production aspects of pomegranate in India.

1. 1
Andrew L Myrthong
2014-12-126
Dept. of Pomology and Floriculture

2. 2
Scientific classification
Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Rosidae
Order : Myrtales
Family : Punicaceae
Genus : Punica
Species : granatum
Binomial name : Punica granatum

3. 3
Common Names: Pomegranate, Granada (Spanish), Grenade
(French), Anar (Hindi)
Origin: The pomegranate is native of Iran
Adaptation:
• Altitude – 1850m MSL
• Semi-arid with cool winter and hot summer
• Deciduous or Evergreen
• Hot and dry climate during fruit development and
ripening
• Optimum temperature – 380C
• Sweetness ∞ temperature
• Deep loamy to alluvial soil

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World Scenario
 Popular in Eastern as well as Western parts of the
world
 Mediterranean region, Spain, Iran, India, Turkey, South
East Asia, Afghanistan, tropical Africa, parts of USA etc
 It is grown for its fully luscious grains called ‘Arils’; the
fruits are very attractive with sweet acidic taste
 The fruits are mainly used for dessert purposes
 The fruits are also processed to make juice, syrup,
jam, jelly, wine, to flavour cakes, baked apples, etc
 Of late, its nutritional and medicinal values are given
ample importance

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Indian Scenario
According to the data published by
National Horticulture Board of India
 the area decreased from 109.00
thousand ha in 2008-09 to 107.00
thousand ha in 2010-11
 similarly, the production has
decreased from 807.00 thousand tons
to 743.00 thousand tons during the
same period

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Year Area in 000’ HA Production in
000’ MT
Productivity
(MT/HA)
2008-09 109.00 807.00 7.40
2009-10 125.00 820.00 6.60
2010-11 107.00 743.00 6.90

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Two species:
 Punica protopunica
• found wild in Socotra Island(Yemen)
 Punica granatum: 2 subspecies
• Chlorocarpa - found in Trans Caucasus
• Porphyrocarpa - found in Central Asia

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Cultivars
Ganesh:
• Selection from ‘Alandi’
• Developed by Dr. Cheema at
Pune
• Prolific bearer, fruit very large, rind
yellowish red, pinkish aril with soft
seeds
• Commercial cultivar of Maharashtra
• The average yield ranges from 8-
10 kg per tree.

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Phule Arakta:
• Pre-released in the year 1989, now released as ‘Phule Arakta’ by
MPKV, Rahuri
• Heavy yielder, fruits are bigger in size
• sweet with soft seeds, bold red arils
• It also possess glossy, attractive,
dark red skin
• High yield (30-35 kg/tree)
• Fruits are ready for harvesting
within 120-135 days (Early variety)
·

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Mridula:
• Ganesh X Gul-E-Shah Red
• This variety has all the characters of the Ganesh variety
except the arils are dark red in colour
• The colour of the arils in 'Ambe' bahar and 'Mrig' bahar is
dark red in colour while it is pink during the 'Hasta' bahar
• The average fruit weight is 250-300 grams

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Bhagwa:
• The fruit is glossy red in colour with soft
seeds and high TSS

14. Dholka: Popular variety of Gujarat with fruits of large
size, rind greenish yellow, flesh aril pinkish white seeds
soft, juice acidic, suitable for processing
Jodhpur Local: Medium sized fruit with hard rind, fleshy
aril light pink, sweet, juicy, seed moderately hard
Bassein Seedless : from Karnataka. Flowers throughout
the yearFruit medium to large in size, rind brownish
green, fleshy aril, TSS 16-17 0 Brix
Ruby: Multiple Hybrid from IIHR, yield 16-18t/ha
In South India, ‘Paper Shell’, ‘Spanish Ruby’, ‘Muscat Red’
& ‘Velladu’ have shown promise
14

