HIGH DENSITY PLANTING

P. B. JADHAV1 & Dr. B. R. PARMAR2

.
1
Dept. of Fruit Sci. ASPEE College of Horti. & Forestry, NAU., Navsari, Gujrat-396450.
2
Professor Dept. of Horti. NMCA., NAU., Navsari, Gujrat-396 450
Email Id: - parag.jadhav1@gmail.com, parag_horti@rediffmail.com
Introduction
It is well known that the diversity in soil and climatic conditions in
India permits growing of a large variety of tropical, sub-tropical and
temperate fruits in different regions, due to which India is regarded as a
horticultural paradise. India is the second largest producer of the fruits
in the World.
High density planting in fruit growing was first established in apple
in Europe in the early sixties. Presently, the continued decline in the
availability of cultivable land, rising energy and land costs together with
the mounting demand for horticultural produce, have given thrust to
adoption of HDP in horticultural crops. Furthermore, it is of main
concern to the growers with small landholdings. High density planting is
referred as Semi-intensive system accommodating 500-1,000 trees/ha,
Intensive system accommodating 1,000 to 10,000trees/ha employing
specialized training systems and Super-intensive system with 20,000
to1,00,000 per ha.
Choosing the correct planting density is very important for bringing
the gap between the actual yield and the potential yield of the fruit crops
from unit area.
At present majority of temperate fruit orchards in Europe, America,
Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Japan are under intensive systems of
fruit production. There are several fruit crops where success on their HDP
has been achieved, e.g. apple, peach, plum, sweet-cherry, pear among
temperate fruits and banana, pineapple, papaya among tropical fruits. In
India, HDP technology has been successfully tried in banana, pineapple,
papaya and recently in mango guava and citrus.
Golden revolution: Is it so gold?
 2 n d largest producer of fruits
 First in mango, banana
 Per capita availability only 72 g/day against 120 g
 We have to double the production by 2020?
 How to reach this target?
 Very difficult
Concept of High Density Planting
  The conceptual background of high density planting reveals that it
was pioneered for temperate fruits in Europe.
 High density orchards were first planted in Europe at the end of the
19 t h and since then these is a decline in traditional orchards with
low densities.
 The exact limits of plant density to be termed as high density is not
yet well defined. It varies with the region, species, variety, and
rootstock, cost of planting material, labour and the likely return
from the orchard, and agro techniques adopted for a particular crop.
 The underlying principle of a HDP is to make the best use of vertical
and horizontal space per unit time and to harness maximum
possible return per unit of inputs.
 In other words, it is the planting of more number of plants than
optimum through manipulation of tree size.
Comparison between traditional systems and modern systems of fruit
growing.

Attribute Traditional system Modern system

Tree number Few large trees/ha (150-200 Many small trees/ha (500-1,00,000
trees/ha) trees/ha).
Bearing Late in bearing, usual time Precocious in bearing, usual time
required 6-8 years or more. required 2-3 years.
Production Overall production per ha is Increased overall production per ha.
low.
Management Difficult to manage due to Easy to manage due to small size of
large trees.
size of trees.
Esablisment Low Cost. Higher Cost.
cost
Machinery Expensive machines required. Expensive machines not required.

Harvesting Difficult (manual). Easy (machine).

Advantages of High Density Planting
 It induces precocity.
 Increase yield.
 Improves fruit quality.
 It reduces labour cost resulting in low cost of production.
 It also enables the mechanization of fruit crop production.
  It facilitates more efficient use of fertilizers, water, solar radiation,
fungicides, weedicides and pesticides .
Disadvantages of the High Density Planting
 Yield/annum becomes progressively lower due to reduction in tree
ages.
 Initial establishment cost is very high.
 Harvesting required more time so, crop timing potential is rapidly
lost.
 Cultural operations become difficult
Constraints in Adoption of HDP Systems
 Non-availability of planting material in dwarf varieties in different
horticultural crops except banana.
 Non-availability of vegetatively propagated rootstocks in different
fruit and plantation crops.
