The document provides a comprehensive overview of pomegranate production, detailing its climatic, soil, and irrigation requirements, as well as propagation techniques, training, and pruning methods. It emphasizes the importance of proper planting, manuring, and aftercare to ensure optimal growth and fruit quality, alongside effective grades and packaging for post-harvest management. It also outlines specific flowering induction timings and irrigation practices tailored to varying regional conditions for successful cultivation.

1. Pomegranate Production
‫کو‬ ‫ترتيب‬
‫شیرزاد‬ ‫احمد‬ ‫رشاد‬ :‫ونکي‬
:‫کال‬
۱۴۰۲

2. Pomegranate
• Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a favorite table fruit in tropical and sub-
tropical regions of the world.
• A native to Iran (Persia).

3. Climate and soil
• Pomegranate grows well under semi-arid conditions.
• It thrives best under hot dry summer and cold winter provided irrigation facilities
are available.
• The tree requires hot and dry climate during fruit development and ripening.
• It cannot produce sweet fruits unless the temperature is high for a sufficiently long
period.
• Humid climate lowers the quality of fruits and increases incidence of fungal
diseases.
• The pomegranate tree is deciduous in areas of low winter temperature and
an evergreen or partially deciduous in tropical and subtropical conditions.

4. • It can tolerate frost to a considerable (significant) extent in dormant stage, but is
injured at temperature below –11°C.
• Orchards can be established up to an altitude of 500m.
• Pomegranate can be grown on a wide range of soils.
• It prefers a well-drained, sandy-loam to deep loamy, or alluvial soils.
• It can also be grown on light soils.
• Quality and colour development in light soils is good but poor in heavy soils.
• It tolerates salinity up to 9.00 ec/mm and sodality 6.78 esp.
• Electrical. Conductivity (EC) is a measure of the total amount of salts. Including
fertilizer salts, in the growing medium.
• (ESP) stand for exchangeable sodium percentage.

5. Varieties
• Wild pomegranate is too acidic and of little value except as souring agent
(anardana).
• The double-flowered pomegranates (which do not bear fruits) are grown in parks
and ornamental gardens for their beautiful red flowers.

6. Table 1. Important characteristics of pomegranate varieties
Type Fruit characters
Alandi or Vadki
Fruit medium sized, fleshy testa, blood-red or deep pink with sweet
acidic taste, seeds very hard
Dholka
Fruit large­
-sized, rind greenish-yellow, fleshy aril, pinkish-white
with sweet juice and soft seeds. Medium-cropper
Kandhari
Fruit large-sized, rind deep red, fleshy testa, blood-red or deeppink
with sweet, slightly acidic juice and hard seeds
Kabul
Fruit large-sized, rind deep red mixed with pale-yellow; thickfleshy
aril, dark red with slightly bitter juice
Muskati Red
Fruits small to medium-sized, rind medium thick, fleshy aril with
moderately sweet juice, seeds not very hard, poor yielder
Paper Shelled Fruit medium-sized with pink aril of good quality, seeds soft
Spanish Ruby Small to medium-sized fruits and soft seeds

7. Propagation
• Pomegranate is difficult-to-root by cuttings.
• The cuttings lack root-promoting cofactors, i.e. low sugar content, phenolic
compounds and C:N ratio.
• Pre-conditioning of shoots during June–July by girdling and etiolation increases
the level of root-promoting cofactors considerably.
• The maturity of wood used in making cuttings plays an important role in rooting.
• The wood younger than 6 months and older than 18 months is unsuitable for
cuttings.
A carbon to nitrogen ratio (CN ratio or C:N ratio) is a ratio of the mass of carbon to the mass of nitrogen in
organic residues. It can, amongst other things, be used in analyzing sediments and soil including soil organic
matter and soil amendments such as compost.
 A cofactor is a non protein chemical compound or metallic ion that is required for an enzymes role as a
catalyst ( a catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of chemical reaction)
 A ETIOLATION is process in flowering plants grown in partial or complete absence of light.
 A conditioning occurs with increasing regularity in a well specified and stable environment. The type of
reinforcement used will determine the outcome.

