha. The highest leaf N contentwas recorded in the cover crops of Kinnow + mentha (1.97 %), P and K content in Kinnow + brahmi (0.20 and1.35 %, respectively), while these were found to be the lowest in control. Overall, Kinnow + mentha and Kinnow+ brahmi proved to be effective intercropping systems in the Kinnow growing areas