 Avoidance in use of inter- and mixed-cropping system
 Overcrowding trees in mango HDP after 10 to 12 years.
 Harmful effects of chemicals like paclobutrazol causing barrenness
in crops like mango, grape etc.
 Non-availability of complete package for HDP and use of
mechanization
Tree size control in HDP
 Use of genetically dwarf scion cultivars.
 Uses of dwarfing rootstocks and interstocks.
 Pruning and training.
Five important components of High Density planting are
 Dwarf scion varieties;
 Dwarfing rootstocks and inter-stocks;
 Training and pruning,
 Use of chemicals and
 Suitable crop management practices Use of growth retardant
EFFECT OF HIGH DENSITY PLANTING
Light interception
 In initial life of high density groove, this resource is effectively
utilized as compared to conventional planting. However, in later
years, the interception is poor due to crowding of tree canopy.
 It often results in smaller sized fruits and poor colour development.
Fruit size and quality
 No doubt that the yields are very high in dense planting, fruit size
may be relatively smaller with little or no effect on fruit quality.
Weed growth and population
  Weeds are unwanted plants, which compete with crops for water,
nutrients, light and harbor insect pest and disease and interfere
with orchard management and harvesting operation, resulting in
poor growth and productivity of main crop.
 Due to dense canopy in high density planting, only the filtered light
is intercepted by the ground, which affected the weed growth and
population per unit area.
 In the initial years of establishment, there may be some growth of
weeds but in late years, the problem of weeds is eliminated
Fruit maturity
 One of the major effects of the high density plantings has been on
the hastening or delaying of the fruit maturity.
 This effect can be effectively utilized by the farmers for harnessing
maximizing profits from high density planting.
 The fruit under conventional plantings are harvested at one time
resulting in bumper production of Kinnow fruits in the market. It
oftenly forces farmers to sell their produce at lower rate. With the
adoption of high density planting technique in Kinnow, farmers can
get very high returns due to late maturity.
Incidence of insect pest and disease
 HDP change the microclimate of the particular piece of land due to
reduction in sun light, affecting the temperature and humidity.
These conditions are favorable for the occurrence or increase in the
incidence or intensity of insect pests and disease.
 Even though there is no such report available in literature that
high density planting support it.
Harvesting problems
 Harvesting in high density planting is really a difficult task. In the
initial years of the planting it may not be a problem, however, after
fully maturity of trees harvesting may great problem.
However, new approach like mechanical harvesting has become as one of
the most viable option in high density planting than on convectional
planting
High density planting in different fruit crops:
Apple
There are four categories of high density planting based on plant
densities used in apple, i.e. low (less than 250 plants/ha), moderate (250
to 500 plants/ha), high (500 to 1,250 plants/ha)and ultra-high (more
than 1250 plants/ha) density. Apart from these, super high-density
plantings or meadow orcharding (20,000 to 70,000 plants/ha) have been
demonstrated in some European countries. The optimum density ranges
from over 3,000 trees/ha in the Netherlands to less than 2,000 trees/ ha
in USA under single and double row system of planting. Use of pruning,
rootstocks and spur type scion varieties is done to establish HDP. Other
techniques like training and pruning methods are bending of branches
and use of growth retardant. The most common dwarfing/semi-dwarfing
rootstocks for HDP are M9, M26, M4, M7 andMM106, whereas M27 has
been used for raising meadow orchards. In Himachal Pradesh, MM106 and
MM109 for spur types and M7 and MM111 for non-spur cultivars are
being popularized under Himachal conditions. Of late, MM 106 has been
recommended for establishing HDP in Jammu and Kashmir. The spur-type
varieties are genetically dwarf. Some of the promising spur varieties
which need popularization are Star krimson, Red Spur, Gold Spur, Well
Spur, Oregon Spur, Silver Spur, Red Chief and Hardispur. Besides, many
other varieties such as Bright 'N' Early, Royal Gala and Red Fuji are
promising columnar varieties suited for HDP. Training systems, such as
spindle bush, dwarf pyramid, espalier, cordon, palmette and Noored
Holland Spindle bush are recommended for intensive orchards. On
dwarfing rootstocks, plantings are trained on spindle bush, dwarf
pyramid and cordon in Himachal Pradesh.
