The document provides information on the cashew tree. It describes the cashew tree's origin in northeastern Brazil and introduction to India in the 16th century. It discusses the tree's morphology, cultivation requirements, common varieties, pests and diseases, processing methods, and uses of cashew apples, nuts, and other parts of the tree. The document is an overview of cashew production that is less than 3 sentences.

1. Cashew (Anacardium occidentale)
Presented to:
D D Gujela Sir
CCF(retd.)
Kundal Forest Academy
Presented by:
Avichal Tripathi
RFO Trainee
RFO Trainee Batch (19-20)

2. Introdution
• The cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale) is a tropical
evergreen tree that produces the cashew seed and the
cashew apple.
• The Cashew is a flowering tree, native to northeastern Brazil,
where it is called by its Portuguese name Caju.
• Scientific Name : Anacardium occidentale
• Family - Anacardiaceae
• Common names – acaju, caju , anacard, cashew etc….

3. Background..
• The species is native to Central America, the Caribbean
Islands, and northern South America. Portuguese colonists in
Brazil began exporting cashew nuts as early as the 1550s.
• It was introduced to India by the Portuguese in the 16th
century from brazil (de Costa, 1578) to check erosion in
coastal areas.
• Commercial cultivation began in the early 1920s .
• From India it spread to Vietnam and other
south east Asian countries.
• In 2017, Vietnam, India, and Ivory Coast were the major
producers.

4. Epistemology – Fruits

5. Epistemology – Fruits
• Economical parts are nut and cashew apple.
• Fruiting : March-May
Cashew Apple
• Pseudo-fruit
• Red or yellow in color
• Cashew apple contains Vitamin C five times more than an orange
Cashew Nut
• True fruit is drupe and kidney shaped ash coloured. Weight (3to 20g)
• The nut is main economical part, rich in proteins, calcium, phosphorus,
unsaturated fats, vitamins (A,D,E,K,B1,B2) and carbohydrates
• Cashew kernels contain 47% fat, 21% protein and 22%carbohydrates.
• Out of 85% pollinated flower only 4-6 grow into a fruit

6. Epistemology – Flowers
• The flowers are produced in a panicle or corymb up to 26 cm
long,
• Small, pale green at first then turning reddish, with five
slender, acute petals 7 to 15 mm long.
• Flowering : Nov-Feb

7. Epistemology- Leaves
• Leaves are leathery textured, elliptical, 4-22cm long and 2-15cm broad
and arranged spirally.
• Leaves are alternate, simple, round and pinnately veined.
• Smooth margin

8. Epistemology – Stem and Bark
• Irregularly-shaped trunk
• Short, Thick and crooked

9. Silvicultural Properties
• It can grow as high as 14 m (46 ft), but the dwarf cashew,
growing up to 6 m (20 ft), has proved more profitable, with
earlier maturity and higher yields.
• Hardy & drought resistant.
• Strong light demander.
• Grows in open
• Can tolerate wide range of ecological factors.

10. Climatic and Soil Requirements
• Grows best in the warm, moist and typically climate
with well defined dry season for at least 4-5 months.
• Sensitive to cold and is killed by the slightest frost.
• Well adopted to dry climate as the root system is
normally twice that of the tree canopy and as deep
as 3-4 m
• It can be grown on almost all types of soil from sandy
sea coast to laterite hill slopes upto an elevation of
700 m above sea level.
• Requires a annual rainfall range of 600mm- 2500mm.
• Requires high temperature and humidity for growth.

11. Climatic and Soil Requirements
• Temperature range- 20°C to 38°C. Optimum temperature -
27°C.
• The minimum temperature should not drop below 7°C as it
affect the development of trees.
• Very high temperature 39 to 42°C during the movable
stage of fruit development cause fruit drop.
• Cashew is Sun-loving tree and does not tolerate excessive
shade. Needs minimum of 6-8 hours of sunshine per day.
• Cloudy weather has a deleterious effect on flowering, enhance
scorching of flowers and causes withering of panicles, mostly
due to tea-mosquito attack.
• Latitude – grow up to latitudes 27N and 28S.

