Though considered drought-hardy, mango
(Mangifera indica L.) requires watering for orchard
establishment and good fruiting, even in heavy rainfall zones
like coastal Odisha, where soil moisture deficit occurs during
February-May. In situ rain-water harvest by building
trenches, bunds, circular basins, etc. can increase soil water
content by reducing surface runoff (Panigrahi et al, 2008).
Mulching conserves soil moisture and controls weeds (Lal
et al, 2003). Therefore, the present study was undertaken
to assess the effect of in situ rain-water harvesting
structures and mulching on performance of the mango variety
‘Arka Neelachal Kesri’ under rain-fed conditions.

The experiment was conducted at ICAR-IIHR-
Central Horticultural Experiment Station, Bhubaneswar,
Odisha, during 2007-2013. The soil at the experimental site
is red lateritic, with poor organic matter content (0.2%) and
meagre water holding capacity. The orchard of ‘Arka
Neelachal Kesri’ mango was developed in situ, on its own
rootstock, by sowing seeds at 5m x 5m spacing with onset
of monsoon in 2007, and top-grafting the seedlings so-raised
a year later. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design,
with 12 treatment combinations consisting of four in situ
rain-water harvesting structures, viz., half-moon or semi-
circular basin, full-moon or circular basin, cup-and-plate,
and trench system as the main plot, and three levels of

Short communication

J. Hortl. Sci.
Vol. 10(1):99-101, 2015

Effect of in situ rainwater harvesting and mulching on growth, yield and fruit quality
in mango var. Arka Neelachal Kesri in Eastern India

Deepa Samant, S. Mandal, H.S. Singh, Vishal Nath1 and Reju M. Kurian2
ICAR-IIHR-Central Horticultural Experiment Station

Bhubaneswar- 751 019, Odisha, India
E-mail: horti.deepa@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
A field study was conducted at Central Horticultural Experiment Station (ICAR-IIHR), Bhubaneswar, India, during

2007-2013 in a new mango orchard of the variety ‘Arka Neelachal Kesri’ at 5m x 5m spacing, to conserve rain-water
and to enhance soil moisture availability during dry periods for augmenting plant growth and fruit production. Among
the four in situ rain-water harvesting techniques (cup-and-plate, half-moon, full-moon, and trench) evaluated in
combination with three types of mulch (no mulch, inorganic mulch, and organic mulch), the cup-and-plate system
resulted in maximum annual increment in vegetative growth and fruit yield (4.67kg/plant), while, organic (paddy
straw) and inorganic (black polythene, 100μμμμμ thickness) mulches improved vegetative growth, fruit yield and TSS in
fruit significantly over no mulch.

Key words: Mango (Mangifera indica L.), Arka Neelachal Kesri, in situ rain-water harvesting, mulching

Present address:
1 ICAR-National Research Centre for Litchi, Muzaffarpur-842 002, Bihar, India
2 ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru-560 089, Karnataka, India

mulching (no mulch, organic mulch and inorganic mulch) as
sub-plot treatments (Table 1) with five replications. The trees
were maintained under rain-fed conditions from the inception
of the experiment.

Initial growth parameters, i.e., plant height, canopy
diameter, scion girth and primary girth, were recorded during
November-December, 2009. Thereafter, annual increment
in growth was noted for three consecutive years, from 2010
to 2012. Fruits were harvested at full maturity and
observations were recorded on fruit yield and quality

Table 1. Treatment details with specification of in situ rain-water
harvesting structures and measures of mulching
Treatment Specification
Four in situ rain water harvesting structures as main plot treatments:
Half-moon Semi-circular basin at 1m distance from main

trunk
Full-moon Circular basin at 1m distance from main trunk
Cup-and-Plate Circular pit of 0.5m width and 0.5m depth around

the tree at 1m distance from main trunk
Trench Trench of 2m length, 0.5m width and 0.5m depth

at 1m distance from main trunk
Three levels of mulch as sub-plot treatments:
No mulch Without cover
Inorganic mulch UV-stabilized black polythene (100µ thickness)

around the tree at 1m radius
Organic mulch 10cm thick layer of paddy-straw around

the tree at 1m radius



100

parameters (pulp, peel and stone details, total soluble solids
and titratable acidity) when fruiting started in the year 2012.
Fruit and its fractions, namely, peel and stone, were weighed
and their contents calculated as percentage. TSS was
determined using a hand-held digital refractometer. Acidity
was estimated by titrating fresh fruit-juice with 0.1N NaOH,
using phenolphthalein as an indicator, and was expressed
as per cent citric acid equivalents. Data generated on various
parameters were tabulated and statistically analyzed.

