Unit – 9
Cultivation Practices of Guava
Guava (Psidium guajava)
Introduction
Guava, the apple of tropics, is one of the most common fruit in Nepal. It is now grown all over the tropics and subtropics and has become the most common of the newly introduced subtropical fruit. Guava is quite hardy, prolific bearing and highly remunerative even without much care.
Composition and uses
Guava is known as ‘poor man’s fruit’ and ‘Apple of Tropics, owing to its nutritional value and overall consumer preference. Guava is rich source of vitamin C and pectin.
Guava is a good source of both thiamin and riboflavin. It contains much iron but 80% of this is in the seed and not utilizable, it is also source of Ca and P. Guava is used as excellent salad and pudding are prepares from the shell of the ripe fruit. Guava jelly is well known to all and the common source. Wild guava makes the best jelly.
Origin and distribution
It originated along with a number of other fruit, in tropical America and seems to have been growing from Mexico to Peru. At present the major guava producing country are southern Asian countries, the Hawaiian Island, Cuba and India. This evergreen species is native to Tropical America, but is currently cultivated in tropical and sun-dried all countries around the world including the Himalayan country like Nepal. Major producing countries Cuba, Brazil, India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, Florida, Hawali, and Mexico, etc.
Variety
1. Lucknow-49
It is also known as ‘sardar guava’ semi-dwarf tree 2.3-3.4 m tall, vigorous heavy branching type, crown flat, large leaf. Fruit is roundish ovate shaped, skin color primrose yellow with occasional red dots on the skin. Test sweet and keeping quality excellent.
2. Allahabad safeda
This is the most popular variety. Tree vigorous, medium tall 5.8-6.2m branching heavy tendency to produce long shoots. Fruit is medium, average weight 180 gm roundish in shape, good keeping quality. Used in meadow orcharding now.
3. Banarasi
Sweetest variety lacks acidity. Medium to tall tree, oblong shape fruit, medium keeping quality.
4. Chittidar
A tall tree, 5.0-5.8 m, spreading branches, Fruit sub globose in shape, sweet test and good keeping quality.
5. Red fleshed
Tree attains 3-5m height. The branches are spreading with roundish oval fruit, which has yellowish skin with pink colour flesh.
6. Seedless
Two types of fruits, completely seedless and partly seeded, are borne on a plant of seedless variety. The completely seedless fruits develop on shoots arising from the stem and these are bigger in size and irregular in shape. The partly seeded fruits are borne on normal shoots at the periphery and are small in size and round in shape. Seedless variety is unfit for commercial cultivation because it gives very low yield.
Climate and soil
It can be cultivated commercially in a tropical and subtropical region. It can be grown up to an altitude of 1500 masl. The temperature ranges between 200C-280C. It can be cultivated in a wide range of soil. The suitable soil is sandy loam having high organic matter with proper drainage facility. It is sensitive to waterlogged conditions. It tolerates a wide range of pH from 6.5 to 8.5. If the soils are having a pH of 7.5 and above, there are more chances of getting guava wilt.
Area and production
Area (ha): 3658; productive area (ha): 2973; production (mt): 25827; productivity (mt/ha): 9
Propagation
Guava is propagated from seed and also by vegetative method.
Seed propagation
Seedling trees bear fruit of variable size and quality but such trees are generally long lived. Normally fully matured seed of the current season are used for sowing. The seedling can be raised in the nursery or in the polythene bag. The trees propagated from seed are very large that are not used in modern orcharding like High Density Planting.
Vegetative propagation
Guava can be successfully propagated by cutting, air layering, grafting and budding.
Cutting:
Although guava is hard to root, various result of investigation indicate that it can successfully be propagated from cutting under mist.
Air layering
Air layering is one of the most important commercial methods in practice for propagation of guava shoots selected for air layering should be 1cm in diameter and preferably from previous year growth. Shoots of required size 1.5 cm diameter was girdled. The girdled portion was covered with a ball of moistened sphagnum moss and wrapped with translucent rubber plastic film. After root formation in 3-5 week the shoot was detached and planted in rich compost. Rainy season was found to be more favourable than spring for air layering. It is found that the high percentage of success occurs with air layering when layers were treated with NAA.