12. Distribution - India
• Andhra Pradesh (AP), Odisha,
Tamil Nadu (TN)
and West Bengal (WB) are
primary producers
along the eastern coast
• Maharashtra, Kerala and
Karnataka are the
primary producers of cashew
along the western coast of the
country
• Maharashtra is ranking first in
area, production
and productivity in country

13. Propagation
Sexual Method:
• Now a days rarely used method for propagating cashew is by seeds
which is still in practice commercially all over the world, in spite of
various methods of vegetative propagation have been standardized.
• Mainly to raise rootstock material
• Collected during March to May
• Takes 15 to 20 days for germination
Asexual Method:
• Layering
• Budding
• Cutting
• Grafting: Softwood grafting

14. Propagation by seedlings
• Selection of mother trees
• Characteristics :
• Good health, intensive branching habit with panicles having
high % of hermaphrodite flowers
• Trees of 15-25 years of age
• Bearing nuts of medium size and weight (5-8 g/nut) with an
average yield of 15 kg nuts per annum earing 7-8 nuts per
panicle
• Selection of nuts
• Select mother trees in February
• Collect seed nuts in March-April
• Select good, mature, medium sized nuts, which sink in
water as seeds after drying in sun for 2-3 days
• Raise seedlings in polythene bags during May
• Use polythene bags of size 20cm x15cm and fill the bags with
garden soil, leaving a gap of 1-1.5 cm above
• Sow the pre-soaked seed nuts in polythene bags filled with garden
soil at a depth of 2-3cm with the stalk end up
• Seeds germinate in 7-10 days

15. Plantation..
• Land clearing and pit digging should be done in summer months.
Usually planting season is from July- August.
• A spacing of 7.5m X 7.5m, 8m X 8m (156-175 plants/ha) is recommended.
4X4m for initial 11yrs and then thinning to 8X8m is also followed.
• Plain land – 10mX5m (200plants/ha) spacing is recommended which allow
cultivation of inter crops.
• Pit size – 60cmX60cmX60cm, 1mX1mX1m for hard lateratic soils.
Fill pits with top soil + FYM/compost(5kg) + rock phosphate 200gm
• At planting scoop out soil at centre of filled pit and plant graft by removing
polythene bag without disturbing its earth ball.

16. System of Plantion
• The square system/rectangular system of planting or the
triangular system of planting may be adopted.

17. Softwood Grafting
• Softwood grafts which give high rate of establishment and early flowering are recommended
for planting.
• Used Commercially
• Monsoon season (June-November) - best season for grafting
• Graft success of over 80 per cent can be obtained due to favorable weather conditions
• During other season the graft success varies from 50-60 per- less favorable weather
conditions
• 30-40 days old seedlings are used for root stock
• The terminal portion of root stock is cut up to 15cm from the ground.
• For scion 3-5 month old stick should be selected. Selected scion should be 10-12cm long,
straight, and pencil thick with brown colour having dormant plumpy terminal bud.
• Top 4-5 leaves should be green in colour
• Pre-curing of scion stick before 7 days of grafting is must.
• The graft joint is secured firmely with polythene strip 30cm X 2cm of 100 guage thickness.
• A transperant polythene cap of 20cm X 4cm of 200 guage is inserted over the scion(to
provide humidity) and left in the propagation shed for 2-3 weeks.
• After 3 weeks 70-80% sprouting is observed polythene caps are removed and grafts are
shifted in open condition in nursery.

