Management techniques of commercial fruit nursery

Abstract

A nursery is a managed site, designed to produce seedlings/ propagules grown under favorable conditions until they are ready for planting. The basic utility of nurseries lies in production of planting materials and their maintenance and care till sale or transplanting. There are different categories of nurseries as per utility and their scale. The site acts as important factor in establishment of commercial nursery. There is sudden surge in the number of new nurseries as there is huge gap between demand and supply. The dearth of authenticated planting materials in terms of varieties, quality and genetic purity paves the way towards establishment of certified nurseries. The seed chain is not being maintained and also genetic purity of seeds are being lost due to mechanical mixtures. The uncertified nurseries do not follow any guidelines of certification and hence the planting materials procured from these nurseries lack authentication of varieties, the commercial size of plant and even different pests are associated with such planting materials as they do not adhere to phytosanitary control measures.