Impact of Soil Management Techniques on Ecological Integrity and Sustainable Apple Growing in Kashmir Valley

An experiment was conducted to study the role of soil mechanization on ecological integrity and yield attributes in apple cultivation. In the experiment, soil management techniques were applied on low density apple orchards (Red delicious/ seedling) continuously for four years in the tree rows and the drive allays, and results were obtained at the end of 4th year in 2017. The experiment was constructed under following design: NT) no-tillage with multi –species ground cover moved twice during growing season; MT) Reduced tillage with two ploughings a year (20-25 cm deep) one at the sowing time of intercrop (mustard) during November-December and second after harvesting the intercrop during May; and CT) Four ploughings (20-25 cm deep) in a year with no grass or cover crop. Treatment effects were compared using one-way analysis of varience (ANOVA), and to separate means, Tukey multiple comparisons were used. Results claimed that soil nesting bees, which are valuable pollinators and benefit growers in the form of readily available pollination services, were abundantly found in undisturbed soils (NT) and also enhanced fruit yield (fruit set, fruit retention, seed content and fruit weight). Earth worm saturation, soil moisture conservation and organic carbon content were better maintained under this soil management practice. Maximum available soil nitrogen (198.35 kg/ha) and phosphorus (62.63 kg/ha) were also obtained under NT conditions. Moreover, in case of mustard intercropped plots, although the bee abundance was good but fruit yield recorded was low.