Abiotic stress/ disorder is the negative impact of non-living factors such as, nutritional deficiencies, soil salinity, heat, cold, drought, flood and metal toxicity are the common adverse environmental conditions that affects and limit plant growth, productivity and quality of pineapple.

1. Abiotic Stress Management in Pineapple
Dr. Shashank Shekhar Solankey,
Assistant Professor-cum-Jr. Scientist,
Horticulture (Vegetable Science),
Dr. Kalam Agricultural College, Kishanganj, Bihar
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Abiotic Stress/ Disorder
Abiotic stress/ disorder is the negative impact of
non-living factors such as, nutritional
deficiencies, soil salinity, heat, cold, drought,
flood and metal toxicity are the common adverse
environmental conditions that affects and limit
plant growth, productivity and quality.

3. Nutritional Disorders
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Nitrogen:
• Stunted plant growth, pale green
to light yellow colour (chlorosis)
appearing primarily on older
leaves, usually starting at the tips.
• Depending on the severity of
deficiency, the chlorosis could
result in the death and/ or
dropping of the older leaves.
Control Measure:
Foliar spray of urea @1-2 % at
fortnightly intervals.

4. Phosphorus:
• Symptoms appear on older
leaves.
• The leaves are small and narrow
with purplish or bronze
discolouration.
• Leaves develop necrotic areas
and fall off.
Control Measure:
Soil application of phosphatic
fertilizer or Foliar spray of
DAP@2%.
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5. Potassium:
• Potassium symptoms appear first in
older leaves having orange, yellow to
pale green colour.
• Upper surface show reddish purple
discoloration.
• Young leaves remain dark green.
Leaves curl down and lose lustre and
turgidity.
Control Measure:
Foliar spray of K2SO4 @ 1% at fortnightly
intervals.
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6. Calcium:
• Young emerging leaves show
chlorosis become pale green
and curl down.
• Leaves later turn to greenish
pink or red colour.
• The terminal shoot poorly
developed.
Control Measure:
Application of CaSO4 @ 2 Kg /
plant / year.
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7. Boron:
• Fruit necrosis which begins with the
browning of inner most part of the
mesocarpic tissues at the time of
endocarp hardening.
• This is extended towards the
epicarp resulting into brownish
black areas on the fruit surfaces
depending of the severity of the
disorder.
Control Measure:
Foliar spray of borax @ 0.5%.
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8. Copper:
• Plants show overall droopy
appearance with shortened
intervals between petiole.
• Size of leaves reduced.
Control Measure:
Foliar spray of 1.5% CuSO4.
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9. Iron:
• Symptoms are first seen in the
youngest leaves.
• The leaves eventually turn
completely chlorotic.
Control Measure:
Foliar spray of FeSO4 @ 1.0%.
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10. Zinc:
• Stunted plant growth and
narrowing of leaves with pale
green or yellow colour.
• Inter-veinal chlorosis starting
from tip of leaflets and spreading
to the remaining area leaving
only the midrib green.
Control Measure:
Foliar spray of ZnSO4 @ 0.5%.
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12. • The excessive slip growth is at the expense of the fruit,
resulting in small, tapered fruits, often with knobs at the base.
• High nitrogen fertilization and high rainfall along with
relatively low temperature are supposed to be congenial for
such an abnormality .
Collar of Slips
• The collar of slips is typified by
the presence of a large number of
slips arising from stem close to
the base of the fruit, or even
directly from the fruits itself.
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13. Dry Fruit and Bottle Neck
• The dry fruit and bottle neck fruit types
are very similar and may be derived from
the same parent.
• In dry fruit type, fruit is small, flowers are
absent and fruitlets do not develop.
• In bottle neck, lower fruitlets develop
normally and upper ones do not develop
and give the same appearance as dry and
bottle shaped fruits.
• Suckers are freely produced from both
the types.
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14. • Immature fruits are more susceptible to CI than mature fruit (Full-green
colour stage pineapple may suffer CI at 10oC).
• Although the tissue damage from CI in quarter-yellow colour stage fruits
only occurs at temperatures below 7oC, development of the symptoms
occurs within several days at ambient temperature following removal
from cold storage.
• Postharvest waxing of the fruit minimizes CI symptom development.
Chilling Injury
• Chilling injury (CI) occur in pineapple fruits stored
below 7oC.
• External wilting and discoloration of the crown
leaves, failure of green-shelled fruit to yellow,
browning and dulling of yellow fruit, surface pitting
of the fruitlets which eventually coalesce into larger
sunken lesions, and postharvest decay.
• Internal flesh browning or darkening, tissue
softening, and off-flavour development.
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15. • Affected fruits soon rot and become infested with pests.
• In high-density planting, intensity of sun-scald is very much minimised.
• Under favourable climates where leaf growth is luxuriant, leaves can be
tied around the fruits to protect them from sunscald.
• The other method is to cover sun-exposed portion of the fruit with
banana leaves or dry straw or grass or with any other locally available
materials during April/May.
Sun-Scald
• This results when plant leans or falls over to one
side, thus exposing one side of the fruit to direct
sunlight.
• The cells of the exposed surface get damaged.
• Later shell surface assumes a brownish to black
colour and cracks may appear between fruitlets.
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16. Multiple Crowns
• In general pineapple fruit bears a single crown but
in some cases fruit bears more than one. Flowering
take more time than the normal plant.
• Consequently the top of the fruit will be flat and
broad and fruit will be unfit for canning.
• Such fruits taste insipid and are corky.
• It is supposed to be a heritable character, found
mostly in Cayenne group to which the variety Kew
belongs.
•Avoid ratooning of crop.
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17. Fruit and Crown Fasciation
• Fasciated fruits are deformed to such an extent that they are
totally useless.
• In certain cases, proliferation is so extreme that fruit is highly
flattened and twisted with innumerable crowns.
• Fruits and crowns fasciation is associated with high vigour of
plants, which take longer time to flower.
• High fertility of soil, warm weather and calcium or zinc deficiency
favours fasciation.
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18. Internal Browning (Black heart)
• Internal browning is a common postharvest physiological disorder and
more pronounced in Smooth Cayenne group varieties that have a low
ascorbic acid content.
• In addition, it is more severe in those fruits exposed to cool night
temperatures followed by high day temperatures prior to harvest.
• Storage of the fruit below 7oC and exogenous application of GA induce this
disorder.
• Symptoms began as small greyish translucent areas at the base of the fruit
near the core.
• These areas eventually darken
and in severe cases the
internal flesh become firms
brown to black in colour.
• Control of internal darkening
at certain extent can be
obtained by waxing the fruit.
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19. Flesh Translucency
• The internal flesh becomes shiny and translucent in appearance.
• It is more common in less mature harvested fruit.
• Translucency begins before harvest and continues during storage.
• It is generally more common in fruits with small crowns.
• Waxing can reduce the rate of translucency development after
harvest.
• Translucent fruits are more susceptible to mechanical injury, which
leads to intracellular sap leakage and loss of marketable fruit.
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