8. • Hard wood lateral shoots which usually flower and fruit are unsuitable for
propagation.
• One-season-old cuttings respond more favorably.
• Semi-hard wood cuttings give high sprouting but fail to root and establish.
• Cuttings may also be taken from suckers which arise from the base of the plant.
• They should be mature, 20–30cm long and 6–12mm thick.
• Rainy season is the ideal time to get maximum success.
• Cuttings made from new growth or soft-wood treated with 0.5% potassium salt of
IBA for 30 seconds generally root better, producing high-quality roots.

9. • In hard wood cuttings, low rate of survival and unbalanced root : shoot ratio are
the problems.
• The use of IAA and IBA is superior to NAA in stimulating rooting in different
types of cuttings.
• There is highest (80–90%) survival rate under mist, especially after IBA treatment
of 3,000ppm.
• Cuttings treated with IBA (50ppm) and 15.9% moisture level in the media give
90% rooting.
• Use of 2 N H2SO4 for pre-treatment for 2 min. and then applying IBA (2,500ppm)
(quick dip) promotes profuse root system and better survival rate.

10. • It is also propagated by air-layering.
• Air-layering during rainy season and November–December results in better
success with profuse rooting.
• Treating with IBA (10,000ppm) in Lanolin paste results in more number of
roots/layer.
• Mound-layering can be carried out throughout the year.
• Satisfactory techniques have been worked out for top-working by side and veneer-
grafting in July.
• The NAA (4ppm), kinetin (2ppm) and coconut water (15%) is good for callus
induction for explants (root, stem, shoot tip and leaf segments) in pomegranate
Kandhari.

11. Cultivation
Planting
• The plants may be planted by square system since all the cultural operations can
be performed more conveniently.
• Planting distance should be maintained depending upon soil type and climate.
• A spacing of 4–5m on marginal and very light soils is recommended.
• In subtropical regions, planting may be done in spring (February–March) provided
irrigation facilities are available.
• However, July-August is ideal time of planting in tropics.

12. • Pits of 60cm × 60cm × 60cm size are dug about a month prior to planting and kept
open under the sun for a fortnight.
• About 50g of 5% BHC or Carbaryl dust is dusted on the bottom and sides of the
pits as a precaution against termites.
• The pits are filled with the top soil mixed with 20kg farmyard manure and 1kg
superphosphate.
• After filling the pit, watering is done to allow soil to settle down.
• Cuttings/air-layers are then planted and staked.
• Water them immediately after planting and repeat whenever necessary.

13. • In temperate regions, high-density planting is advocated.
• A spacing of 5–6m
• The high-density plantation—5m × 2m (1,000 plants/ha), 5m × 3m (666
plants/ha), 5m × 4m (500 plants/ha) and 5m × 5m (400 plants/ha)— gives 2–2.5
times more yield than the normal planting distance (5m × 5m) in Deccan plateau.

14. • There is not much difference in size of fruit and TSS : acid ratio.
• Therefore pomegranate should be planted at a close distance to obtain higher
yields.
• Depending on the growth of the orchard trees, alternate plants could be removed
after 6–7 years, maintaining a spacing of 5m × 4m.
• However, farmers adopt a spacing of 2.5m × 4.5m.
• Closer spacing increases disease and pest incidence.

15. Training
• Pomegranate plants can be trained on a single-stem or in multi-stem system.
• The single-stem training has its own disadvantages.
• The plants have a tendency to produce ground suckers, making the plant bushy.
• As such it is rather difficult to train the plant to a single stem.
• The crop is highly susceptible to stem-borer and shoot-hole borer.
• Moreover, this system is hazardous.

