Nursery Production of Evergreen Fruit Plants

Introduction

A nursery is a controlled site for the production of seedlings either by seeds or vegetative methods under optimal conditions before they are ready to be planted. The prime aim of a nursery is to produce sufficient amount of good quality healthy planting material to meet up the consumer needs. Fruit production is the source for the employment and livelihood of many people in India. The fruit growers have been adopting conventional, tried-and-tested methods for eons. With the increase in the population the demand for the fruits has been increasing in both the domestic and foreign export markets. As a result, the demand for quality planting materials has increased many folds and the nursery sector in our country has grown rapidly in recent years. True-to-type, healthy planting material is required for the production of highly productive and disease resistant fruit plants. Hence, a healthy nursery with quality planting material is the key to a highly successful and productive orchard. 

Settlement of a fruit nursery:

There are certain recommendations for maintaining the proper nursery hygiene and avoiding the risk of insect-pests harming the health of quality planting material in the nursery. Certain considerations to be kept in mind before the setting up of a nursery are: 

Site  

• It must be built in an area which is agro-climatically favorable for the production of envisaged crops.

• Gentle slopes are preferred as they attain good drainage and encourage air circulation.  

• Soil should be rich in nutrients, organic matter.

• Sufficient space should be there for construction of plant houses, work areas (for media preparation, media filling, grafting), storage houses (separate chemical stores), offices, amenities, pathways and parking for vehicles.

• It should be near to reliable source of water that is enough for current and future needs.

• It should be kept isolated from the orchard of same crop as they can act as a vector for insect-pests and various pathogens leading to spread of diseases in the nursery. 

• There should be a reliable power source of electricity (no hindrance in automated irrigation system).

Production areas 

Separate structures are raised for carrying different operations in the nursery. 

Plant house

Protected environment conditions by controlling heat, light and wind is provided inside the plant houses promoting the growth of seedlings. Basically, plant houses are of three types 

• Detached– stand independently and may have access to work area or plant house. E.g. Quonset and gable houses.    

• Lean-to– leans against wall of any pre-existing structure   

• Ridge/furrow– two or more houses are connected at the eave with a common gutter. As the span area connected by gutter expands, heat and light becomes less uniform and difficult to control. 

Different structural components are available in the market for the framing and covering of these plant houses. Earlier, bamboo frames were used for the framing but in modern day’s aluminum or steel are used for the construction of frames.  

Appropriate covering material should be selected for the frames. It should allow sufficient light to pass through it and retain enough heat energy inside. 

Temperature management in plant houses 

The temperature can be managed by using shade nets of selective color, positioning of plant containers and irrigation timely. During the summers heat buildup can be reduced by increasing the shade. Internal screening of plant houses is done with a green shade cloth for reducing heat in summers, conserving heat in winters and allowing proper air circulation. However, greenhouses provide better controlled conditions than screen/shade houses, with in-built ventilation windows, watering systems and evaporative coolers. 

Media/Pot mixture preparation

The good quality media should consist of all types of essential ingredients required to aid the healthy growth of seeds and seedlings grown. Various ingredients used in the media preparation differ in their capacity to maintain drainage, aeration, hold nutrients and release of toxins. The growing media should be slightly acidic – neutral with pH of 6 – 6.5.Different organic and inorganic ingredients used in the media preparation are as: 

Inorganic ingredients

Organic ingredients 

The ingredients are chosen according to the climate, crop grown and local availability. The ingredients are mixed in equal (1:1:1) proportion with the sand and garden soil. Coco coir is popularly used worldwide for the media preparation in the nursery. This media is wrapped in a clear, thin, UV-resistant plastic sheet (25–50 µm) and solarized for a period of 5 – 15 days. 

Plant containers 

The nursery plants can be grown on the ground or in the containers. Complete growth period from the germination of seed to final sale ready grafted plant can be attained in a single container avoiding the transplanting damage. There are many kind of containers used in nurseries which are made of different materials: 

• Jiffy pots– These are biodegradable pots made of compressed peat. The roots even penetrate into the container walls and reduces the root curling. 

• Poly-bags– These are made of polyethylene sheets with drainage holes at bottom. Sometimes, the roots get spiraled up at the base resulting in the restriction of plant growth. 

• Root trainers– These have internal vertical ribs which encourage the roots to grow downward (tap root) and reduces root curling. They can be set above the ground in order to air prune the roots. It offers a great survival rate to the plants and get plants ready earlier to polybags. 