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 Balegal
 Cloud
 Crab
 Early Wonderful
 Fleshman
 Green Globe
 Home
 King
 Phoenicia:(Fenecia)
 Sweet
 Utah Sweet
 Wonderful
 Francis
 Granada
 Green Globe

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Botany
 Shrub with multiple trunks and has a
bushy appearance
 Grows upto 5m when domesticated and
more than 7m under wild condition
 Deciduous tree
 Young branches are polygonal
(quadrangular) and round when mature
 Stiff angular branches often spiny
 Leaves oblanceolate, obtuse and
acuminate

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 Flowering occurs 1 month after bud break
 Bears in both season growth on spurs
 Terminal flowers are in cluster while flower on spurs are mostly
solitary
 Flower are red in colour with 5-8 crumbled petals
 Three types: Hermaphrodite flowers (vase shaped) , male flowers
(bell shaped) and intermediate
 Cultivars with higher vase shaped to bell shaped ratio will have
higher yield potential
 Stigma receptive one day before anthesis and continues upto the
second day. Anthesis completed in 3-5 hours
 Self pollinated and cross pollinated
 Heterostyly- hermaphrodite (pin) and male flowers (thrumb)
Flowers

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Fruit
 Develops from the ovary and is a fleshy berry
 Fruit is crowned by a prominent calyx
 Connected to the tree with a short stalk
 After fruit set, sepals change colour from orange red
to green
 In later stage of maturation colour changes again
until final characteristic colour is obtained

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• The multi-ovule chambers (locules) are separated
by membranous walls (septum) and fleshy
mesocarp
• The chambers are organized in a nonsymmetrical
way
• Usually the lower part of the fruit contains 2 to 3
chambers while its upper part has 6 to 9 chambers
• The chambers are filled with many seeds (arils)
• The arils contain a juicy edible layer
• Colour of the edible layer vary depending upon the
variety
• The arils vary in size and the seeds vary in
hardness
• The fruit ripens in 5-8 months

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Propagation
Seedlings:
 Variation in
characters
 Low yield
 Poor quality fruits
Air layering:
 treatment with
10000ppm IBA
in lanolin as
carrier was
found to improve
rooting.

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Cutting:
 Hardwood cutting is most common
 One year old fully mature wood are utilised
or
 Suckers which arise from the base of the
stem
 Cuttings are 20-25cm long
 IAA 200ppm or IBA 50ppm increased the
rooting percentage
 Set in beds with 1-2 buds above the soil for 1
year

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Micropropagation
 Depends on factors such as genotype, explant,
season, media and growth regulators
 Mahisi et.al. (1991)- shoot tip as explant
 Drazeta (1997)- apical vegetative bud as
explant
 Yang and Ludders(1993)- nodal leaf and stem
as explant
 Complete protocol for in vitro regeneration
using cotyledonary nodes reported by Naik
et.al. (2000)

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Planting and Plant density
 Square or hexagonal system
 Pit size: 60cm3
 Spacing: 5 x 5m
 Planting density is the yield contributing factor
 Investigation at MPKV, Rahuri showed that
increased plant density also increased yield per
hectare without affecting fruit quality
 1000 plants(4x2.5m) gave 2.30 time higher
yield and 2.44 times more profit than normal
density of 400 plants(5x5m).

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Training and pruning
Training:
 Multiple stem training
 Main stem is pinched at a height of
about one metre from the ground
surface
 4-5 well distributed branches are
allowed to grow on all sides
 The desired shape is obtained within 2-3
years

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Training on a single stem is not advocated since
 Tree produces suckers
 Highly susceptible to stem borer
Plants are allowed to grow as a bush with a
number of main shoots arising at ground level
 Too many stems also hinder interculture
operations
 Maintenance of 3-4 stems per plant is
recommended

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Pomegranate orchard

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Pruning:
 Removal of suckers (water sprouts),
dead and diseased branches
 Developing a sound framework
 Limited pruning of the bearing tree
 Annual pruning during winter should be
confined to shortening of the previous
season’s growth

