Vol. 12, Issue 5 (2023)

Author(s):
Preeti R Datir, VS Tekale and SG Bharad

Abstract:
Maharashtra is the one of the largest producer of orange in the country. The Nagpur mandarin orange is one of the most important fruit crops of Maharashtra. The famous Nagpur orange (mandarin) is grown in humid tropical Vidarbha region of Maharashtra where summer temperature reaches as high as 45-46 ^oC. But orange cultivated area is plagued with various problems due to limiting growing conditions, limiting water resources and high incidence of pests and diseases warranting great care from planting till the plants come to bearing in order to sustain a productive life of a minimum of 15-20 years hence research objective was formulated to identify the reasons behind the fruit drop in oranges and removal of orchards as perceived by orange growers. The present study was conducted in Amravati and Nagpur districts of Maharashtra state where orange is grown on large scale. The ex-post-facto research design of social research was used with 300 respondents and analyzed by frequency and percentage. The findings noted that in case of reasons behind fruit drop in oranges, majority of the respondents (97.33%) expressed reason that fruit drop due to abiotic factors like high temperature with water stress for longer duration. fruit drop due to the reason high humidity said by 94.33 per cent of the respondents and 88.00 per cent of them perceived reason behind fruit drop was due to Phytopthora (Dinkya) while major reasons behind removal of orchard as perceived by respondents were unsatisfactory market price to oranges (97.67%) and high cost of cultivation and interculture operations (86.04%). The findings revealed that lack of technical orchard management and recommended package of practices.