16. • Thus single-stem training is uneconomical for commercial cultivation.
• Therefore multi-stem training is more prevalent in the country.
• Allowing too many stems also comes in the way of intercultural operation.
• The varying of stem number of 3–4 does not affect the yield significantly in early
years of bearing and a multi-stem training with 4–5 stems/hill is beneficial.

17. Pruning
• Pomegranate plants do not require pruning except removal of ground suckers, water
shoots cross branches, dead and diseased twigs and giving a shape to the tree.
• Pomegranate fruits are borne terminally on short spurs, arising from matured shoots,
which have the capacity to bear fruits for 3–4 years.
• With advance in age they decline.
• A little thinning and pruning of old spurs to encourage growth of new ones is required.
• Some useful tips on pomegranate pruning are:
• Fruitful and differentiated buds are located at the distal portion of the branches.
• Pruning of terminal portion of a branch lowers down the total flower production.
• Pruning does not affect sex ratio and fruit quality.
• Pruning affects significantly total fruits, marketable and unmarketable fruits.
• Fruit size and yield of higher grade fruits are more with high intensity pruning.
• Pruning minimizes the bending of branches and staking.

18. Manuring and fertilization
• Pomegranate is a hardy fruit plant, growing successfully in low fertile soils.
• Its productivity is greatly increased by the application of manures and fertilizers.
• Both macro and micronutrients affect its growth, development and productivity.
• Application of 10kg farmyard manure and 75g ammonium sulphate to 5-year-old
tree annually is adequate, whereas application of 50kg farmyard manure and 3.5kg
oil cake or 1kg sulphate of ammonia prior to flowering is ideal for healthy growth
and fruiting.

19. • The basal dose of farmyard manure @ 25–40 cart-loads/ha besides the
recommended doses of NPK should be applied to non-bearing trees in 3 split
doses coinciding with growth flushes during January, June and September.
• From fourth year, the fruiting can be taken.
• Then apply N in 2 split doses starting at the time of first irrigation after bahar
treatment and next at 3 weeks interval, whereas full dose of P and K should be
applied at one time.
• These should be applied in a shallow circular trench below tree canopy not
beyond 8–10cm depth.
• After application fertilizers are covered with top soil and irrigated.
• In general, application of 600–700g N, 200–250g P2O5 and 200–250g
K2O/tree/year is optimum.

20. Aftercare
• Since pomegranate plants take 4–5 years to come into bearing, intercropping is
beneficial.
• Low-growing vegetables, pulses or green manure crops may be intercropped.
• In arid regions, intercropping is possible only during the rainy season, whereas
winter vegetables are feasible in irrigated areas.
• In young orchard, season-wise appropriate intercrops could be taken.
• However in a bearing orchard, the soil management practices vary with the type
of crop since pomegranate gives 3 flushes in a year.

21. • In arid conditions, generally mrig bahar is preferred so that natural precipitation
could be used for fruiting.
• Therefore, after harvest, the orchard is left as such untilled under the cover of
natural grasses during summer.
• In May, orchard is tilled, fertilization is done and the bahar is induced. During
rainy season and until the harvest, keep the orchard weed-free as its feeding roots
are very shallow.
• Conservation of soil moisture is quite essential.
• It is possible through the use of soil covers.
• Black polythene mulch or organic-matter mulch such as saw-dust, banana trash,
paddy husk and groundnut shells are good mulching materials.
• Anti-transpirants such as 10% Kaolin, 10–5m phenyl mercuric acetate, 1.5%
power oil and 1% liquid paraffin are beneficial in increasing its productivity

22. Bahar treatment or flower regulation
• The pomegranate plants flower and provide fruits throughout the year in central
and southern India.
• However, it needs to be thrown into rest period so as to enable prolific harvest at a
given time.
• Looking at patterns of precipitation, flowering can be induced during June–July
(mrig bahar), September–October (hasta bahar) and January–February (ambe
bahar).