Mother block/ Bud line  

The production of true to type quality material is the major aim of the nursery. For the production/supplication of healthy planting material it’s necessary that scion/bud wood should be collected from true to type mother plants. Since, for the regular supply and timely availability of the scion/bud material, mother block is raised in the nursery where high yielding clones of the registered and released varieties of the fruit crops are maintained inside the mother block. These mother plants should be obtained from authentic/reliable sources like research stations, government nurseries or from registered nurseries of repute. The maintained lines should be labeled as per variety and be numbered serially. The layout of different varieties grown inside the mother block should be maintained in a register. Genetic purity (true to variety), healthy, vigorous and high yield are some of the considerations foe the selection of mother plants. All the commercial agronomic operations are carried out inside the mother block specific to variety recommendations. Regular pruning is done for the production enough scion wood for propagation. Rigorous monitoring should be done to keep plants free from the insect pests and diseases.  

Quality propagule production 

Production of the quality planting material with preserving the characteristics of mother plant is done in two ways: 

• Sexual propagation 

• Asexual/vegetative propagation 

Sexual propagation

The sexual propagation of the planting material is done by the means of seed. The mature seed constitutes of three parts: a) outer seed coat, protecting the seed, b) endosperm, which is the food reserve and c) the embryo, which is the plant itself. When seed gets favorable environment, it germinates and starts its active growth. Seed is the easiest mean of propagation and is a source for rootstock production. Healthy rootstocks can be produced which will impart good impact on the vigor, precocity, yield and longevity of the scion. 

Seed collection, extraction and sowing

The seeds are collected from seed bank/orchard. Otherwise, healthy mature fruits have been collected from the trees, just prior to falling to so as to avoid exposure to soil moisture and microorganisms. The seeds are extracted out of the fruit, cleaned and treated with fungicide (Thiram or Captan @ 2 g/kg seeds) without causing any damage to seed. It is generally advocated to use fresh seed for seedling raising. The orthodox seeds (guava, cashew etc.) which can retain its viability for long period can be stored and sown later, but recalcitrant seeds (citrus, mango, jackfruit, avocado, mangosteen, lychee, rubber, cocoa etc.) need to be sown immediately after extraction.     

Pre sowing treatment

Seeds are subjected to pre sowing treatments with different chemicals to overcome dormancy, increase the germination index, uniform germination and seedling vigour. In most of the methods seeds are treated for 24 hours prior to sowing while, it take few to several days in others. The treatment are applied according to the nature and dormancy characters of the seed to be treated. The most commonly used methods are: 

• Hot water soaking (Mango, jamun)

• Cold water soaking (Ber, Guava, macadamia Nut)

• Boiled water treatment 

• Scarification (mechanical, acid, manual) methods (Guava, ber, jackfruit)

• Fire/heating methods 

• Alternate wetting and drying

• Soaking in chemicals  

The seeds should be sown at appropriate distance and depth in the nursery beds. 

Asexual/Vegetative propagation

True to type plants identical to the mother plants are raised by the vegetative means. Cuttings can be obtained from the mother block and planted directly in the field or operations like grafting, budding, layering can be practiced on the previously growing seedlings in the nursery. The vegetative methods of propagation for different crops are: 

Micropropagation  

It is a vegetative method for the production of genetically identical plants by tissue culture techniques. A plant tissue (explant) is cut from the plant, disinfested and placed on a growing medium (Murashige medium). This explant is introduced to a cytokinin and auxin rich medium where shoot and root formation occurs. Later, these plants are taken out of medium and acclimatized for growing in open conditions. Aonla, mango, bael, banana, and guava are observed to be successfully growing by micropropagaion. 

Nursery Hygiene 

The hygiene maintenance aims at keeping nursery weeds, insect-pests and disease free. Different activities involved in hygiene management are: 

• Heathy planting material

• Control access activities and manage people

• Clean working areas and sterilized equipment’s

• Clean water 

• Waste management

Nutritional disorders, weeds, pests  and disease management

The plants should be supplied with adequate nutrients for maintaining the healthier and fast growth. Fertilizers should be applied either directly in the plant containers or foliar application should be done. 

Weeding should be practiced at defined intervals to reduce the competition for the nutrients among the plants. Many microorganisms may arise in the nursery from numerous sources present in the field or outside by wind or rains. These microorganisms acts as a source for different pests and diseases. So, IPM procedures should be followed and target sprays are on the plants with symptoms. 

Production skills and market orientation 

As a specialized commercial enterprise, the success of a nursery depends upon the quality of the planting material raised by it. Plant age, height, stock-scion variety, nutritional status are some of the factors that must be taken into consideration for improving the sale. The infrastructure raised (polyhouses, shadenets etc.) should be utilized efficiently. Advertisements should be made through various social networks and publically for accentuation. 

Conclusion 

Demand for the quality planting material of fruit crops has been increasing tremendously over the years. Most of the orchards are raised on poor quality seedlings making them susceptible to different diseases-disorders and low production per capita. Hence, nursery production is a good entrepreneurial tool for the production of large quantity of planting material in a limited space and act as a source of livelihood for many people.       

References  

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