This document provides information on the production technology of Aonla (Emblica officinalis), including varieties, soil and climate requirements, propagation methods, cultivation practices, fertilizer management, irrigation, flowering, fruit set issues, and harvesting. It discusses several varieties of Aonla from Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, as well as varieties released by Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology.

1. Production technology of
AONLA

2.  Scientific name : Emblica officinalis
 Family : Euphorbiaceae.
 Origin : Tropical South Eastern Asia.
 Ch. NO. : 2n=28.
 Inflorescence : Racemose.
 Fruit : Capsule.
 Edible part : Mesocarp &Endocarp.

14.  Varieties from PRATAPGARH [UP]
 Banarasi
 Chakaiya
 Francis

15.  Upright growing medium to tall
tree.
 Fruit- large flattened oblong.
 Less number of female flowers
and hence a shy bearer.
 Contains high amounts of
Vitamin-C.

16.  Spreading habit.
 Prolific and regular bearer.
 4.03% female flowers per branchlet.
 Fruit-Small , rusetted and greenish in colour.

17. FRANCIS
Erect and tall tree.
Regular bearer with drooping branches.
Hence named Hatijool.
Fruit- Large, oval roundish ,light green in colour.

19. Varieties released from Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and
Technology :-
 Narendra Aonla-4.
 Narendra Aonla-5.
 Narendra Aonla-6.
 Narendra Aonla-7.
 Narendra Aonla-10.

20.  Chance seedling of Banarsi.
 Fruit- Large , conical , basin
papillate in shape.
 Yellowish in colour with red
blush.
 Hard and semi transparent.

21.  Chance seedling of chakaiya.
 Fruit-small to medium ,
flattened oblong.
 Yellowish in colour.
 Suitable for preparation of
pickles

22. NA – 6 (AMRIT) :
 Seedling selection from Chakaiya.
 Mid maturing variety i.e., from mid Nov –Dec .
NA – 9
 Chance seedling from Banarasi .
 Early maturing variety .
 Suitable for preserve and candy preparation

25.  It is a hardy fruit plant which can be grown invariable soil
conditions .
 For highest productivity , Aonla requires deep soils ranging from
sandy loam to clay soils .
 PH should be 6.0 – 9.5 .

26.  Aonla is a sub tropical plant .
 A mature Aonla tree can tolerate freezing as well as high
temperature up to 44 degree C.
 If the temperature is above 45 degree C and low humidity
shows injurious influence and affect bearing adversely.
 If the temperature is arround 7 -10 degrees C is conducive for
floral bud initiation.
 Aonla plants are sensitive to temperature below 0 degrees C.

27.  Aonla is generally raised through seed .
 Though it is easy and cheap , does not ensure true – to – type
plants and takes more time to come into bearing.
 So the efficient and cheaper techniques have been
standardized and are now successfully used .
 They are grafting and patch budding .

28.  Raising of seedling is essential for rootstock.
 Seedling raised in March – April can easily be used for
budding in July /September.
 In arid and semi – arid regions use of containers are becoming
popular.
 At Central Institute for Arid Horticulture, Bikaner, perforated
polybags are used for rootstock raising.
 5 – 6 months old seedlings become ready for budding.

29.  In Aonla the forkert and patch budding techniques have given
85 -100 % success .
 Uniform growing , vigorous seedlings of pencil thickness (6- 9
months old ) are used for budding .
 July is the best time for both patch and modified ring
budding. .

30.  Grafted or budded Aonla plants are planted 7-10 m apart during
July–August or February.
 Pits of 1-1.25 m size are dug 2 months prior to planting.
 In each pit 3-4 baskets of well rotten FYM and 1 kg neem cake
or 500 g bone meal are mixed with soil and filled.
 Filled pits are irrigated thoroughly if there is no rain.

31.  Hedge row planting is also being tried keeping line–to–line distance of
8m, while plant-to-plant distance is reduced to 4-5m.
 It is advisable to grow the seedlings directly in the field pits or raise
these in suitable containers and transplant at permanent site, and
perform budding (in situ) subsequently.
 Aonla scion shoots can be safely stored for 5-7 days with ample
success.

32.  Mulching refers to covering the surface area or tree basin with
organic or inorganic material.
 The most useful type of mulch is that which absorbs little
moisture , allows rainfall to move downwards rapidly in the
soil.

33.  The main branches should be allowed to appear at a height of
0.75-1m above the ground level.
 Plants should be trained to modified central leader system.
 2-4 branches with wide crotch angle, appearing in the opposite
directions should be encouraged in early years.
 Regular pruning is not required.
 However, dead, infested, broken, weak or overlapping branches
should be removed regularly.

34.  A dose of 10 kg FYM, 100 g N, 50 g P and 100 g K should be given to
one year old plants of Aonla.
 This dose should be increased yearly up to 10 years and thereafter a
constant dose should be given.
 Full dose of FYM and P and half of N and K should be given in tree
basin during January- February.
 The remaining half should be applied in August.
 In sodic soils, 100-500 g of B and zinc sulphate should also be
incorporated along with fertilizers as per tree age and vigour.

35. MACRONUTRIEN
TS
SYMPTOMS
NITROGEN (N) General yellowing of leaves.
PHOSPHOROUS(P) Tip and marginal yellowing.
POTASSIUM (K) Scorching at tip and along the leaf margin.
CALCIUM (Ca) Burning /scorching /curling of tip portion in the
younger leaves.
MAGNESIUM ( Mg) Uniform yellowing in the half portion of leaf on the
determinate shoot.