Grafting
Inarching is another important method of propagation in guava. This technique may yield up to success but is more laborious than cutting and layering in this method. For this it is required that scion variety should be grafted with the disease pest and drought hardy root stock. Generally, the dwarf variety root stock should be selected, especially Chinese guava, for modern orcharding.
Budding
The technique involve in budding is of selecting a proper root stock. The rootstock is prepared by removing side growth up to 20 to 25cm from the base. The different budding techniques like forket, shield, patch, chip, etc. have been tried in guava with different success.
Planting
It is planted in a pit size of 90x90x90 cm³ and proper spacing is maintained about 6-8 m x 6-8 m. It is commonly planted by square system of planting.
Irrigation
At early stage (up to 2 years), it requires 8-10 irrigation per year. Irrigation is done
depending upon the climate and moisture content in the soil.
Manure and fertilizer
The recommended dose of manure and fertilizer is given below:
Training and pruning
The main objective of training guava plant is to provide the framework and scaffold of branches, suitable for bearing a heavy remunerative crop without damaging the branches. The system of training fallowed by them was open centre in which the plant were headed back and four primary shoot were retained for initial framework which were subsequently pruned by cutting one third to half of their length after 3 months.
After making the initial framework the two side shoots were permitted to grow initially and after 3-4 years subsequent doubling of selected branches were continued.
Intercropping
Guava can be intercropped with chilli, cabbage, brinjal, turmeric, coriander, leafy
vegetables, peas, gram, and beans.
Intercultural operations
Weeds are usually removed by shallow cultivation. Green manuring is usually done during rainy season. Pre-emergence use of diuron (1.6 kg./ha.), oryzalin (1.67 litres/ha.), simazine (1.6 kg./ha.) or atrazine (1.6 kg./ha.) has been found to be effective in control of weeds in guava orchards.
Flowering, fruiting season and pollination
In Nepal and India (Punjab and Northern India) flowering occurs twice a year, once in February (Falgun) and another in June (Jestha).
The February (Falgun) flowering is called “Ambe Bahar” and the June (Jestha) flowering is called “Mrig Bahar”.
In Western and Southern India, there is another flowering time which occurs in October (Kartik) is called “Hasth-Bahar”.
The Ambe-Bahar fruits ripen during the rainy season. So they become inspid (lack flavor) and watery and fetch less price in the market.
The Mrig-Bahar fruits ripen during the winter, so they are of excellent quality and fetch a good price.
The growers, therefore, should encourage their guava plants for Mrig-Bahar flowering. This can be done by stopping irrigation from January (Magh) onwards.
Guavas are primarily self-fruitful, although some strains seem to produce more fruit when cross-pollinated with another variety. Guavas can bloom throughout the year in mild-winter areas, but the heaviest bloom occurs with the onset of warm weather in the spring. The exact time can vary from year to year depending on weather. The chief pollinator of guavas is the honeybee.
Insect pest of guava
1. Fruit fly (Bactrocera correcta, Bactrocera dorsalis and B. zonata)
Female fly lays egg on soft skin of the fruit.
After hatching, larva feed on the pulp of the fruit due to which fruit rot takes place and finally fruit drop.
Control:
Collect and destroy the affected fruit.
Plough the field in summer
Use of malathion soaked methyl eugenol traps @ 16 traps/acre for Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and B. zonata (Saunders)
Spray malathione @ 0.05% from flowering to fruit set stage at 15 days interval.
Soil drenching with azadirachtin (a neem oil product) or neem seed kernal extract (NSKE) also kills pupating larvae
2. Mealy bug (Ferrisia virgata)
Adult and nymph suck the sap from tender parts of the plant, leaves, flowers, fruits.
The affected part dry out and yield is reduced.
Control:
Plough the field in summer
Spray Buprofezin 25 SC 1.0-1.5 l or methomyl 40 SP 1.25 kg with 500 l water/ha
Foliar spray of V. lecanii/B. bassiana (2×108 cfu/ml) @ 5 g/ml/l of water after 90–105 days of pruning during high humid months to reduce the population of mealybugs.
Soil drenching with Imidacloprid 200 SL @1.5 ml/l of water/plant on the base of the plant around the trunk.
3. Scale insect (Pulvinaria psidii)
The adult suck sap from leaves, tender parts, flowers and fruits.
Honey dew excreted by scale insect cause shooty mould.