Peach
Peach bears fruits on one-year-old shoots, which require regular
annual pruning to make them suitable for high-density orcharding. High
density in peach has been tried with planting varying from 930 to 2,050
trees per hectare yielding 13 to 34 t/ha following different training
systems viz. Hedge row, Y shape trellis, spindle, modified free spindle and
modified leader. A plant population of 2,000 trees/ha trained on Tatura
trellis system gave fruit yield of 31.5t/ha.
Mango
Mango yields worldwide are generally poor, ranging from 4 to 9 t/ha
in the major mango producing countries. This is partly attributable to
wide tree spacing, which are traditionally based on expected eventual tree
size. Canopies of these mango trees often take more than10 years to fill
the allocated space in the orchard row. Most of the commercial varieties
of the mango are irregular bearer and generally planted at a distance of
10 to 15 m, accommodating about 70 to 100 plants/ha, while Amrapali
variety has been recommended by IARI to be grown at 2.5 x 2.5 m
(triangular method) and accommodating1600 plants/ha as against 80-100
plants/ha under traditional planting density yielded up to22 t/ha. The
high-density orchard provides several times (8-9) higher yields than the
traditional densities. Dashehari mango at 2.5m x 3m (1,333 plants/ha)
can also be raised under HDP with pruning and dehorning after the
harvesting after 10 t h year of planting. In countries like Israel, productivity
of mango has been doubled by adopting HDP technology (3 x 5 m or 3 x 6
m) using pruning machines mounted on tractor. In Maharashtra, HDP has
been achieved with application of paclobutrazol. Successful HDP (666
plants/ha) plantations of different commercial varieties namely Kesar,
Alphonso, Tommy Atkins, Maya, etc. has been demonstrated by the
Reliance Agro Ltd. at Jamnagar (Gujarat) under arid agro-climate. A solid
plantation of over 80,000 plants has been established using different Hi-
tech interventions like fertigation, use of growth regulator
(Paclobutrazol), uniform clonal (Polyembryonic rootstock), modern
packaging unit, etc. It is exclusively an export-oriented plantation and is
likely to revolutionize mango production and productivity in India.
Banana
Due to availability of dwarf clones in banana HDP is gaining
popularity. For the highest possible yields of good quality fruit, an
optimum plant density (2.1 m x 2.1 m of 2,267 plants/ha) for poor soils
and 1.5 to 2.1 m for Dwarf Cavendish, 2.4 m x 2.4 m for Chakkara keli
and 2.4 to 3.0 m for Bontha (Monthan) has been tried results revealed
that the Dwarf Cavendish and Robusta are fit to be planted under high
density planting concept at a planting distance of 1.2m X 1.2m (6,944
plants/ha) in a square system of the planting under a proper nutrient
management practice. There is minimum weed growth, effective utilization
of the solar radiation and appropriate utilization of the inputs, which are
the other major factors, attributed to the success of such planting
systems. Yield realization varies from 86 t/ ha in Basarai at 1.5 x 1.5 m
to 174 t/ha in Robusta planted at 1.2 m x 1.2 m spacing.
Sapota
Sapota is normally planted at a wide spacing of 8 x 8 m. Results
have shown that high plant density of 312 plants per ha (8 m x 4 m) is
possible yielding 15.35 t/ha after 15 year of planting in PKM-1.
Papaya
With the development of dwarf varieties like Pusa Dwarf, Pusa
Nanha and Ranchi Dwarf, it is now possible to grow papaya under the
HDP concept. Normally, papaya varieties are planted at a distance of
2.5m X 3m or 2.5m X 2.5m, which accommodates 1,333 to
1,600plants/ha, while Pusa Nanha may be planted at a distance of 1.25 x
1.25m (6,400 plants/ha). Such orchards may give 3 to 4 times higher
yields (60 to 65 tonnes/ha) in comparison to the yield of the traditional
orchards (15 to 20 t/ha). Other cultivars like CO-1, CO-2, Pusa Dwarf
and Honey Dew-1 are also suitable for high density planting.
