Planting Arrangement and Effects of Planting Density on Tropical Fruit Crops—A Review

Abstract

With the growing importance of fruits as valuable food resources, attention has been paid in recent years to enhance productivity and quality. Increasing productivity per unit area through agronomic management is one of the important strategies to increase the production of fruit crops. Keeping this view, this review was undertaken to improve understanding of the planting arrangement and the effect of planting density on productivity and quality of fruit crops. This review will thus provide updated and in-depth information about the influence of planting density on yield and fruit quality, which will also be useful for the growers, consumers, exporters, and processing industry. In fruit crops, the effect of plant density and planting arrangement is well documented. From the review, it is understood that yield per unit area is the product of fruit yield plant−1 and the number of plants per unit area. Fruit size increases with a decreasing planting density, while total yield increases with an increasing density at a certain level. However, fruit quality decreases with an increasing planting density.

Effect of Nitrogen Fertilization on Tree Growth and Mineral Content in Soil and Cherry Leaves (<em>Prunus cerasus</em> L.)

“…The OR1 orchard also had the lowest tree yield [58] and the number of trees per hectare. This explains the lower nutrient requirements of trees, as with a lower density of trees per hectare of vegetation, they compete less for nutrients and use nitrogen in a smaller percentage [59].…”

Cultivation of underutilized fruit trees by indigenous people in Urug Village, West Java, Indonesia

“…But the main rule is that the planting hole should accommodate the size of the ball root (Figure 6a). Haque and Sakimin (2022) asserted that the planting hole is at least twice as wide as the spread of the tree's roots to accommodate the root system after the roots are spread out. Making a planting hole with the right size can help the tree to break up the soil, so there is plenty of space between the lumps of soil for the roots to grow.…”

A Mini Review of Citrus Rootstocks and Their Role in High-Density Orchards

“…Dwarfing citrus rootstocks are well represented in research reports ( Table 1 ). Higher plant densities promote greater productivity; generally, lower densities permit the harvest of larger fruits, which raises the price of fresh fruit on the market [ 14 ]. Dwarf trees have several advantages, such as a better yield, high density, and photosynthetic efficiency, which raises potential production.…”

“…A high-density planting system ( Table 5 ) is an innovative agrotechnology that enhances yield by managing more plants in a given area [ 92 ]. In addition, the appropriate plant density should be maintained for maximum yield and good-quality fruit [ 14 ]. Citrus trees in a grove compete for resources such as water, nutrients, and light.…”

“…Since expanding the production space is limited, increasing productivity would help to facilitate production. Increasing production per unit area through agronomic management, i.e., high density is one of the efficient techniques to enhance the production of fruit crops [ 14 , 15 ]. In that regard, dwarfing trees have attracted the interest of citrus growers in different parts of the world due to their potential for higher planting density, easy harvest, pruning, and effective spraying, leading to improved productivity [ 16 , 17 , 18 ].…”