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 Pruning delays bud sprouting, flower
appearance and harvesting
 Highest yield from unpruned trees
 Pruned trees gave-
Better quality
Increases fruit size,juice content and TSS
Reduced sun scorched and internal
breakdown

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Irrigation:
 regular irrigation during initial phase
 Also from flowering to ripening of fruits
 Drip preferred over traditional check basin system
Manuring and fertilization:
 FYM – 20kg per tree at the onset of monsoon
 N- 1000g, P2O5- 1000g K20- 1500g per tree
 Foliar spray of 0.25% ZnSO4, FeSO4, and MnSO4
and 0.15% boric acid increased yield

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Mulching:
 Black polyethylene mulch resulted in
the best plant growth, earliest flowering
and highest yield
Intercropping:
 Desirable since crop takes 4-5 years to
come to good bearing
 Low growing vegetables and pulse
crops

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Crop Regulation:
 Withheld watering two months prior to
normal flowering season
 After two months, applied manures and
fertilizers and give light irrigation
 3-4 days later, heavy irrigation at
normal interval

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Three flowering season:
 Ambe Bahar (February-March)
 Mrig Bahar (June-July)
 Hasta Bahar (September-October)

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Flower thinning:
 Sevin (carbaryl) and NAA
Fruit growth and development:
 Single sigmoid growth pattern
 Linear increase in size, diameter, volume and
weight except specific gravity which
decreased gradually
 Color changes from greenish to deep pink
with red and yellow patches at maturity
 Aril/rind and TSS/acidity ratio increases

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Effect of Growth Regulators:
Desai et al. (1993)
 NAA(250ppm) + carbaryl(0.7%) = large fruits(≥200g)
 Manual removal of flowers + GA(20ppm)= Large fruits with
highest mean weight(224.2g)
 2,4-D @ 20ppm on cv. Ganesh at flowering and 45 and 90
days later increased fruit length, girth, weight and volume
 Glutathione @ 25, 50 or 75 ppm applied 3-4 weeks after
anthesis improved the TSS:Acid ratio and decreased the
percentage of fruit cracking

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Effect of Bagging:
Hussein et al. (1994) reported
 Bagging reduced the percentage of fruit fly (Virachola
livia)
 Increased fruit yield per tree, individual fruit weight and
size, TSS:acid ratio
 Improves the rind colour and reduced the rust patches
 Reduced fruit cracking

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Harvesting and Yield:
 Ready in 5-7 months after the appearance of blossoms
 Skin turns slightly yellow
 The fruit gives a metallic sound when tapped
 Tree starts yielding from 4th year onwards giving 20-25 fruits per
tree
 10th year 100-150 fruits per tree
 Average yield : 200-250 fruits per tree
 Economic yield : 25-30 years

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Ripening and storage
 It is a non climacteric fruit
 Can be kept well for 2 months at 0oC, one month at 4.5oC
and 15 days at room temperature
 Bavistin @0.2% enhanced shelf life upto 30 days at room
temperature and prevents post harvest fungal rot
 RH: 80-85%
 CA storage with 6.0:3.0%(CO2:O2) showed minimal quality
and weight loss

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Pests
Pomegranate butterfly or fruit borer:
 Virachola isocrates; V. livia
 Most important and widely distributed
 Symptoms: Offensive smell, excreta of caterpillars
come out of the entry holes
 Apply metacid 50 EC 1ml/l at fortnight interval
 Foliar application of synthetic pyrethroids @ 150g a.i/ha

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Symptoms of fruit borer

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Bark eating
caterpillar:
 Inderbela tetraonis; I.
quadrinotata
 Bores the bark and feed inside
old trees
 10-12 holes in a badly infected
tree
 One caterpillar in each hole
 Injecting quinalphos @0.05%
and fenvalerate @0.01% along
with petrol and kerosene