Pineapple
 Pineapple is grown traditionally at low density (15,000 to
20,000 Plants /ha) leading to low productivity and an increased
production cost. Kew, Queen and Smooth Cayenne cultivars are found
highly suitable for HDP using Double row method of the planting suckers
(500- 600 g) or (slips 350-400gm) spaced at 25 to 30 cm in the rows at a
distance of 45 to 60 cm with a spacing of 90 to 105 cm between the beds
(63,000 plants/ha). There is ample scope for expanding area under HDP
for the benefit of the fruit growers, so that more and more area could be
brought under pineapple cultivation. Yield realization varies from 60-70
tones/ha with use of high density in Kew pineapple.
Guava
By grafting, on dwarfing rootstock Pusa Srijan (Aneuploid No. 82)
high density planting can be achieved in guava. A full bearing high-
density guava orchard on Aneuploid No. 82 rootstock may yield 18 to
20t/ha compared to 8-10t/ha in low density planting. Planting distance
varies from 5.4 to 7.5 m. The trials conducted under All-India Co-
ordinated Fruit Improvement Projects at different centres, viz. Faizabad,
Ranchi and Basti indicated that double-hedge-row system of planting with
800- 900 plants/ha is beneficial for achieving high yield per unit area in
Allahabad Safeda. At the Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture,
Lucknow, planting was tried at four densities e.g. 1.5 x 3.0 m (2,222
plants/ha), 3.0 x 3.0 m (1,111 plants/ha), 3.0 x 6.0 m (555 plants/ha)
and 6.0 x 6.0 m (277 plants/ha). Average yield of 73, 41, 26 and 13 from
pruned trees in comparison to 57, 29, 22 and 10 kg/ plant under
unpruned trees from above densities was obtained. Further, results
however need to be worked.
Citrus
Trifoliate orange rootstock Flying Dragon is capable of reducing
growth by 75 per cent as compared to standard rootstocks. Kinnow
mandarin has been grown successfully under high density planting using
Troyer citrange, Karna Khatta and Sohsarkar rootstocks at a planting
distance of 6' x 6' (2,990 plants/ha), 8' X 8' (1,682 plants/ha) on Karna
Khatta and 10' x 10' (1,076plants/ha) on Soh-Sarkar rootstocks
respectively. Similarly, Cleopatra mandarin rootstock was ideal for
Mosambi sweet orange. For Khasi mandarin, a spacing of 5m x 5m
(400plants/ha) was found ideal.
Aonla
It in generally planted at a distance of 6-7 m. High yielding varieties
such as NA 7, Krishna and Chakia can successfully be grown under HDP
concept at a spacing of 3m by 3 m under hexagonal or triangular systems
accommodating over 1,200 plants per ha.
Cashew
It is normally planted at 7.5m x 7.5m or 8m x 8 m (100- 177
plants/ha). In case of high density planting, 312 - 625 or higher
grafts/ha are planted at a closer spacing of 4 m x 4 m or 6m x 6m or 5m
x 5m in the initial stage followed by thinning out in the later years there
by maintaining a spacing of 8m x 8m in the 11 t h year. It gives rise to four-
fold increase in yield up to 6 years and about 2.5 fold increases up to 12
years.
Arecanut
It is normally planted at a spacing of 2.7m x 2.7m under square,
rectangular, triangular and quincunx systems of planting. Growing of
several crops in association with arecanut is a common accepted practice
by farmers of hill zones of Karnataka to utilize both the vertical and
horizontal space in multi-storeyed cropping systems. Several arecanut
based mixed cropping systems revealed highest nut yield in arecanut +
pepper + cardamom and arecanut+ pepper + cocoa cropping systems.
Conclusion:
In recent year, the concept of fruit production is under going a
change where emphasis is being given to higher production per unit area.
High density planting system is the fastest way of reducing the gestation
period and simultaneously increasing the productivity of the orchards.
The choice of the system of planting in the orchard depends on
topography, crop, variety, plant density, production technology to obtain
desirable aim.