Control:
Remove the infected plant part.
Spray Dimethoate @ 0.05%
Disease of guava
1. Wilt
C/o: fungus
S.n: Fusarium oxysporium f.sp. psidii and Fusarium solani
Symptoms:
Yellowing of leaves occurs from the tip of the plant.
Later on the affected part get dry and fall down.
Control:
Uproot and destroy the affected plant and plant parts.
Avoid water logging at the base of the plant.
Use resistant varieties like Banarasi, Nasic etc.
Spray the soil with Propiconazole + Carbendazim @ 0.2% at 15 days interval during early stage of infection.
2. Anthracnose
C/o: fungus
S.n: Colletotrichum psidii
Symptoms:
The growing tips gradually turn dark brown.
Black round spots are developed on the fruits which later on increases the size forming concentric ring of pink colour.
It also causes pre mature of fruit drop.
Control:
Keep the orchard clean
Remove the affected plant parts.
Spray Mancozeb @ 2g/l of water at 10-15 days interval.,
3. Fruit canker
C/o: fungus
S.n: Pestalotia psidii
Symptoms:
Small to medium sized raised dark brown cankerous spot develop on the fruit surface.
The fruit infected at early stage develop cracks and finally fall.
Control:
Collect and destroy the affected fruits.
Spray diathane z-78 @ 2.5g/l of water at 15 days interval.
Physiological disorder
Chilling injury
Symptoms include failure of mature-green or partially-ripe guavas to ripen, browning of the flesh and in severe cases, the skin and increased decay incidence and severity upon transfer to higher temperatures. Fully-ripe guavas are less sensitive to chilling injury than mature-green guavas and may be kept for up to a week at 5°C without exhibiting chilling injury symptoms.
External (skin) and internal (flesh) browning guavas are sensitive to physical damage during harvesting and handling all the way to the consumer. Symptoms include skin abrasions and browning of bruised areas.
Sun scald
Guavas exposed to direct sun light may be scalded. In some countries, paper bags are used to cover guava fruits and protect them from solar radiation and insect infestation while on the tree.
Pathological disorders
Most of the postharvest disease problems begin in the orchard as latent infection in developing fruits. Diseases include anthracnose (caused by Colletrotrichum gloeosporioides and associated species), Aspergillus rot (caused by Aspergillus niger), mucor rot (caused by Mucor hiemalis), phomopsis rot (caused by Phomopsis destructum), and rhizopus rot (caused by Rhizopus stolonifer). Disease control strategies include good orchard sanitation, effective preharvest management to reduce Infection, careful handling to reduce physical damage, prompt cooling to 10°C and subsequent maintenance of that temperature throughout the handling system.
Stage of maturity
Guava fruits are picked at the mature-green stage (color change from dark- to light-green) in some countries where consumers eat them at that stage. In countries where consumers prefer ripe guava, the fruits are picked at the firm-yellow to half-ripe (softer) stage for long-distance transport or at the fully-ripe (yellow and soft) stage for local markets.
Harvesting methods
Currently, guava fruit are handpicked. Guavas require care when being picked and harvest cannot go on for more than 2 to 3 days during the height of the season because of potential losses from insects and overripe fruit.
Yield
Guava yields about 400-500 fruits per plant per year. 8-10 years old plants yield about 900-10000 fruits per plant per year. The average yield of guava is about 8-10 ton per hectare.
Grading
Fruits are graded on the basis of their weight, size and colour.
Packaging
The fruits are packed in baskets made from locally available plant material. For distant markets, wooden or corrugated fibre board boxes are used along with cushioning materials viz. Paddy straw, dry grass, guava leaves or rough paper. Good ventilation is necessary to check build up of heat. Guava is a delicate fruit requiring careful handling during harvesting and transportation. Guavas being perishable in nature are immediately sent after harvesting in the local market and only a small quantity is being sent to the distant markets.
Transport
Road transport by trucks/lorries is the most convenient mode of transport due to easy approach from orchards to the market.
Storage
The fresh fruit has a short shelf life and distant marketing can be done only if it is properly stored. The shelf life can be extended up to 20 days by keeping them at low temperature of 50C and 75-85% relative humidity. It can be stored for about 10 days at room temperature (180-230c) in polybags providing a ventilation of 0.25%.