Rejuvenating senile mango orchard: Raj Bhavan sets example SRINAGAR, JULY 15 – The old and senile mango orchard at Raj Bhavan, Jammu, has been fully rejuvenated by applying the latest horticulture techniques and practices, as a result of which the trees have once again started bearing fruit in good quantity. Mr. N. N. Vohra, Governor, was very keen to have this over 70 year old senile orchard fully rejuvenated at the earliest and had asked the Horticulture Department to undertake deep pruning (see picture) of nearly 350 senile plants under the technical guidance of scientists from the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu. The pruning was done in phases during 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13. Many of the mango trees in this orchard had got affected due to dieback, stem borer and malformation and had started drying up and their fruit bearing capacity had come down to about 5-10% and, besides, the fruit had shrunk to miniscule size. With successful treatment and effective management of the orchard by Sh. Kishori Lal, a retired Senior Horticulture Technician who is incharge of the Raj Bhavan orchard, serving on contractual basis, the fruit trees which had been deep pruned and treated during the first phase, 2009-11 have already started bearing good size fruit. The remainder trees are expected to start yielding fruit from the next season. The mango varieties include Dussehri, Malda, Safeda and Sandhuri. To fill existing gaps, Sh. Kishori Lal has also planted 65 high density varieties of Amarpali and D-51 in the orchard, which now has over 400 plants. Sh. Kishori Lal has focussed on organic farming and for this purpose, 8 units of wormi-compost have been set up in the orchard area with the support of SKUAST-Jammu. For the first time, after over 60 years, this orchard has produced a significant crop. The Horticulture Department, at the instance of the Raj Bhavan Secretariat, auctioned some of the fruit bearing plants this season, yielding income to the Department.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 15:56:16 +0000
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