Aonla is generally an arid reason crop. Because of its bearing habit canopy management in aonla is very important. Here is about canopy management in aonla.

1. SUSHRITA NAYAK
OUAT
CANOPY MANAGEMENT IN
AONLA

2. CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Uses
 Origin and disribution
 Plant description
 Flowering behaviour
 Canopy management-general aspects
 Training and pruning in aonla
 Production constraints
 Rejuvanation
 Top working
 Intercropping,nutrient management,irrigation
 Referances

3. INTRODUCTION
 Amla, aonla or Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis)
is an indigenous fruit to the Indian subcontinent.
 Owing to hardy nature, suitability to various waste
lands, high productivity/unit area (15-20tons/ha),
nutritive and therapeutic value, amla is becoming
more and more commercially important with every
passing year.
 Amla fruits are a very rich source of vitamin C having
a good quantity of ascorbic acid content varying from
0.9 to 1.3 percent.
 The fruits have pungent and cooling effect .It helps in
easy discharge of urine and act as laxative. This is
the second highest among all the cultivated fruits.
 This fruit has a great value among indigenous
medicines. It is acrid, cooling, refrigerant, diuretic .
 Dried fruits have been reported to be useful in health
complications like haemorrhages, diarrhoea, dysentery,
anaemia, jaundice, dyspepsia and cough.
 Trifala and Chyavanprash are well known indigenous
medicines in Ayurvedic system using amla fruits.

5. ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION
 Aonla is originated in central India. From India it spread
to neighbouring countries such as China, Cylon and
Malaysia.
 In India it’s commercial cultivation is very common in
Uttar Pradesh. Its intensive plantation is being done in
the salt- affected areas of Utter Pradesh.
 Aonla cultivation is spreading rapidly in the semi-arid
regions of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh.
 Though aonla is not commercially cultivated in the
North Eastern, it is commonly found either in
homestead or growing in wild which indicates its
adaptability.

6. PLANT DESCRIPTION
 Under sub-tropical conditions, tree is
deciduous in nature.
 The bark of the trunk is grey in colour.
The tree is spreading in nature.
 Full grown tree can have a height of 8-
9 meters depending upon the soil
fertility.
 It is monoecious plant having male and
female flowers separately on the same
panicle.
 Proportion of male flowers is very high.
 Male flowers appear in clusters in leaf
axils and female on the upper end of
few branchlets.
 Aonla has drooping habit of branches.
 The bearing is heavy on tender and
lengthy shoots. Due to fruit weight
branches tend to break.

7. FLOWERING BEHAVIOUR
 Aonla bears two types of flower, male and female which appear on
branchlets in late spring.
 When hot winds blow, fruit set is often a problem.
 It is observed that flower bud differentiation in Banarasi cultivar takes place
in the first week of March.
 The flowers commence opening from the last week of March and the
blooming period lasts for 3 weeks.
 Male flowers appear in clusters on the axil of leaf all over the branchlet,
while female flowers on the upper end of a few branchlets only.
 The maximum number of male flowers opens between 6 and 7 pm and
dehiscence of anthers occurs soon or about 10-15 minutes after anthesis. The
female flowers open gradually and it takes 72 hours to open completely.
 The stigma becomes receptive on the third day of anthesis. Aonla is pollinated
mainly by wind and honey bee.
 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.

8.  Determinate shoots bear very small reduced, closely arranged leaves
giving the impression of pinnately compound leaves.
 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 auxin i.e. embryological and physiological
factors.

9. CANOPY MANAGEMENT
 Canopy in a fruit tree refers to its physical composition comprising of the
stem, branches, shoot and leaves. Canopy management is the ‘art’ of fruit
growing - it is much more than cutting off a few branches.
TRAINING AND PRUNING
• Training is a practice in which tree growth is directed into a desired shape
and form.
• Training young fruit trees is essential for proper tree development. It is
better to direct tree growth with training than to correct it with pruning.
• Training includes summer training and summer pruning as well as dormant
pruning.

10.  The goal of tree training is to direct tree growth and minimize cutting.
 Pruning is the proper and judicious removal of plant parts such as shoots,
spurs, leaves, roots or nipping away of terminal parts etc. to correct or
maintain tree structure and increase its usefulness.
 It is done to – make the plant more productive and bear quality fruits, –
increase longevity of the tree, – make it into manageable shape and – to
get maximum returns from the orchard.
 Pruning is a dwarfing process and can be used to maintain any desired tree
size.
 Removal of a branch removes not only stored carbohydrates but reduces
the potential leaf surface as well.
 Pruning increases fruit size, nitrogen per growing point and stimulates
growth near the cut.

