A field experiment was carried out at Regional Seri cultural Research Station, Kodathi, Bangalore during 2013-2015 to evaluate the impact of tree mulberry in varied geometries of 8’x3’, 8’x5’ and 10’x10’ comparing with the age old recommendation of paired row spacing [(3’x2’)x5’] grown in low bush form on the quality and quantitative characters of mulberry and cocoon production. A total of 10 crops mulberry harvest and single crop bioassay with silkworm rearing was conducted. Pooled data of 10 crops under varied geometries 8’x3’, 8’x5’ & 10’x10’ supplemented with 50% reduced levels of NPK & FYM compared with traditional paired row spacing [(3’x2’)5’] as control maintained under recommended doses of NPK @ 350:140:140kg/ha/yr along with 20MT FYM/ha/yr. The results revealed that significantly increased levels of mulberry leaf yield was recorded under the spacing 8’x3’ (13,414.36kg/ha/crop) followed by the paired row spacing (12,028.89 kg/ha/crop) and 8’x5’ spacing (10,234.79kg/ha/crop). Similarly the plant growth and leaf nutrient parameters too showed significant improvement in respective of the wider spacing under tree farm cultivation. However, the wider spacing with 10’x10’ has shown significantly reduced levels of mulberry leaf yield giving an indication that extremely reduced plant population i.e. 8% compared to recommended no of plants/ha (13,888) is not only un-economical but also incurring the wastage of potential cultivable land of the small as well as medium farmers compelling the reduction of brushing capacity. Chemo-assay of mulberry leaves also revealed the significantly increased levels of total chlorophylls reflecting its impact on the increased qualitative and quantitative parameters of silkworm cocoon characters in wider spacing. From the results it is evident that mulberry grown in tree farm with the use of economically viable irrigation methods as affordable micro irrigation technologies (AMITs) is not only viable but also have long term benefits even in combating with drought stricken conditions compared to the traditional paired row spacing practice.
