Effect of Soil Nutrient Status on Yield and Quality of Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) in YSR District of Andhra Pradesh

The present study was conducted to determine the effect of soil nutrient status on fruit yield and quality of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) in YSR district of Andhra Pradesh, India. To carry out this investigation fifty sweet orange orchards aged between 12 to 13 years were selected and soil samples were collected from these orchards at 0-30 cm and 30-60 cm depth. Majority of the soils of the study area were deficit in available nutrients such as Zn, Fe, N, P and Mn, but Ca, Mg, S, K and Cu were in optimum to high range.

The soil mineral nutrients like N, P and K influenced the fruit weight significantly and positively (r = 0.469**, r = 0.446** and r = 0.415**, respectively), but fruit yield and fruit juice per cent had significant positive relation with soil N (r = 0.519** and r = 0.353*) and P (r = 0.409** and r = 0.364**) only. Soil P had a significant positive correlation with TSS (r = 0.438**). Soil Fe and Mn had a significant negative correlation with titrable acidity (r = -0.371** and r = -0.292*, respectively). Soil Mn had a significant negative correlation with fruit TSS (r = -0.311*).