18. Softwood Grafting

19. Irrigation
• Cashew usually grown as rain-fed crop.
• Drip irrigation alone at 60-80 litres without fertilizers increases
the yield by 60-70% when compared with trees receiving no
irrigation and no fertilizers.
• Supplementary irrigation at 200 lit/tree from November- March
can enhance fruit retention and also double the yield over
plantations which do not receive supplementary irrigation.
• Over irrigation may be injurious than under irrigation in cashew
and leads to excessive vegetative growth of canopy resulted into
reduction in nut size and increase in pest and disease attack.
• Irrigation should not be given before or at time of flowering as it
would add to vegetative growth rather than fruiting

20. Pruning
• Older cashew plantations- criss- cross branches, dried and
dead wood, water shoots etc are removed at least once in 2-3
yrs.
• Allows proper growth of canopy and receipt of adequate
sunlight on all branches.
• Pruning of cashew plants done during May/June.

21. Harvesting
• The plant starts yielding 3rd year onwards.
• The peak picking months are March and May.
• Good nuts are grey green, smooth and well filled. After
picking, the nuts are separated from the apple and dried in
the sun for two to three days to bring down the moisture
content to 10 to 12 %.
• Properly dried nuts are packed in alkathene bags. This will
keep for 6 months.
• Yield
About 3 - 4 kg/tree/year can be obtained.

22. Varieties of Cashew
Apple Colour : Yellow
Nut weight : 6.2g
Kernel weight : 1.64 g
Mean nut yield/tree : 13.8 Kg
Area recommended : Kerala
Madakkathara-1
Apple Colour : Yellow
Nut weight : 6.8 g
Kernel weight : 2.08 g
Mean nut yield/tree : 12.8 Kg
Area recommended : Kerala
Kanaka
Apple Colour : Yellow
Nut weight : 8.2g
Kernel weight : 2.44 g
Mean nut yield/tree : 10.66 Kg
Area recommended : Kerala
Dhana

23. Varieties of Cashew
Year of Release : 1974
Yield :15 kg/tree
Medium size nut,
early flowering
Vengurla-1
Nut weight : 8 g
Kernel weight : 1.91 g
Mean nut yield/tree : 13.8 Kg
Area recommended :
Maharashtra (Konkan region,
Kolhapur)
Vengurla-6
Nut weight : 7.18 g
Kernel weight : 2.16 g
Mean nut yield/tree : 11.68 Kg
Area recommended: Tamil Nadu
Vridhachalam-3

24. Varieties of Cashew
Nut weight : 7 g
Kernel weight : 2.1 g
Mean nut yield/tree : 14.7 Kg
Area recommended : Karnataka
Ullal-3
Nut weight : 6.9 g
Kernel weight : 2.1 g
Mean nut yield/tree : 7.2 Kg
Area recommended : Karnataka
Chintamani-1
Nut weight : 5 g
Kernel weight : 1.5 g
Mean nut yield/tree : 8.5 Kg
Area recommended:West Bengal
Jhargram-1

25. Diseases in Cashew
More than 48 fungi are reported on cashew, most of then are
of less importance.
1. Damping off: Phytophthora palmivora
• Affects at nursery stage due to ill drainage
• Disease affects in collar region which appears swollen and
also affects the root zone of tender seedling causing
yellowing and finally damping off.
• Control- Provide proper drainage, drench the nursery
beds/bags with
fungicid

26. Diseases in Cashew
2. Die back or Pink disease: Corticium
salmonicolor
• White or pinkish growth of the
fungus on the bark is observed.
• In advance stages the bark splits
and peels off. Affected shoots
starts drying up from
tip to bottom.
• Control- Pruning of affected
branches. Application of vitavax 1%
to the
affected portion

27. Diseases in Cashew
3. Shoot rot and Leaf fall:
Phytophthora nicotianae
• Black elongate lesions on the
stem with exudation of gum.
• Later, infection spreads up and
down, causing the tender stem
to collapse and tender leaves to
shrivel up.
• The lower mature leaves are
also infected with black
elongated lesions on mid rib,
which later spread to the main
lateral veins and the leaf blade.
• The infected leaves are soon
shed