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Stem borer:
 Olenecampetus bilobus
 Common in neglected orchards
 Makes hole and bore through the
branches
 Main trunk is mostly affected
 Control same as bark eating
caterpillar

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Leaf footed plant bug:
 Leptoglossus mambranaceus
 Adult bugs damaga the fruits
 Pierce the rind of the ripening fruits with their
strong proboscis
 Infested fruits drop down
 Spray malathion @ 0.1%

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Sap sucking insects:
 Mealy bugs, scale insects, white flies, thrips,
aphids, mites
 Prune the affected parts
 Spray malathion @ 0.1%
 Bag worm: Clania cramen
 Carob moth: Ectomyelois ceratoniae
 Nematode: Meloidogyne Incognita and M.
javanica

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Diseases
Fruit spot:
 Dreschslora rostrata
 Small irregular spots surrounded by greenish
yellow border
 Infestation extends to inner tissues causing
browning of the aril
 Pruning the dead and diseased branches
 Spray dithane M-45 or captan @ 500g in 200l of
water

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Fruit rot:
1. Glomerella cingulata
 Discoloration of fruits from lower part or the sides
 Discolored areas become brown to black
 Whole fruit rots in a week
2. Phomopsis sp
 Rainy season
 Flowers fail to set fruit
 Young fruits drop
 Yellow to black spot all over the fruit
 Pruning affected twigs and fruits and burning them
 Bavistin @0.5%, Dithane M-45 @ 0.25% spray

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Leaf spot:
 Bacteria- Xanthomonas punicae
 Fungi- Pseudocercospora punicae, Curvularia lunata, Colletotrichum
gleosporoides
 Indefinite black color spots on upper surface of the leaf extending rapidly
 Blackish or brownish spots on the fruits
 Spraying dithane M-45@ 0.2%, Captan @ 0.1% at 15 DI or Copper
oxychloride @ 0.2%

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Postharvest diseases
 Aspergillus rot - Aspergillus nidulans
 Internal rot – Aspergillus clavatus
 Soft rot – Rhizopus arrhizus
 Spicaria rot – Spicaria spp.
 Black mould – Aspergillus niger
 Bortrydiplodia rot – B. theobromae
 Penicillium rot – Penicillium expansum
 Control by preinfection dip in 500ppm 2,4-D or spraying of
sulphur compounds on packing straw

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Botrydiplodia rot Black mould
Aspergillus rot

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Disorders
Fruit cracking or splitting:
 Frequent in dry atmosphere of the arid regions
 Cause: (i)Due to sudden change in soil moisture
content (ii)Deficiency of Ca or B
 Fruits though sweeter lose keeping quality and unfit
for shipment
 Adequate and regular
irrigation and interculture

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Sun Scald:
• Causes: Fruits on trees mainly facing
direct sun rays reveal sun scald.
Improper pruning is one of the reasons
• Nature of damage: Peel of affected fruits reveal sun
Burn symptoms reducing market value of such
fruits
• Detection and diagnosis : Affected fruits reveal sun
burn particularly on the fruit surface

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Internal break down of arils:
• Causes: Complex (Exact cause to be established) Delayed
harvesting, Varietal character, Nutritional deficiency etc
• Nature of damage :blackening and rotting of arils and the
fruits become unfit for consumption
• Detection and diagnosis : Mainly
affects fruits which appear healthy
but when cut, reveal disco loured ,
rotten and shrivelled arils. Studies
on diagnosing the disease are
inconclusive

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Pomegranate
decline:
 Cause: sudden drop in
temperature in late
autumn and early
winter when the trees
are not fully dormant
 Detection and
diagnosis: yellowing,
wilting and death of
some branches

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Breeding and Improvement
Three methods:
1. Collection of superior germplasm
from indigenous and exotic sources
2. Improvement by selection
3. Controlled hybridization

