TNAU Agritech Portal ::Traditional Fruit Varieties
Pineapple
Pineapple can be cultivated as two types of seed materials.
Mostly it is planted in garden land or upland crop in Namakkal district. If crowns are used as a seed material, the duration of the crop is 1 ½ years and if bottom slips, the cropping cycle is 2 years. Nearly 10,000 slips are needed to plant in one acre area. Pits are dug with a dimension of 1’x1’1’ in rows. Each row is called ‘saal’ between which 3 feet distance is allowed. While digging pit, the distance between each pit is around ½ feet – ¾ feet. It needs a good drainage system, which is naturally provided by the sloppy topography of kolli hills. Generally, these traditional varieties don’t need any additional external input, but weeding should be done monthly once as stated by the farmer.
The crop can be cultivated thorough out the year. Only 6 months particularly, jan-june is appropriate season for good yield. Each plant bears nearly 4-5 times and even sometimes 10 slips at bottom which can be used as planting material during the next season. Previous crop is harvested and the residues are burnt, and the resultant ash is left as potash fertilizer for field.
Pineapple fruit turning into reddish or reddish yellow in colour, is the indication for its maturity. So it reaches the colour, the fruits are plucked by hand. Whereas the bottom slips are cut by using knife. After harvest, each plant yields again and again. Until 3 years from planting, the yield will be good after which it reduces.
Based on the size, each fruit costs upto Rs.2-5/-. Though pineapple is found in Vazhavanthinadu areas (semmedu) and more commonly grown in Alathur, Ariyur and Valeppur villages of kolli hills. The main advantage of the traditional pineapple variety is good consumption quality. Because other varieties are good for juice making but unfit for consumption. Th.A.K.Raju states that burning the residues there is no harm to micro organisms whereas it is beneficial to the field by segmented fertilizer.
Pineapple (Annachi)-Naadan (Ananus Cosmosus)
It is being cultivated in kanyakumari district. A well drained loamy soil is ideal for pineapple cultivation. On 7-8 months after planting pine apple starts fruiting. It takes 3 months time to mature and marked with in a day or two. In maturity stage, the fruits are harvested in the month of April-July. Fruits obtained during peak summer (May) are faster compared to other varieties. If the fruits are harvested in rainy season, their sourness will be more. In early stage, the fruit becomes red in colour and later it turns to yellow. It weighs upto 2 kg and bigger in size. From each plant, 1-1 fruits are harvested per year. When planting is done in hill slopes, the mounds and channels should be formed across the slope and planting also should be done across the slope which will prevent soil erosion and conservation of rainwater. It is mainly used as a live fence because of its sourness in taste and more number of red thorns. |
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