28. Diseases in Cashew
4. Anthracnose: Colletotrichum
gloeosporioides
• One of the wide spread and serious
disease of cashew
• Reddish-brown shiny, water soaked
lesions followed by resinous exudation on
the affected parts
• The lesion grows longitudinally resulting
in ultimate killing of shoot.
• Tender leaves become crumpled
covered with tiny necrotic patches.
• Control-
Spraying of Bordeaux mixture 1% OR
0.25% mancozeb.
Infection of this fungus is preceded by
infestation of tea mosquito bug. Hence
combined applications of Malathion+
Aureofungin were suggested.

29. Pests in Cashew
Stem and root borer: Placaederus ferrugineus
• Presence of small holes in the collar region, oozing
out of the gum and extrusion of chewed fibers and
excreta through holes.
• Tree show different degrees of foliar yellowing
• Later stages there will be shading of leaves, drying
of twigs and gradual
death of the tree.
• Control-
It is very difficult to save trees in the middle and
advanced stages of infestation even with the
application of best insecticide.
• Stem padding with cotton-wool soaked with
monocrotophos
• Application of coal tar and kerosine in 1:1
proportion on the trunk up to 1m height was found to
be a good prophylactic measure
• Swabbing with Chloropyriphos 0.5%.
Immature stage of
Cashew stem and root
borer
Adult stem and
root borer
Affected trunk

30. Pests in Cashew
Leaf and shoot sucker(Tea mosquito bug):
Helopeltis antonii
• The most serious pest of cashew in India.
• Responsible for a damage of nearly 25%
of shoots, 30% of inflorescence and 15% of
tender nuts.
• It causes more than 30% economic loss
by inflorescence blight and immature nut
fall.
• Infested inflorescence usually turn black
and die, immature nuts may drop off.
Control:
• Spraying 0.05% Monocrotophos, 0.1%
Carbaryl, Profenophos 0.1%, Lamda
Syhalothrin 0.15% at the time of vegetative
flush, the second at the time
of panicle emergence and the third at the
time of fruit setting.

31. Pests in Cashew
Mining of leaves by caterpillars.
• The thin epidermal peels swells up in the
mined areas and appear as whitish blistered
patches on the leaf surface.
• In the older leaves these blisters dry and
droop off leaving big holes

32. Cashew processing method

33. Utilization
Cashew Apple
• Cashew apple is used for preparation of jam, chuttney, pickle.
• In Goa, the cashew apple is mashed and the juice extracted and used for
making alcohol. The resulting beverage is called feni or fenny. Feni is about
40–42% alcohol
• In the southern region of Tanzania, cashew apple is dried and saved then
distilled to make a strong liquor named gongo.
Cashew Nut
• Mental derangement
• Sexual debility
• Morning sickness in pregnancy
• Palpitation of heart,
• Loss of memory as a sequel to small pox
• Discarded cashew nuts unfit for human consumption, alongside the residues
of oil extraction from cashew kernels, can be used to feed livestock

34. Utilization
Bark, Leaves and Gum
• Bark and leaves are used in treatment of diarrhoea and constipation.
• Animals can also eat the leaves of cashew trees
• The bark and inflorescence are used in traditional Indian remedies for
snake bite.
• The gum oozes from bark is used for binding of books as it has the same
properties as gumarabic.
CNSL (Cashew Nut Shell Liquid)
• Mild purgative ,folk medicine for treatment of
• Hookworm
• Cracks on soles of feet
• Used to protect fishing nets, books(silver fish attack), in brake linings for
automobiles, painting furniture, in manufacture of plastics, paints, resins and
varnishes
• Main components of CNSL are ‘cardol’, ‘cardanol’, ‘anacardic acid’.
• The anacardic acid has antifungal, antibacterial, larvicidal properties.
• Also helpful in killing of snails.

35. ThankYou..