Tropical Crops, Their identification and Other information

Mango

Common Name: Bathroom fruit, King of fruit

Botanical Name: Mangifera indica

Family: Anacardiaceae

Chromosome No. 40

Origin: Indo-Burma.

Max Area under Mango- U.P, Production- A.P,  Productivity- A.P.

Largest Production in the World: India.

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical

Varieties: 

Indian Mango Varieties By State

1) Alphonso- grown in Maharashtra, Exporting type, Susceptible to spongy tissue.

2) Chausa- grown in U.P, Extremely sweet in taste.

3) Langra- grown in U.P, very sweet pulp, used for table purpose.

4) Dashehari- grown in U.P, susceptible to Mango malformation.

5) Banganapalli- grown in A.P, good for canning.

Hybrid:

1) Mallika- Neelam×Deshehari

2) Amrapalli- Dashehari×Neelum

3) Ratna- Neelum×Alphanso

4) Sindhu- Ratna×Alphanso

Type of Inflorescence: Panicle

Type of Fruit: Modified Berry- Drupe (Stone).

Edible Part: Mesocarp

Type of embryony: Polyembryony type of Fruit.

Bearing Habit: Regular & Alternate Bearing habit according to varieties.

Rate of Respiration: Climacteric (Ripe after the harvesting).

Relative Salt Tolerance: Highly Sensitive.

Pollination: Cross Pollinated.

Propagation Method: Seed & Veneer grafting.

Spacing: 10×10 m.

Planting Season

1) July-August for Rainfed areas

2) February-March for Irrigated areas

Optimum Temperature for Growth: 24-30°c

Pollinators : Insect (Entomophilous)- House Fly.

Training & Pruning: Mango trees do not require frequent pruning. However, the training of the plants in the initial stage is very essential to give them proper shape. Subsequently pruning is done only to remove the disease and dead branches.

Harvesting: Mango tree start fruiting 6 years after the planting. Grafted plants start bearing early. The fruits harvested early in the season at a premature stage.

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Banana

Botanical Name: Musa paradisiaca

Family: Musaceae

Chromosome No. 22, 33, 44

Origin: S.E. Asia

Max Area under Banana- Tamil Nadu, Production- Gujarat.

Largest Production in the World: India

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical

Varieties: 

1) Basrai- leading commercial Variety of Maharashtra.

2) Dwarf Cavendish & Nendran are popular for table & processing purpose.

Other variety- Robusta, Monthan, Poovan, Red banana, Safed velchi, Grand Maine, Karpurvalli

Type of Inflorescence: 

Type of Fruit: Berry type

Available Nutrient: Vit-A

Type of Parthenocarpy: Vegetative Parthenocarpy

Pollination: Cross Pollinated

Propagation Method: Sword sucker

Spacing: 1.5×1.5m, 2.1×2.1m.

Planting Season: May-June (or) September-October

Harvesting: Bananas are harvested raw ripened artificially. Dwarf- harvest 11 to 14 months after planting, Tall- harvest 14 to 16 months after planting.

Yield: 40 to 70t/ha.

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Papaya

Botanical Name: Carica papaya

Family: Caricaceae

Chromosome No.- 18

Origin: Mexico

Max Area and Production- Andhra Pradesh

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical

Varieties:

A) Gynodioecious Var- Coorg honey dew, Pusa delicious, Pusa majesty, Taiwan, Solo, Solo sunrise, CO.3, CO.7

B) Dioecious Var- Pusa giant, Pusa nanha, Pusa dwarf, CO.2, CO.4, CO.5, CO.6, CO.8

Type of Fruit: Berry type.

Pollination: Cross Pollinated

Propagation Method: Seed

Seed Rate: 250 to 300g/ha.

Spacing: 1.25×1.25m. (6000 plants/ha) & 1.8×1.8m. (3086 plants/ha).

Planting Season: Monsoon- (June to July) & Autumn- (October to November) & Spring- (February to March).

Optimum Temperature for Growth: 25-30°c.

P.H: 6.5-7%.

Harvesting: Papaya fruits ready 9-10 months after planting.

Yield: 75-100t/ha.

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Guava

Botanical Name: Psidium guajava

Family: Myrtaceae

Chromosome No.- 22

Origin: Tropical America (Peru)

Max Area & Production- U.P

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical & Sub-tropical

Varieties: Allahabad safeda, Banarasi, Sardar, Red fleshed, Arka mridula, Apple colour, Chittidar

Edible Part: Thalamus & Pericarp

Pollination: Self Pollinated

Propagation Method: Air layering, Stooling, Inarching, Grafting, Budding & Wedge grafting.

Spacing: 5×5m, 6×6m (278-400 plants/ha).

P.H: 5.5-7.5%.

Planting Season: June to July

Training and Pruning: Open center system and Bending practice adopted, Pruning is usually recommend after harvesting or in spring.

Harvesting: 4 to 5 months after flowering.

Yield: 100-150kg.

