Plantation Crop-Cashew production

Introduction
• Cashew : Anacardium occidentale Family: Anacardiacae
• Origin: Tropical South America- The Amazon forest of Brazil
• It was introduced by Portuguese and Spanish adventurers in 15th century.
• In India it was first introduced in Goa by Portuguese to check erosion in
coastal areas.
• It belongs to genera Anacardium which consists about 20 species
• It is evergreen tree grows up to 14m
• Leaves are leathery textured, elliptical, 4-22cm long and 2-15cm broad
and arranged spirally.
• Inflorescence is terminal and corymb.
• Pseudo-fruit develops from pedicel and red or yellow in color
• True fruit is drupe and kidney shaped ash coloured.

Composition and Uses
• Economical parts are nut and cashew apple.
• Cashew apple contains Vitamin C five times more than an orange
• Juice (12-14°brix, 10-12% sugars0.35% malic acid) is used for
preparation of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
• Juice is also used for mouth wash and gargle, treatment of dysentery,
uterine ailments and dropsy as a diuretic.
• Cashew apple is also used for preparation of jam, chuttney, pickle.
• Bark and leaves are used in treatment of diarrhoea and constipation.
• The CNSL obtained from nuts is 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.
• It has been successfully applied to corns, warts, ringworms, cancerous
ulcers, elephantiasis and has been used in beauty culture to remove
the old skin of the face.

• 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.
• The nut is main economical part, rich in proteins, calcium, phosphorus,
unsaturated fats, vitamins (A,D,E,K,B1,B2) and carbohydrates.
• No risk of ‘aflatoxin poisoning’ as in case of peanut
• The major consumers of cashew are USA, European countries, etc. 87% of
cashew consumed in USA used for salting.
Constituents Cashew Apple Cashew Kernel
Moisture 87.5 5.9
Carbohydrates 11.6 22.0
Protein 0.2 21.0
Fat 0.1 47.0
Phosphorus 0.01 0.45
Calcium 0.01 0.55
Iron 0.2mg/100g 5.0mg/100g

Export of Cashew Kernel From India
Country 2015-16 2016-17
Quantity(MT) Value(Cr RS) Quantity(MT) Value(Cr Rs)
U.A.E 18537 963.55 18556 1216.7
U.S.A 22661 1149.53 17515 1102.9
Saudi Arabia 7535 390.75 7441 474.34
Japan 7826 420.76 6434 399.41
Netherlands 6236 312.39 4891 296.27
Germany 2720 142.55 2449 150.39
Belgium 2597 135.2 2362 142.8
Korea Rep. 2777 144.4 2271 140.08
Source: www.cashewindia.org
Top Countries in Cashew Production
Country Production (MT) Productivity
1 Vietnam 300,000 1000 kg/ha
2 Nigeria 120,000
3 India 770kg/ha
Source: www.era.la/ and www.dccd.gov.in

Varieties
• Madakkathara- 1
Hybrid/Type : Tree No.39 of Bapatla
Canopy type : Compact
Apple Colour : Yellow
Nut weight : 6.2g
Kernel weight : 1.64 g
Shelling% : 26.8
Export grade : W280
Mean nut yield/tree : 13.8 Kg
Area recommended : Kerala
• Kanaka (H-1598)
Hybrid/Type : Hybrid
Parentage : BLA-139-1 X h3-13
Canopy type : Open
Nut weight : 6.8 g
Shelling% : 30.58
Export grade : W280

• Dhana (H-1608)
Parentage : ALGD-1 X K-30-1
Juice% : 72
Nut weight : 8.2g
Shelling% : 29.8
Export grade : W210
• Amrutha (H-1597)
Parentage : BLA-139-1 x H-3-13
Canopy type : Spreading
Juice% : 72
Nut weight : 7.18 g
Shelling% : 31.58
Export grade : W210

• Priyanka (H-1591)
Parentage : BLA-139-1 x H-30-1
Canopy type : Open
Shelling% : 26.57
Export grade : W180
• Madakkathara -2 (NDR-2-1)
Hybrid/Type : Neduvellur
Canopy type : Open
Nut weight : 7.25 g
Shelling% : 26
Export grade : W210
Mean nut yield/tree : 17 Kg

• K-22-1
Hybrid/Type : Kottarakkara 22
Nut weight : 6.2g
Shelling% : 26.5
Export grade : W280

Vengurla-1:
Year of Release : 1974
Yield :15 kg/tree
Medium size nut,
early flowering,
Export grade – W240
Vengurla-2
Year of Release :1979
Yield :15-30 kg
Small size nut,
No. of nuts/kg – 230

