Water scarcity is a major problem of less productivity and decline of citrus orchards in almost all region of the world. Drip/trickle irrigation is a recently suggested water saving technique in rainfed agriculture. The present studies emphasized the need to maintain the adequate moisture in the root zone of orchard through micro-irrigation system at proper irrigation scheduling and will improve the micro climate of the orchard ecosystem and drip irrigation seems to be only hope for raising the orchards under depleting water resources. Application of hydrogel with black polyethylene mulch significantly affecting the yield of ‘Kinnow’ mandarin (Citrus reticulate Blanco) plants in rainfed areas. The drip trickle irrigation 3 and 6 day intervals water supply along with different dose of hydrogel viz. 30, 60, 90 and 120 g of soil application with black polyethylene mulch in relation to water and nutrient composition of leaves and soil along with growth, yield and quality attributes of the plants. The higher plant growth with maximum fruit yield (0.0119-0.0102 t ha-1) was recorded with 3 days intervals water supply by drip trickle irrigation and 90 g hydrogel with black polyethylene mulch plants treatments. The analysis of plant leaf lower concentration nutrients (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) revealed that control treatments. The relative leaf water content (RLWC), leaf water concentration (LWC), total chlorophyll (TC) and Leaf area (LA) showed an increasing trend under two year experimentation. Fruit quality, attributes and Juice content (JC), Total soluble solids (TSS) and ascorbic acid (AA) revealed an increasing trend whereas Titratable acidity (TA) was reverse trend with application of treatments. Overall, these results reveal that 3 days drip/ trickle irrigation intervals and 90 g hydrogel with black polyethylene mulch could enact necessary water stress on ‘Kinnow’ mandarin plants of subtropical ecosystem improving their water productivity and fruit yield in water infrequent condition.