11.  Excessive pruning reduces fruitfulness especially with young vigorous trees
that may already be developing too much vegetative growth.
 Large cuts results in excessive stimulation of sprouts near the cut, while
well distributed small cuts spreads the stimulus better over the entire tree.
 The severity, kind and amount of pruning to be done on a tree depend on the
– age, – existing framework, – condition of bark and wood, – Growth
characteristics – Fruiting habit of the variety – Whether tree is permanent or
filler
 Pruning is most often done during the winter, commonly referred to as
dormant pruning.
TRAINING
 Mainly concerned with giving a form or shape to the plant.
 Determines the general character and even details of the plant’s outline and
of its branching and framework.
 Training includes summer training and summer pruning as well as dormant
pruning.
 The goal of tree training is to direct tree growth and minimize cutting

12. PRUNNING
 Pruning is the removal of a portion of a tree to correct or maintain tree
structure.
 It has an effect on the function of the plant.
 It is meant to assist more in determining what the tree does in respect of
fruiting.
 Pruning is most often done during the winter, commonly referred to as
dormant pruning. Also done during summers, referred to as summer
pruning.
Objectives of Training
 To admit more sunlight and air to the centre of the tree and to expose
maximum leaf surface to the sunlight.
 To direct the growth of the tree so that various cultural operations, such
as spraying and harvesting are performed at the lowest cost.
 To protect the tree from sunburn and wind damage.
 To secure a balanced distribution of fruitbearing parts on the main limbs
of the plant.

13. TRAINING AND PRUNING IN AONLA
 As the branches of aonla trees often break off due to heavy
crop load and brittle nature of the wood, aonla plant should
be encouraged to form a shape of medium headed tree.
 The main branches should be allowed to appear at a
height of 0.75 to 1.0 meter above the ground level. Plants
should be trained to modified central leader system.
 Two to four branches with wide crotch angle, appearing in
the opposite directions should be encouraged in early years.
 The unwanted branches need to be pinched off during
March-April. In the subsequent years, 4-6 branches should
be allowed to develop.
 Regular pruning of bearing aonla tree is not required as per
growth habit, shedding of all determinate shoots
(branchlets) encourages new growth in coming season.
 However, dead, broken, infested, overlapping or weak
branches should be removed regularly. Removal of rootstock
sprout is very important as per Growth habit ,shedding of
all the determinate shoots encourages new growth in the
coming season .

14. PRODUCTION CONSTRAINTS
 Aonla crops has a seasonal as well as life long developmental
pattern.
 In general, canopy of aonla has irregular shape.
 Trees of irregular shape and size are difficult to control and
even result into poor fruit yield in the subsequent years as the
lower branches of canopy gradually turns inert and infertile as
well.
 In aonla, majority of the older plantations are of seedling origin
and poor genetic potentiality which become senile. In several
areas, plantations of improved varieties having good genetic
potentiality have either gone unproductive or showing marked
decline in productivity.
 This is the outcome of over crowded and intermingling of large
branches and meager foliage, allowing poor light availability to
growing shoots within the canopy.
 This renders them uneconomical. Such exhausted aonla trees
can be rejuvenated by heading back of branches in winter for
the production of new shoots, which can bear good crops in the
years to come.

15. Points to be considered while adopting the rejuvenation
technology
1.Plantation over commercial varieties where the canopy become
over crowded resulting in reduction in yield can be
rejuvenated followed by canopy management.
2. Older plantations of seedling origin which have become senile
can be adopted for top worked by grafting (budding) with
scion of superior varieties to upgrade seedling plantation with
superior commercial varieties.

16. TECHNOLOGY FOR REJUVENATING SENILE
ORCHARDS
 There is a tendency of over lapping of
canopy between 10 and 12 years of age
depending on the nature of variety unless
the canopy is maintained by trimming and
thinning.
 Plantations which have more overlapping
branches lead to dead wood development
decline in yield in later years. Such
plantation can be rejuvenated through
canopy redevelopment.
 This is possible by hedging of branches
followed by shoot management to modify
the tree structure and maintain canopy
size. Old and crowded aonla orchard

17.  The rejuvenation technology involves heading back
(topping) of branches during December –January at a
height of 2.5 to 3.0 m from the ground level depending on
the structure of individual trees in the orchard.
 Before rejuvenation pruning, branches are marked with
white chalk by making a ring around the branches. The
selected branches should initially be cut from the under
side on the lower side by giving at least 10 cm deep cut.
 Thereafter, the cutting should be done from the upper
surface of the branch. The cut portion of the branches is
then pasted with cow dung or copper oxychloride to avoid
infection of fungal diseases.
 Immediately after heading back, the pruned wood needs
to be removed from the orchard so as to prevent the
damage by trunk borers.