Vengurla-3
Yield (q/ha.) :15-20 kg
Bold size nut,
No. of nuts/kg – 110,
Vengurla-4
Parentage : Midnapur red x Vetore-56
Canopy type : Open
Nut weight : 7.7 g
Shelling% : 31
Export grade : W210
Area recommended : All over India except Kerala and Tamilnadu

Vengurla-6
Parentage : Vetore-56 x Ansur-1
Juice% : 85
Nut weight : 8 g
Shelling% : 28
Export grade : W210
Area recommended : Maharashtra (Konkan region, Kolhapur)
• Vengurla-7
Parentage : Vengurla-3 x M-10/4( Vri-1)
Juice% : 86
Nut weight : 10 g
Shelling% : 30.5
Export grade : W180
Area recommended : Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat

Vengurla-8
Yield (q/ha.) :15-20 kg
Bold size nut,
Apple colour – Red,
No. of nuts/kg – 86,
Juice content - 85%
Vengurla-9

• BPP-4
Hybrid/Type : 9/8 Epurupalem
Canopy type : Open
Nut weight : 6 g
Shelling% : 32.3
Export grade : W400
Area recommended : Andhra Pradesh
• BPP-6
Hybrid/Type : T.No.56
Canopy type : Open/spreading
Nut weight : 5.2 g
Shelling% : 24
Export grade : W400
Area recommended : Andhra Pradesh

• BPP-8 ( H2/16)
Parentage : T1 x T39
Nut weight : 8.2 g
Shelling% : 29
Export grade : W210
Area recommended:Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Jharkhand,
Chattisgarh

• VRI (Cw)H1
Hybrid/Type : Hybrid of M 26/2 with M 26/1
Apple Colour : Pink with yellow tinge
Nut weight : 7.2 g
Shelling% : 30.5
Export grade : W210
Area recommended : Cuddalore and Ariyalur Districts
• Vridhachalam-3( M 26/2)
Hybrid/Type : Edayanchavadi material
Juice% : 72.8
Nut weight : 7.18 g
Shelling% : 29.1
Export grade : W210
Area recommended: Tamil Nadu

• Ullal-1
Hybrid/Type : 8/46 Thaliparamba
Canopy type : Medium spreading
Nut weight : 6.7 g
Shelling% : 30.7
Export grade : W210
Area recommended : Karnataka
• Ullal-2
Hybrid/Type : 3/67 Guntur
Canopy type : Medium spreading
Nut weight : 6 g
Shelling% : 30.5
Export grade : W320

• Ullal-3
Hybrid/Type : 5/37 Manchery
Canopy type : Open
Nut weight : 7 g
Shelling% : 30.
Export grade : W210
• Ullal-4
Hybrid/Type : 2/77 Tuni -AP
Canopy type : Open
Nut weight : 7.2 g
Shelling% : 31
Export grade : W210
Area recommended: Karnataka

• Chintamani-1
Hybrid/Type : 8/46 Thaliparmba
Canopy type : Open
Nut weight : 6.9 g
Shelling% : 31
Export grade : W210
• UN-50
Hybrid/Type : 2/27 Nileswar-T.No.25
Canopy type : Medium
Nut weight : 9 g
Shelling% : 32.8
Export grade : W180
Area recommended: Karnataka

• NRCC-2
Hybrid/Type : Type
Parentage : 2/9 Dicherla
Canopy type : Medium Compact
Nut weight : 9.2 g
Shelling% : 28.6
Export grade : W210
• Jhargram-1
Hybrid/Type : Type
Parentage : T.No 16 of Bapatla
Canopy type : Medium Compact
Nut weight : 5 g
Shelling% : 30
Export grade : W320
Area recommended:West Bengal

• Bhubaneswar-1
Hybrid/Type : WBDC-5 (V36/3)
Nut weight : 4.6 g
Shelling% : 32
Export grade : W320
Area recommended : Orissa
• Goa-1
Hybrid/Type : Balli-2
Canopy type : Semi spreading
Nut weight : 7.6 g
Shelling% : 30
Export grade : W210
Area recommended: Goa
Goa-2
Selection, W180

Climatic and Soil Requirements
• It is a tropical crop grows best in the warm, moist and typically climate
with well defined dry season for at least 4-5 months.
• It is very sensitive to cold and is killed by the slightest frost. It is well
adopted to dry climate as the root system is normally twice that of the
tree canopy and as deep as 3-4 m(Tsakaris and Northwood,1967)
• Distribution of cashew species is between 31° North and 31° South
latitude. (Delogu and Haeuster,1994)
• Altitude should be below 700m where temperature does not fall below
20°C for long duration.
• Optimum temperature for cashew is 27°C.
• The minimum temperature should not drop below 7°C as it affect the
development of trees.
• At higher altitudes fruit setting is delayed and the harvest begins some
weeks later than the coast.
• Cashew adopts to different rainfall levels from 400-4000mm/year. The
flower differentiation in the cashew occurs after the rainy period while
flower development fruit setting occur during the dry period.