23. • In areas having assured rainfall where precipitation is normally received in June
and continues up to September, flowering in June is advantageous; where
monsoon normally starts in August with erratic pattern, flowering during August
is beneficial; the areas having assured irrigation potential during April–May,
flowering during January can be taken; and where monsoon starts early and
withdraws by September induction of flowering in October is possible.
• In Rahuri, flowering during January–February is better in quality followed by
October flowering.
• Considering comparable yields, prices and irrigation needs it is recommended that
October cropping could be substituted for January flowering.

24. Irrigation
• Although pomegranate is considered to be highly drought tolerant, its plants
respond very well to irrigation.
• However, water requirement varies from season-to-season.
• For mrig bahar, first irrigation should be given during mid-May followed by
regular irrigation until the onset of monsoon.
• In post-monsoon period copious and regular irrigation is essential for better
development of fruits and to avoid fruit-cracking.
• For other bahars (seasons), weekly irrigation in summer and bi-weekly irrigation
in winter are advised.
• The check basin system of irrigation should be followed.
• For arid and semi-arid conditions, micro-catchments should be developed to
harvest rainwater.

25. • For check basin or surface irrigation system, higher fruit yield is obtained under
0.8 IW:CPE ratio, which is increased to 1.0 during flowering and decreases to 0.8
during fruit development.
• It further decreases to 0.6 during rest period.
• Drip irrigation can also be followed to economize water.
• The check basin requires 108 ha-cm of water, whereas drip with mulch requires
40.31ha-cm the water saving being 44% in drip system and 64% when sugarcane
trash mulch is used in drip system.

26. • The application of water equivalent to 20% wetted area is superior to surface
method, the average annual irrigation water requirement through drip method
being 20cm.
• Saving in water (43%) and increased yield (30–35%) are observed.
• High salinity in soils and irrigation with saline water affect normal fruit
production in pomegranate.

27. Harvesting and Postharvest management
• Pomegranate being non-climacteric fruit should be picked when fully ripe.
• Harvesting of immature or over-mature fruits affects quality.
• Its fruits become ready for picking 120–130 days after fruit set.
• The calyx at the distal end of the fruit gets closed on maturity.
• Ripe fruits give a distinct sound of grains cracking inside when slightly pressed
from outside.
• At maturity they turn to yellowish-red and get suppressed on sides.
• Fruit colour is not sure guide to maturity.
• Plucking is done with hand.
• A grown-up, well-managed tree gives 60–80 fruits annually, with a life span of
25–30 years.

28. Crop and grade regulation
• Of these, 5–6% are of ‘A’ grade and 20–25% of ‘B’ grade, whereas remaining
ones belong to ‘C’ and ‘D’ grades, and cracked fruits.
• Though it is practically impossible to get all ‘A’ grade fruits, one can improve
average grade by crop regulation.
• After the fruit set, do not allow, fruits to develop in clusters.
• Keep only solitary fruits.
• After getting set of fruits of desired numbers as per size of tree, remove all the
flowers coming thereafter.
• In pomegranate it is not only the number of fruits/tree but also the fruit size which
influence the net returns.
• About 60 fruits/tree is optimum crop load for pomegranate Ganesh.

29. Grading
• Pomegranate fruits should be graded on the basis of their weight, size and external
(rind) colour.
• The grades are:
• Super-sized: Fruits having good, attractive bright red colour weighing more than
750g each and without any spot on the skin.
• King-sized: Fruit free from spots, having an attractive red colour and weighing
500–750g.
• Queen-sized: Fruits between 400 and 500g, having bright red colour and free from
spots.
• Prince-sized: fully ripe fruits weighing between 300 and 400g with red colour.
• Besides, pomegranates are also graded into 2 grades—12-A and 12-B.
• The fruits weighing between 250 and 300g with some spots belong to 12-B grade.
• The fruits of 12-A grade are generally preferred in southern and northern India.