18. Heading back of branches
Beheaded branches showing
emergence
Tree growth after 5 months of heading back
Headed back trees with plastic
mulch

19. MANIPULATION OF VEGETATIVE GROWTH
 The new shoots arise on pruned branches of
heading back and a few shoots are retained at
proper spacing and growing towards periphery
of trees.
 Successive removal of unwanted shoots,
considering the vigour and growing direction is
important.
 In this technique, only 4 to 6 shoots developing
in outer directions on main limbs should be
allowed to develop.
 Proper development of new canopy in horizontal
direction should be kept in mind while
practicing thinning of shoots.
 During May-june selected branches are further
pruned out to about 50 per cent of its total
length for emergence of multiple shoots below
the pruning points.
 This was mainly done to modify the tree
structure and maintain canopy size.
 Fruiting starts on third year after rejuvenation.
Yield levels during initial year are slightly low,
while the yield from third year onward is better
than the unpruned trees.
Pruning Shoot (50%) of its total
length
Tree canopy after shoot
thinning

20. REJUVENATION BY TOP WORKING
 Top working can be easily adopted in rejuvenated trees to upgrade the
old and senile plantations of seedling progeny with superior commercial
cultivars.
 Top working involves two steps
(i) beheading of the tree to be top worked and
(ii) budding with a elite material on the new flushes emerging out on the
stumps of beheaded tree.
 The plants are headed back of 2.5 to 3.0 m above the ground level. Four
to six shoots from the outer directions on main limbs should be allowed to
develop. During june-july scion of desired varieties are grafted or
budded on these shoots .
 After bud sprouting, the top portion of the shoot is removed. Numerous
side shoots, which emerge on the pruned branches after the budding
operation should be removed regularly as and when they emerge, so that
tree of pure commercial variety is obtained.

21. Process of budding technique on beheaded Trees

22.  Since aonla is self incompatible, i.e. the pollens of same
tree/variety can not fertilize its own ovary, the production
from mono-culture orchards without appropriate polliniser
varieties, suffers adversely as a result of problem of fruit set.
 Now pollinizer varieties are budded on developing shoots of
pruned trees to strengthen pollination process and
enhancement of fruit set and productivity.
 Budding with mixed varieties results in better yield.
 The best combination is NA-6 with NA-7; NA-7 with NA-10 and
Kanchan with Krishna. Adequate care should be taken to
manage the insectpest problems as these plants are prone to
insect and some times wind damage

23. AONLA REJUVENATION

24. Fruiting on rejuevenated aonla
tree
Better canopy after rejuvenation by top
working

26. INTERCROPPING IN REJUVENATED ORCHARD
 During initial 2-3 years after
rejuvenation, there is a good
opportunity for utilizing vacant
interspaces in the orchard.
Vegetables like bottlegourd
,okra,cauliflower,cucumber ,EFY
,marigold have been found well
suited for intercropping in
rejuvenated aonla orchards Elephant foot yam as intercrop in the
rejuvenated orchards

27. NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT
 The nutritional requirement in rejuvenated aonla trees largely depends
on soil fertility and production.
 During the phase of heading back, 50 kg FYM along with 8 kg neem cake
/ plant is made. Six months after heading back manures and fertilizers
may be given as 50 kg FYM + 4 kg neem cake + 1000 g Nitrogen + 500 g of
potash and 750 gm of phosphorus /year.
 50% of Nitrogen and entire dose of potash and phosphorus applied in
January-February and rest dose of nitrogen is applied in June.
 Fertilizers are applied in a ring which covers 50 cm away from the trunk
and covering the periphery .
 Soil should be dug to the depth of 8-10 cm and fertilizer should be
properly mixed with the soil.
 Light irrigation is done immediately after the application of fertilizers. In
sodic land, 100 g each of borax, zinc sulphate and copper sulphate should
be applied along with fertilizers as per tree age and vigour.
 It is helpful in reducing fruit drop and improving fruit quality.

28. IRRIGATION
 Aonla, being a hardy tree requires less irrigation.During winter and rainy
seasons no irrigation is required but is required at an interval of 10-15
days during dry summer (April-June).
 In headed back trees, irrigation is done just after rejuvenation. Adequate
watering is required for the optimum development of shoots in
rejuvenated trees.
 If trees are not watered properly, there is always a feasibility that shoots
do not grow to their appropriate level. It is, therefore, suggested to water
those trees which are amputated for rejuvenation of old and senile
orchards.

29. HARVESTING
 Changes in colour of fruit from
creamy-white to brown is an
indication of fruit maturity.
Generally fully developed fruits
are harvested. A budded/grafted
aonla tree starts bearing third
year onward after planting,
whereas a seedling tree may take
6-8 years.
 Vegetatively propagated plants
attain full bearing within 10-12
years.

30. REFERANCES
 Hand book of Horticulture-K.L Chaddha
 Fruit crops –T.Radha and Dr.K.L Chadha
 Class notes
 Research papers
 Internet

31. THANK YOU