Annual increase in vegetative growth for three
consecutive years, along with pooled data, is presented in
Table 2. Cup-and-plate system of in situ rain-water
harvesting resulted in significant increase in plant height,
canopy diameter, scion girth and primary girth. This
treatment also gave the highest fruit yield (27.91 fruits
weighing 4.67kg/tree) (Table 3). However, no significant

differences were observed with use of various in situ rain-
water harvesting structures for average fruit weight and
fruit quality (Table 3). Better growth and yield observed in
the cup-and-plate system, may be due to improved rain-
water harvest using this structure, and consequent increased
soil-water available to the plants for longer duration than
with the other structures.

Mulching had significant influence on vegetative
growth (Table 2), yield and TSS (Table 3). Maximum annual
increase in plant height, canopy diameter and primary girth
were recorded in the organic mulch, followed by inorganic
mulch. Enhanced plant growth observed could be due to
availability of sufficient moisture and enhanced lateral growth
of roots in the upper layers of soil which, in turn, may have
resulted in better nutrient uptake, as reported in citrus
(Panigrahi et al, 2008). Beneficial effects of black polythene

Table 3. Effect of in situ rain-water harvesting and mulching on fruit yield and quality in mango ‘Arka Neelachal Kesri’
Treatment Fruit yield Fruit quality

No. of fruits/tree Average fruit Total weight of Pulp Peel Stone TSS Acidity
weight (g) fruits (kg/tree) (%) (%) (%) (°B) (%)

2012 2013 Pooled 2012 2013 Pooled 2012 2013 Pooled
In situ rain-water harvesting structures
Half-moon 11.33 15.91 13.62 165.72 151.97 158.85 1.87 2.41 2.14 68.32 13.59 18.10 20.01 0.25
Full-moon 13.44 18.73 16.09 156.78 169.27 163.03 2.09 3.10 2.59 68.16 14.80 17.05 19.91 0.26
Cup-and-Plate 23.27 32.55 27.91 164.97 167.98 166.48 3.87 5.46 4.67 67.53 14.11 18.36 19.71 0.27
Trench 18.22 27.18 22.7 167.01 157.70 162.35 2.94 4.28 3.61 69.20 13.92 16.89 18.80 0.28
SE(m)± 1.46 2.03 1.42 4.69 5.95 3.25 0.23 0.36 0.22 0.78 0.48 0.45 0.35 0.2
CD (P=0.5) 4.54 6.31 4.42 NS NS NS 0.71 1.11 0.69 NS NS NS NS NS
Mulching
No mulch 12.65 17.55 15.10 158.10 158.87 158.48 1.99 2.79 2.39 68.30 14.48 17.23 18.74 0.29
Inorganic mulch 18.79 25.88 22.33 165.85 162.81 164.33 3.06 4.17 3.61 69.03 13.40 17.57 19.87 0.26
Organic mulch 18.27 27.35 22.81 166.92 163.52 165.22 3.03 4.47 3.75 67.57 14.43 18.00 20.22 0.25
SE(m)± 1.69 2.21 1.44 4.58 5.8 4.04 0.28 0.35 0.24 0.83 0.53 0.42 0.28 0.2
CD (P=0.5) 4.90 6.40 4.16 NS NS NS 0.80 1.01 0.69 NS NS NS 0.81 NS

Table 2. Effect of in situ rain-water harvesting and mulching on annual increase in vegetative growth in mango ‘Arka Neelachal Kesri’
Treatment Annual increase in vegetative growth

Plant height (cm) Canopy diameter (cm) Trunk girth (cm) Primary girth (cm)
2010 2011 2012 Pooled 2010 2011 2012 Pooled 2010 2011 2012 Pooled 2010 2011 2012 Pooled