36. Young plants require watering during summer months at 15 days interval
till they are fully established.Watering of bearing plants is advised
during summer months at bi weekly interval.After the monsoon rains
,during October-December about 25-30 litres of water per day per tree
through drip irrigation should be given.
 The schedule can also be done as follows
 Plants up to 2 years of age -at 10 days interval
 Plants up to 4 years of age -at 15 days interval.
 Plants after 4 years of age -at 20 days interval.

37.  Flowering takes place on determinate shoots appearing in spring
season. There is no self incompatibility in Aonla and the cause of poor
fruit set (12 - 18%) may be due to a high percentage of staminate
flowers. Flower and fruit drop in Aonla is divided in three stages.
i) The 'first drop' is the highest as 70% of the flowers drop off within
three weeks of flowering due to unfertilized ovaries and degenerated
ovules.
ii) The 'second drop' occurs from June to September, consists of drop of
young fruit lets at the time of dormancy break may be due to lack of
pollination and fertilization.
iii) The 'third drop' is spread over a period of rapid growth from August
to October may be due to lack of auxins i.e. embryological and
physiological factors.

38.  Aonla tree has two types of shoots, the indeterminate and
determinate. Indeterminate shoots are longer and attain fresh
growth in the season and do not bear flowers.
 while determinate shoots come at the nodes of indeterminate
shoots and number vary from 3-5 depending upon the
genotype.
 Determinate shoots bear very small reduced, closely arranged
leaves giving the impression of pinnately compound leaves.

40.  The maximum fruit-retention was recorded. under open
pollination followed by sibbing and geitonogamy.
 whereas bagging resulted in no-fruit retention.
 Improvement in fruit retention under sibbing and open
pollination compared with the geitonogamy might be due to the
effect of foreign pollen grains having high pollination stimulus

41.  The initial fruit set was low and most of the fruits dropped before
attaining maturity.
 The cultivar Francis was the best pollinizer for both Banarsi and
Chakaiya. Poor fruit set and low yield in aonla cv. Banarsi is mainly
due to lack of pollination which can be improved by cross-
pollination.
 The use of pollinators (honey bees) and pollinizers in aonla orchards
is necessary for increasing the fruit yield.

42.  In initial years of experimentation ,in vitro oxidative browning
and contamination had been the major constraint in establishing
cultures.
 It was effectively controlled by sealing the cut ends of explant
with melted paraffin wax. This method is termed as explant
waxing.
 By this method 80%success in establishment of culture has been
achieved.
 Maximum shoot proliferation occurs in modified MS medium.

43.  Top working can be easily adopted in rejuvenated trees to
upgrade the old and senile plantation of seedling progeny
with superior commercial cultivars.
 Top working involves in 2 steps:
1. Beheading of trees to be topworked.
2. Budding with an elite material on the new flushes emerging
out on the stumps of beheaded trees.

44.  The plants are headed back during Dec – Jan to the extent of 2.5 –
3.0m above the ground level.
 4-6 shoots growing in the outer direction on the main limbs
should be allowed to develop.
 During June – July, scion of desired variety is budded on these
shoots.
 After sprouting of bud, the top portion of the shoot is removed.
 Numerous side shoots which emerge on the pruned branches after
budding should be removed regularly.
 So that tree of pure commercial variety is obtained.

47.  Stage of maturity at which fruits are harvested has greatest
effect on quality , storage life and marketability.
 Both early and late harvesting results in extremely poor shelf
life of fruits.
 It is , therefore essential to formulate harvest indices for
harvesting the fruit at the right stage of maturity.

48. The criteria for harvesting aonla fruits are:
 Seed colour changes from creamy white to brown black.
 Fully developed fruits which shows colour change are harvested.
 2-4 harvestings should be carried out for complete harvesting of
fruits on a tree.
 This helps in size gain of the remaining fruits.

49.  Delay in harvesting after attaining maturity results in heavy
dropping of fruits , mainly in Banarasi and Francis cultivars..
 Harvesting during mid day should be avoided.
 Fruits are hand picked or plucked with locally made harvester.
 Fruits should be harvested in the morning or late in the evening
and collected in plastic trays.
 Peduncle should be clipped to prevent damage during transport.

50.  A bearing tree may yield from 100-150 kg/tree/year
depending up on cultivar and management may increase up
to 250kg/tree.
 The average yield is 15-20t per hectare.

51.  Aonla fruits should be graded into following three grades:
 GRADE A:
 Large sized fruits with diameter of 4-4.5 cm.
 Fruits should be free from blemishes.
 GRADE B:
 Small sized fruits having diameter less than 4cm and free from
blemishes.

52.  GRADE C:
 Defective fruits i.e, blemished , scared and necrotic fruits are
graded under this.
 Large size healthy fruits are mostly used for preserve and candy
making.
 Small sized fruits are utilized for making chavanprash.
 Damaged fruits are used for making trifla powder and shampoo,
etc.

53.  Packaging should be such that it provides protection , easy to
handle, attractive and economical.
 Gunny bags and baskets are common packaging materials for
aonla.
 Baskets made of pigeon pea twigs, lined with newspaper and
aonla leaves as cushioning material are being used for packaging.
 Wooden boxes with polythene lining resulted in least weight loss
and bruising as compared to other packaging material.

54.  The main objective of storage of aonla fruits is to extend their
period of availability for processing.
 Aonla fruits are highly perishable in nature
 The storage life of fruit depends upon the initial quality, stage of
maturity on harvesting and handling

55.  The storage of aonla is done in following conditions :
1. Storage at ambient temperature;
2. Storage in zero energy cool chambers;
3. Storage at low temperature;
4. Storage in brine solution;
5. Preservation in steeping solution;
6. By application of chemicals.