Mulches and Their Impact on Floor Management and Performance of Fruit Crops: A Review

Apart from the various innovations and technologies developed, productivity of most of the fruit crops in India remains at a lower level when compared to the major producers and developed countries. In the present era of health awareness, demand of the quality fruits, classified as protective foods, has increased globally. The ever-growing demand for the quality fruits and market competition has been compelling the farmers to produce more but quality fruits. Use of mulches is an age old practice and also one the cheapest methods under protected cultivation technologies which could help the orchardists to increase the production with higher quality. Looking to the several biotic and abiotic challenges in fruit production, adoption of mulching technique at large scale might be helpful to mitigate several problems considering the advantages of mulching. Several studies have shown that mulching in fruit crops has positive impact on soil moisture status, soil temperature along with weed suppression thus on rhizosphere of the plants. These rhizospheric conditions favour the vegetative as well as yield and quality parameters of the fruit crops. In this paper, an attempt has been made to review the impact of mulching on floor management (soil moisture status, soil temperature and weed suppression) as well as growth, yield and quality characteristics in fruit crops with the help of appropriate findings available in literature.