ABSTRACT
Fruit crops are very slow growing in nature. Under the conventional planting system, fruit plants are normally planted at a wider distance which results in the creation of a significant amount of vacant land in fruit plantation for the entire economic life of the fruit plant. In general, these vacant lands become the habitat for different orchard flora which ultimately reduces the amount of quality harvest in terms of yield of the main crop and leads to huge economic losses to the growers. Therefore, maintenance of the orchard floor from the very beginning of orchard establishment is the key operation as it will improve the fertility status of orchard soil. It can be done by adopting different techniques such as the application of organic fertilizers, planting cover crops, sod culture techniques, etc. which will helps to prevent the topmost soil layer of the orchard to expose directly to the atmosphere. In addition, all these techniques help to incorporate organic matter to the soil of the orchard. Further, scientific management of orchard floor would also suppress the weed growth around the trunk of main fruit crop and deliver enough space for different cultural operations in entire orchard floor including spraying of different nutrients, pesticides, fungicides and harvesting of the produce. In addition, short duration vegetables like tomato, brinjal, legumes, cole crops, etc., has the potentiality to grow as intercrops at the vacant space in-between two rows of the main crop which ultimately gives the extra profit to the growers particularly during the pre-flowering stage of fruit crops. Further, a growing short duration intercrop may also reduce the load of weed population on the orchard floor. However, the cultivation of intercrops in the vacant space of the orchard should be done in such a way so that these 228intercrops would not have any harmful effect on main fruit crops particularly for nutrient competition, competition for natural resources, different biotic and abiotic factors, etc.