• Tree ceases to function as fruit tree when rainfall drops below 500mm/year.
Light rains during flowering do not harm the flowers, but heavy rains during
flowering and fruit set affect yield adversely(Ohler 1979)
• Cashew is Sun-loving tree and does not tolerate excessive shade. Normal
conditions, optimum sunshine should be about 2000-2400 hr/year
• Cloudy weather has a deleterious effect on flowering, enhance scorching of
flowers and causes withering of panicles, mostly due to tea-mosquito
attack. Rao and Hassan(1957)
• Fruit setting is influenced by atmospheric humidity and the areas with less
than 50% humidity during peak period of fruit setting should be avoided
(Kannan 1983)
• The physical properties of the ground, chiefly affect the success of cashew
growing. (Agnoloni and Giuliani-1977)
• The best soils for cashew are deep, friable well drained sandy loams
without a hard pan. Water stagnation and flooding are not congenial for
cashew.

Very Good Good Fair Poor
Class I Class II Class III Class IV
Altitude (m) 20 20-120 120-450 450-750
Rainfall (mm/yr) 1500-2000 1300-1500 1100-1300 900-1100
Proximity to sea
(km)
< 80 80-160 160-240 240-320
Max. Temp.(°C) 28-32 32-33 33-34 34-35
Min. Temp.(°C) 19 18-19 17-18 15-17
Humidity(%) 70-80 65-70 60-65 50-60
Occurance of frost None None Very Rare Once in 5
yrs
Source: Mohapatra and Bhujan 1974- Cashew production and processing technology by
R.C.Mandal

Propagation
Sexual Method:
The most common method of 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.
Selection of nuts from superior mother trees from planting is likely to give
better results than use of unselected seeds collected from a commercial
orchard. Seedlings show high degree of variation in growth and yield.
Asexual Method:
• Layering: a) Air layering, b) Mound layering, c) Ground layering
• Budding: a) Patch budding
• Cutting
• Grafting: a) Cleft grafting: Epicotyl grafting, Softwood grafting
b) Veneer grafting
c) Side grafting
d) Inarching, etc.

Softwood grafting:
• 30-40 days old seedlings are used for root stock
• One or two pairs of bottom leaves on the root stock are retained and
others are removed.
• The terminal portion of root stock is cut up to 15cm from the ground.
• For scion 3-5 month old stick should be selected.
• The bud at tip of scion should be bulged up but not burst open.
• The size of scion stick may be 8-10cm long.
• Pre-curing of scion stick before 7 days of grafting is must.
• For grafting cleft should be 6-7cm, wedge should be 6-7cm with intact
bark at remaining sides.
• 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.
• The percentage is about 75-85 in monsoon season under high
humidity.
- (Swake et al. 1987 a; Konhar and Das 1985; Swamy 1989 and 1994b)

Top Working:
• It is the process in which unthrifty trees are rejuvenated with good
high yielding varieties.
• The advantage of top working is that the well developed root
system is made available for new grafts and the grafted new shoots
will start bearing in the next year of operation. Beheading the trees
is to be done about 2 months prior to the best season for grafting.
• Cut(behead) the tree at 0.5m to 1m from ground.
• The cut should be slanting to avoid water stagnation.
• After cutting the stem should be applied with coal tar and
insecticide.
• Within 2 months there will be profuse sprouting(15-50 in number)
from beheaded stumps.
• Out of these 10-15 thick vigorous shoots are kept uniformly
distributed on each stump which are grafted at a height of 15-30cm
by the improved high yielding varieties adopting veneer grafting
technique.
• Finally 4-5 successful grafts are kept on each tree.

Percentage of success in top working in different centers(1988-89)
Centre Age of
tree(yr)
Height of
branching
Month of
grafting
% of success
Bapatla 15 0.5 August 64.1
1.0 Sept. - Oct. 75.4
Bhubaneswar 5-10 0.5 August 93.0
1.0 September 65.5
Madakkathara 5-10 0.5 April-May 67.7
1.0 Oct-Nov 76.0
Vengurla 5-10 1.0 April-May 90.0
Oct-Nov 50.0
10-15 1.0 April-May 62.5
Oct-Nov 38
Vridhachalam 15 - 80.0
Source: ASCCIP one decade Res.Achiv. 1981-91. P-9.(Aug. 1991)

Planting and layout
• 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.
• Care must be taken that the graft joint must remain at least 5 cm above
the ground.
• Prepare heap around the graft to avoid water stagnation and mulch the
basin.
• Provide staking for 2-3 yrs to avoid breakage due to wind
• The sprouts emerging from below graft joint should be removed at time to
time.