In situ rain-water harvesting structures:
Half-moon 44.92 40.63 47.88 44.48 52.98 58.8 51.73 54.50 6.97 7.2 6.01 6.73 3.66 5.01 4.14 4.27
Full-moon 46.88 40.67 49.53 45.69 52.39 60.59 53.21 55.40 7.33 7.59 6.67 7.20 3.91 5.15 4.42 4.49
Cup-and-Plate 50.28 54.09 64.46 56.28 60.41 79.22 71.73 70.45 7.81 10.17 9.31 9.10 4.69 7.72 6.86 6.42
Trench 53.13 46.46 56.35 51.98 53.31 68.67 62.37 61.45 7.68 8.89 8.06 8.21 4.21 6.36 5.69 5.42
SE(m)± 2.38 2.29 2.13 1.05 5.06 2.03 2.59 1.55 0.29 0.37 0.36 0.18 0.35 0.38 0.32 0.16
CD (P=0.5) NS 7.13 6.34 3.26 NS 6.33 8.06 4.83 NS 1.14 1.12 0.58 NS 1.18 1.00 0.51
Mulch:
No mulch 46.12 40.31 50.19 45.54 50.56 58.75 51.84 53.72 6.76 7.63 6.55 6.98 3.93 5.24 4.43 4.53
Inorganic mulch 50.45 47.19 56.13 51.26 56.2 69.22 62.97 62.8 7.84 8.92 8.01 8.26 4.16 6.43 5.63 5.41
Organic mulch 49.83 48.89 57.35 52.02 57.57 72.48 64.47 64.84 7.75 8.83 7.98 8.19 4.26 6.51 5.77 5.51
SE(m) ± 2.45 1.99 1.8 1.81 3.09 2.44 3.27 1.36 0.36 0.36 0.26 0.14 0.31 0.36 0.24 0.11
CD (P=0.5) NS 5.76 5.21 3.04 NS 7.05 9.47 3.94 NS 1.04 0.74 0.39 NS 1.04 0.69 0.32

J. Hortl. Sci.
Vol. 10(1):99-101, 2015

Deepa Samant et al



101

and straw mulch on plant growth have also been reported
in guava by Das et al (2010).

Use of organic mulch resulted in the highest yield,
which was at par with yield recorded in the inorganic much
treatment. Increase in the yield under these mulches was
due to a significant increase in number of fruits, over no
mulch. Average fruit weight under both organic and inorganic
mulch was also high, although statistically at par with no
mulch. Higher yield under mulching due to better
conservation and improved availability of soil moisture,
suppression of weed growth and decrease in soil
temperature (which, in turn, resulted in better fruit retention
and reduced fruit-drop) have been reported by Shirgure et
al (2005) in acid lime, by Ghosh and Tarai (2007) in ber,
and by Sharma and Kathiravan (2009) in plum.

TSS in the fruit was significantly influenced by
application of organic and inorganic mulch, but not so for
the other fruit-quality parameters. Improvement in TSS by
use of mulch may be due to soil moisture conservation which,
ultimately, may have caused mobilization of soluble
carbohydrates to the fruit (Nath and Sharma, 1994).
Improvement in fruit quality with application of mulch was
also observed by Ghosh and Tarai (2007) in ber.

Cup-and-plate system of in situ rain-water harvesting
and mulching either with paddy-straw or black polythene
(100µ thickness) could, therefore, be useful for providing
better growth, fruit yield and quality in rainfed mango in the

humid tropics of Eastern India.

REFERENCES
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soil covers on guava cv. L-49. J. Crop Weed, 6:10-
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Ghosh, S.N. and Tarai, R.K. 2007. Effect of mulching on
soil moisture, yield and quality of ber (Zyzyphus
mauritiana). Indian J. Soil Consn., 35:246-248

Lal, H., Samra, J.S. and Arora, Y.K. 2003. Kinnow mandarin
in Doon valley: 2. Effect of irrigation and mulching
on water use, soil temperature, weed population and
nutrient losses. Indian J. Soil Consn., 31:281-286

Nath, J.C. and Sharma, R. 1994. A note on the effect of
organic mulches on fruit quality of Assam lemon
(Citrus limon Burm.). Haryana J. Hortl. Sci.,
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Panigrahi, P., Huchehe, A.D., Srivastava, A.K. and Shyam
Singh. 2008. Effect of drip irrigation and plastic mulch
on performance of Nagpur mandarin (Citrus
reticulata) grown in Central India. Indian J. Agril.
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Sharma, J.C. and Kathiravan, G. 2009. Effect of mulches
on soil hydrothermal regimes and growth of plum in
mid-hill region of Himachal Pradesh. Indian J. Hort.,
66:465-471

Shirgure, P.S., Shyam Singh, Panigrahi, P. and Sarkar, R.K.
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(MS Received 25 November 2014, Revised 30 April 2015, Accepted 11 May 2015)

J. Hortl. Sci.
Vol. 10(1):99-101, 2015

In situ rain-water harvesting and mulching in mango var. Arka Neelachal Kesri