30. Packing and storage
• The size of packages pomegranate changes according to their grade.
• Corrugated fibre-board boxes are used for packaging since they are light in
weight, cause less or no damage to fruits, are easy to handle.
• In a single box, 4–5 queen-sized fruits, 12 prince-sized and some of 12–A and 12–
B grades may be packed.
• The white-coloured boxes having 5 plies are generally used for export purpose,
whereas red-coloured ones having 3 plies are used for domestic markets.
• The red-coloured boxes are cheaper than white-coloured ones.

31. • The size of super-sized, queen-sized, prince-sized, 12–A and 12–B grades are 13"
× 9" × 4", 15" × 11" × 4" and 14" × 10" × 4" respectively.
• The cut pieces of waste paper are generally used as cushioning material.
• The graded fruits are placed on cushioning material followed by an attractive red-
coloured paper on the boxes.
• The safe temperature for cold storage up to 2 months or 10 weeks is 5°C.
• Longer storage should be at 10°C and relative humidity of 95% to avoid chilling
injury and weight loss.

32. Physiological disorder
Internal breakdown
• Disintegration of arils in matured pomegranates known as an internal breakdown
or blackening of arils, is a serious malady.
• This disorder cannot be identified externally, whereas the arils become soft, light
creamy-brown to dark blackish-brown and unfit for consumption.
• It is increasing rapidly in the pomegranate-growing pockets in western
Maharashtra.
• The incidence of internal breakdown occurs 90 days after anthesis. Its intensity
increases if the fruits are left on the tree for 140 days onwards.
• It is evident in evergreen and deciduous cultivars. The incidence is more in ambe
bahar.

33. • It increases with increase in weight of fruits from 150–200g (26.60%) to more
than 350g (60%). No insect or organism is associated with this malady.
• The TSS, acidity, ascorbic acid, reducing sugars, calcium, phosphorus and enzyme
catalase are reduced, whereas non-reducing sugars, starch, tannins, nitrogen,
potassium, magnesium, boron and enzyme polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase
increase in the affected arils compared with the healthy ones.
• The exact causes are not known and remedial measures are difficult to advocate.
Therefore pomegranates should be harvested at 120–135 days after fruit set.

34. Fruit cracking
• Fruit cracking, a serious problem, is more intense under dry conditions of the arid
zone.
• The fully-grown, mature cracked fruits though sweet, loose their keeping quality
and become unfit for marketing.
• They are also liable to rot qualitatively.
• The cracked fruits show reduction in their fruit weight, grain weight and volume
of juice.
• It is due to deficiency of calcium, boron and potash.
• Fully developed pomegranates crack due to moisture imbalance, as they are very
sensitive to variation in soil moisture and also to day and night atmospheric
moisture deficit.

35. • Prolonged drought causes hardening of peel.
• If this is followed by heavy irrigation or rains, the pulp grows and the peel cracks.
• Cracking of fruits is also due to rise in air temperature during fruit growth and
development.
• It may be a varietal character (3.57% in Kazaki to 76.67% in Suni Bedana) since
rind thickness and texture are related to their proneness to cracking.
• The percentage of cracked fruits is also related to season.
• It amounts to 63 in spring crop (January–June), 34 in winter crop (October–
March) and 9.5 in rainy season crop (July–December) in Jodhpuri pomegranates.

36. • There are some cultivars/strains–PS 75 K 3, Appuli, Shirvan, Burachni,
Apsherconskil, Krasnyl, Sur-Anar, Kyrmyz-Kabukh and Francis–which are
tolerant/resistant to cracking.
• Cracking can be managed through maintaining soil moisture and not allowing
wide variation in soil moisture depletion, cultivating tolerant types, applying
copious (High or Many) and regular irrigation during fruiting season using
Pinolene (5%) as vapour guard and GA3 (15ppm) and applying boron (0.2%)
reduces cracking of fruits and improve fruit colour.