Abstract:
The pomegranate is considered as one of the hardy fruit plants and has an ability to thrive
under rainfed condition. However, for higher production of quality fruits, it requires water
particularly during summer months for better quality harvest. For harnessing maximum
efficiency from the drip system of irrigation, amount of water to be applied should be
quantified. But no systematic research in this direction has been carried out to find out the
exact quantity of water to be applied for higher production of quality pomegranate in laterite
soil of West Bengal with the above objective. An investigation was therefore made in this
direction. The treatment included as drip irrigation for 1, 2, and 3 hours duration at two days
interval, with and without straw mulching, basin irrigation atl5 liters water/plant weekly
with straw mulching and life saving irrigation with straw mulching, thereby consisting of 8
(eight) irrigation treatments in the experiment. The experiment was laid out in a randomized
block design having six replications. The results from two consecutive years of
experimentation revealed that fruit yield was highest (16.8 kg/plant) from the plant, received
water through drip for 3 hours + without mulching followed by drip watering for one hour +
mulching (13.6 kg/plant) which resulted maximum water use efficiency of 292.2 kg/ha/cm. In
respect of fruit quality, juice quantity and TSS content were improved due to different
irrigation treatments. Foliar N, P and K status was however varied due to different irrigation
treatments and it was maximum in the plants received water through drip for 3 hours +
without mulching and minimum from basin watered plants. The drip irrigated plants had
less fruit cracking as compared to basin irrigated plants.