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Custard Apple

Botanical Name: Annona squamosa

Family: Annonaceae

Chromosome No.- 14

Origin: Tropical America

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical

Varieties:

Balanagar, Barbados seedling, Washington, British guinea, Mahaboobnagar

Hybrid- Arka sahan, African pride.

Type of Fruit: Aggregate fruit

Edible Part: Pericarp

Pollination:

Propagation Method: By Seed, T-budding

Spacing: 4.5×4.5m.

Harvesting: Aug-Oct, Sept-Nov

Yield: 7.0 t/hec.

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Sapota

Botanical Name: Achrus zapota

Family: Sapotaceae

Chromosome No.-

Origin: Mexico

Max Area & Production: Maharashtra

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical

Varieties:

1. Kallipatti- Popular in Maharashtra

2. Murrabba- Popular in Maharashtra

3. Cricket boll- Famous in Andhra Pradesh

4. Kirti bharti- Popular in Andhra Pradesh

5. CO-2,   6. PKM-1,    7. Chhatri,      8. Pala,     9. Pilli patti,       10. Bangalore

Hybrid

CO-1, CO-3, PKM-2, PKM-3, DSH-1, DHS-2

Type of Fruit:

Edible Part:

Type of Pollination:

Propagation Method: Air layering, Gootee layering, Grafting and Budding.

Spacing: 10×10m Square system (100plants/ha). HDP- 5×5m

P.H: 6.0-7.0%.

Planting Season: September

Optimum Temperature for Growth: 10-38°c

Pollination:

Training: Central Leader system.

Pruning: to expose the tree to sunlight and to remove the dead and diseased branches. It is mainly done to regulate vegetative growth in order to improve the productivity and quality of fruits.

Harvesting: 4-5 months after flowering

Yield: 4-6 t/acre.

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Coconut

Common Name- Kalpavriksha

B.N: Cocus nucifera

Family: Arecaceae

Origin- South East Asia

Chromosome No.- 32

Max Area & Production: Kerala

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical

Type of Fruit: Single seeded Drupe.

Edible part: Endosperm

Varieties-

A) Tall: West coast tall, Laccadive ordinary, East West tall, Pratap

B) Dwarf: Choughat green dwarf, Choughat orange dwarf, Gangabondam,Coco Nino

Pollination: Self Pollinated

Propagation Method: Seed

Spacing: 7.5×7.5m, HDP-6.5m.

Harvesting: Coconut ripens in 12-13 months from the opening of the inflorescence.

Yield: 80-100 nuts/palm/year.

7608 nuts/ha.

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Cashew Nut

Botanical Name: Anacardium occidentale

Family: Anacardiaceae

Chromosome No.-  42

Origin: Brazil 

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical

Varieties:

1. Maharashtra- Vengurla-1 to 7.

2. Karnataka- Ullal-1, Ullal-2, Ullal-3, UN-50

Tamilnadu- VRT-1 to 3

3. Andhra Pradesh- BPP

Type of Fruit: Nut

Edible Part: Cotyledon

Pollination: Cross Pollinated

Propagation Method: Softwood grafting

Spacing:

Planting Season:

P.H: 8.0%.

Pruning: August-September

Harvesting:

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Pineapple

Botanical Name: Ananas comosus

Family: Bromeliaceae

Chromosome No.- 50

Origin: Brazil

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical & Sub-tropical

Varieties: Kew, Giant Kew, Queen, Jaldhup & Lakhat, Charlotte rothchild

Type of Fruit: Sorosis

Edible Part: Bracts/Perianth

Pollination:

Propagation Method: Slips & Sucker

Spacing: 22.5×60×75cm (63,400 plants/ha), 25×60×90cm (53,300 plants/ha).

Planting Season: April-June

Optimum Temperature for Growth: 22-32°c

Harvesting: May-August

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Jackfruit

Botanical Name: Artocarpus hetrophyllus

Family: Moraceae

Chromosome No.- 56

Origin: India

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical

Varieties: Gulabi, Champa, Monkey jack, Rudrakshi jack, Hazari, Muttam varikka, Singapore or Ceylon jack

Type of Fruit: Sorosis

Edible Part: Bracts/Perianth

Pollination:

Propagation Method: Seed, Inarch grafting

Spacing:

Planting Season:

Pollination:

Harvesting: 40-50t/hec

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Carambola

Botanical Name: Averrhoea carambola

Family: Oxalidaceae

Chromosome No.- 24

Origin: Indo-Malaya

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical

Varieties:

Pollination:

Propagation Method: By Seed

Spacing:

Planting Season:

Harvesting:

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Persimon

Botanical Name: Diospyrus kaki

Family: Ebenaceae

Chromosome No.- 90

Origin: China

Climatic Adaptability: Tropical

Varieties: 

A) Non Astringent- Fuyu, Jiro, 20th century, Mastumoto

B) Astringent- Triumph, Nightingale, Hachiya, Hiratanenashi

Edible Part: Mesocarp and Epicarp

Bearing Habit: Alternate bearing habit

Pollination:

Propagation Method: Crown grafting

Spacing: 6×6m

Planting Season: Jan-Feb

Harvesting: