Soil Fertility Status in Relation to Insidious Fruit Rot Incidence at Harumanis Mango Orchard in Perlis: A Case Study.

Mango is one of the six important fruits crops besides banana, watermelon, apple, orange, and grapes in the world. Of late, insidious fruit rot (IFR) has been of increasing concern among mango growers in Malaysia as this disease does not exhibit visible symptoms but has the potential to reduce the quality of the fruit. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to evaluate and correlate soil fertility status between mango orchards with and without the IFR incidence by comparing content of selected soil nutrients. The soil samples were collected from orchards planted with Harumanis, a mango variety, with and without IFR incidence. The samples were taken at a depth of 0–30 cm, crushed and then sieved using a 2-mm mesh size prior to laboratory analysis. The analyses followed standard practice. The results showed a significant difference between EC, total C, total N, C/N ratio, and exchangeable bases (Ca, Mg, K and Na) between the soil samples from Harumanis orchards with and without IFR incidences. Although soil nutrient content was higher than the optimal range for Harumanis cultivation in both sites, synergistic and antagonistic effects were discovered mostly in soil samples from Harumanis orchard with IFR incidence. Studies show that application of Ca and K fertilizers can suppress IFR incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]