Abstract

This study assessed the effect of nutrient management practices on the yield and quality of mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) grown by commercial orchardists in Sankhuwasabha district, Eastern Nepal, comparing farmer practices before and after an intervention led by the National Agricultural Modernization Project (NAMP). A descriptive survey was conducted among 60 purposively selected mandarin growers using a structured questionnaire, key-informant interviews and field observation. Before the intervention, nutrient supply in all orchards depended entirely on farmyard manure (FYM), supplemented only marginally by poultry manure (5% of farmers) and chemical fertilizer (10%). Following NAMP promotion, all 60 growers adopted bone meal (mean rate 395.89 g plant^-1) and micronutrient mixtures (mean rate 146.29 g plant^-1, applied mostly at 1-250 g plant^-1 by 91.67% of respondents), with bone meal commonly incorporated with FYM (55%) rather than applied alone. Growers reported visible improvement in fruit shape and yield (100% of respondents), vegetative growth (63.33%) and leaf colour (21.67%) after adopting the new practices. Mean fruit yield increased from 105.58 ± 48.60 kg plant^-1 before nutrient management to 141.17 ± 58.43 kg plant^-1 afterward, a gain of 35.58 kg plant^-1 (54.14%). A paired-samples t-test confirmed that the increase was highly significant (t = -11.20, p < 0.001), and yield before and after the intervention were strongly correlated (R² = 0.829), with low-yield categories (< 90 kg plant^-1) disappearing entirely after adoption of the improved practices. These findings indicate that moving away from sole reliance on farmyard manure toward balanced nutrition, particularly bone meal and micronutrient supplementation, can substantially raise mandarin productivity and support more sustainable, income-generating citrus farming in Nepal's mid-hill districts.

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