• Trials with varying plant densities ranging from 156-2500 plants/ha were
taken up at NRCC, Experimental station, Shantigodu, Karnataka.
• High density planting with 625 plants/ha at spacing 4m X 4m for first 11
years and thinning them after that reduce the population to 312 plants/ha
(8m X 5.7m X 5.7m) gave the maximum cumulative yield of nuts.

Manure and Fertilizer Requirement
• Application of 10-15 kg FYM/compost is beneficial. The quantity can be limited
to 25 kg/ plant.
• 500gN(1.1kg urea), 125gP2O5(625gm rock phosphate in laterite soils), 125g
K2O(208g MOP)/plant/year should be applied. During the 1st, 2nd, 3rd year
onwards of planting 1/3, 2/3 and full dose of fertilizer respectively should be
applied.
• The fertilizer should be applied in a circular band of 25cm width and 15 cm
depth.
• The distance of circular bunds from the trunk should be 0.5m, 0.7m, 1.0m,
1.5m away during 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th years onwards respectively.
• The trenches should be closed immediately after the fertilizer application
(George et al. 1986; Bhaskara Rao et al. 1993; Radhakrishna et al. 1993)
• It is also recommended that fertilizers should be applied in two splits, pre-
monsoon and post monsoon.
• Foliar application of nitrogen(Urea 2%) with insecticide(Endosulfan- banned
2011) resulted in 60% increase in yield than of control at Vridhachalam.
• 10 ppm Ethrel at flush before flowering and after flowering.

Irrigation
• Cashew usually grown as rain-fed crop.
• Drip irrigation alone at 60-80 litres without fertilizers increased the yield
by 60-70% when compared with trees receiving no irrigation and no
fertilizers.-(NRCC trials).
• 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. (Agnoloni and Giuliani 1977)
• Moisture deficit is a pre-requisite for bud break in cashew (Prasada Rao
and Gopalkumar 1994)
• Irrigation should not be given before or at time of flowering as it would
add to vegetative growth rather than fruiting (Jose and Singh 2002)

Training and Pruning
• Initial training and pruning for first 3-4yrs is must to give proper shape
• Main stem should be allowed to grow up to 0.75-1m.
• De-blossoming up to first 2 years.
• Removal of water shoots is must as they are not productive
• Provides sanitation, better infiltration of light, efficient plant protection
spraying, harvesting and inter-cultivation operations, improves nut
yield/tree (Kumar 2002)
• Also induces fruiting in alternate bearers.
Maturity and Harvesting
• Flowering- October to April and May
• Flowers and fruits at various development stages on same tree.
• Harvesting starts from February.
• Apple mature earlier than nut so at nut maturity apple is over ripped and
fall down.
• Collection of fallen nut is less expensive and commonly followed

Diseases
More than 48 fungi are reported on cashew, most of then are of less
importance.
 Damping off: Phytophthora palmivora
• Reported by Kumaraja and Bhide (1962) - RRS Vengurla
• 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
fungicide.
 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

 Inflorescence blight: Gloeosporium gloeosporioides
• Drying of floral branches.
• Minute water soaked lesions on the main rachis and secondary rachis.
• The lesions are pinkish brown, enlarge and soon turn scabby. Gummy
exudates can be seen at the affected regions.
• The lesions develop into bigger patches and result in drying up of the
inflorescences. The incidence is very severe when cloudy weather prevails.
 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.

 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
• Blackening and falling of affected inflorescences
• The lesion grows longitudinally resulting in ultimate killing of shoot.
• Tender leaves become crumpled covered with tiny necrotic patches.
• Nuts shows small necrotic spots on their epicarp while apples turn black
and mummified.
• Control- Sanitation
• 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.
Nambiar(1974)

Pests
 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(36 EC) @ 30
ml depending on age of tree and closing the flap, gave good recovery in
borer infested trees in the initial stages of infestation(Sundaraju,1983)
• 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%.

 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.
• Nymphs and adults suck sap from the leaves, young shoots, inflorescence,
developing young nuts and apples.
• The lesions made by bug during feeding turns brown in 24 hours and
become black in 2-3 days. Infested inflorescence usually turn black and
die, immature nuts may drop off.
• Feeding of tender leaves cause crinkling
• 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.

Sun drying + Pre-Grading Roasting
Shelling
Grading
Peeling Oven Drying

Sun drying
Pre-grading
Steaming(6kg/cm2-25 mins)
Shelling
Oven-drying
Peeling
Grading
Re-humidification(up to 5%)
Packaging

Plantation Crop-Cashew production

Plantation Crop-Cashew production

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