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Objectives
 To obtain suitable types which produce small soft seeds with
attractive red (pink) aril
 To develop easily manageable upright growth habit of the tree
 To develop thornless twigs, a desirable character as it helps in
cultural management of the tree
 To develop varieties resistant to fruit borer (Virachola isocrates)
and fruit rot (Phomopsis spp.)
 To develop varieties free from fruit cracking

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Biotechnology
 The problem of stem borer can be tackled by using Bt
genes
 Protocols for somatic embryogenesis are available
 Biochemical and molecular markers can be use for
characterizing wide amount of variability and genetic
resources
 Anther culture shown promising

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Grade Grade requirements Grade tolerances
Extra class • superior quality
• shape, and colour typical of
the variety
• free of defects
5% (no. or wt.)not
satisfying the
requirements of the
grade, but meeting
those of class I grade
Class I • good quality
• a slight defect in shape,
colour and skin (i.e. scars,
scratches,scraps and
blemishes) not exceeding
5% of the total surface
area
10% of pomegranates
not satisfying the
requirements of the
class, but meeting
those of class II
Class II Defects as above not
exceeding 10% of the total
surface area
10% by of
pomegranates not
satisfying the
requirements of the
grade, but meeting
the minimum
requirements

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Provision concerning sizing

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Packaging
• For export purposes, a cardboard corrugated fibreboard box of
4.0 or 5.0 kg capacity is used
• The dimensions of such boxes depending upon the capacity are:
S.No. 4 Kg Box 5 Kg Box
1 375 x 275 x 100 mm 480 x 300 x 100 mm

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Packed pomegranates ready for shipment

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Exports and export potential
A. Domestic Strengths for Exporting Pomegranate:
 India is the largest producer of pomegranates in the world
 India produces finest varieties of pomegranate having soft seeds,
very less acids and very attractive colour of the fruits and grains
 With adoption of different “bahars”, India can supply
pomegranates almost throughout the year
 Maximum cultivation of pomegranate is in states of Maharashtra
and North Western Karnataka which are very close to the western
port of Mumbai for exporting to Gulf and European countries

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 Agri Export Zone for enhancing exports of pomegranate has
been established in Maharashtra state
 There is strong research support for scientific cultivation of
pomegranate like Nrc for Pomegranate Solapur, MPKV, and
IIHR
 Bhagwa variety has high acceptance in European market
 Farmers have been trained for export quality production and
have registered with GLOBALGAP certification

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B. Exports:
The major Markets of India’s pomegranate during the year 2011-12
were UAE, Bangladesh, Netherlands, UK, Saudi Arabia and Russia.

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C. Measures for enhancing competitiveness for
export
 Our efforts needs to be towards lowering production cost by
increasing productivity
 Setting up special production areas in east zone for export to
SE Asian countries through eastern port
 Packhouse facilities need to be established
 Popularising the brand
 Manipulation of flowering to avoid competition from other
exporting countries
 Endorsing to other countries by holding fruit fairs, exhibitions
etc

69. Health Benefits of Pomegranate
 Super food
 Rich in antioxidants
 Good for heart
 Reduce blood sugar levels
 Reduce blood pressure
 Eliminate free radicals
 Harmonize immune system
 Slows down ageing
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References
 Bose, T. K., Patil, A. V. and Karale, A.R. 2002. Pomegranate. In: Bose, T.
K., Mitra, S. K. and Sanyal, D. (eds), Fruits: Tropical and Subtropical
Volume-II(3rd Ed.).Naya Udyog, Calcutta, pp. 125-162
 APEDA. Pomegranate [On-line]. Available:agriexchange.apeda.gov.in/Mar
ket%20 Profile/MOA/Product/Pomegranate.pdf (1 march 2015)
 Holland, D., Hatib, K. and Bar-Ya’akov, I. 2009. Pomegranate: Botany,
Horticulture, Breeding. In: Janick, J.(ed.) Hortic. Rev. 35:127-191

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