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Preparation of value added guava- sapota cheese: A potential delicacy for the market.

Fruit cheese has recently become very popular. It is a confection of the type of Karachi halwa and is prepared from fruits like Guava, Apple, Pear and Plum. Fruit cheeses have a long shelf life (Srivastava and Kumar, 2007). Fruit cheese contains a minimum 68% T.S.S. and 45% prepared fruit in final product, (F.P.O Specification). Fruit cheese are made from a stiff fruit puree. This is a good way of preserving fruit which has a lot of pips or stones. They use a larger portion of sugar to puree than fruit butters. fruit cheeses can be turned out in one piece and cut with knife in place of cheese or, cut into small pieces, as a sweetmeat.

Preparation of guava sapota cheese:

picture 1. Guava-Sapota Cheese.

Materials required:

1.Guava pulp -500g

2.Sapota pulp-500g

3.Butter -40g

4.Sugar-150g

5.Citric acid -2g

Preparation Method/Technology:

Select firmly ripe Guava fruits wash with clean water and then cut into pieces. After that boil it with 300ml of water/kg of guava, till the pieces becomes soft then, either sieve  in a muslin cloth or in a pulping machine to remove seeds and skin to make a fine pulp.Select fully riped sapota fruits peel it and then remove the seeds after that cut into pieces and then grind it to make the fine pulp. Take each 500g of guava and sapota pulp and cook it for 5-10min after that add sugar and butter to the pulp again cook it for 10min then add citric acid after that judge the end point . Evenly distributed the mixture over butter coated tray and left it for 3 hours to set. After that packed in a polythene bag and stored at ambient temperature.

Fruit and vegetable are highly perishable commodities — as they are living tissues that are subject to continuous changes after harvest, because of their peculiar characteristics, i.e. high moisture content and rapid rate of metabolism, they are prone to deteriorate rapidly after harvest and also due to lack of adequate post harvest losses due to spoilage are very high. Actual post harvest losses have been estimated to be as high as 25- 30% of the value of  produced. At this scale the post harvest losses are Rs.6000-7000 crores per annum.

Even if 10 % of this could be save by converting them into processed products at peak production season, there will be saving of Rs.650 crores to the horticultural wealth of the country. But processing industry at present is utilizing only about 1.8 percent of total production for processing, as against the performance of other countries Malaysia (83%). Philippines (78%). Brazil and US (70%), a new orientation needs to be given to the fruit processing industry to upgrade nutrition, minimize post harvest losses. This can be achieved only by enhancing processing of fruits and vegetables.

picture 2.#During preaparation of Guava-Sapota Cheese.

According to recent joint study conducted by the management consultancy firm Mc Kinsey and Co-coordinators and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CLL) at least 50% of the fruits and vegetables produced in country are lost due to wastage and value destruction. The wastage cost is estimated to be Rs 23,000 crores annually. Therefore, in order to achieve our largest goal of feeding the population as well as meeting the requirements of the processing industry and export trade, only increasing the production and productivity of fruits will not be enough. We should have to strengthen the post harvest facilities of our country.

The main objective of fruits processing is to supply wholesome safe, nutritious and acceptable food to consume throughout the year and the main objectives of post harvest studies are reduction of fruit losses, imports of produce and generation of Urban and Rural employment as well as sources of income to the farmers and artisans. It also helps in developing value added product so that they can be relished throughout the year. So there should be some ways that farmers can easily and rapidly save their produce. This can be only being done if they have a processing industry nearby. However, farmers can’t spend crores of rupees to establish industry. So there should  be some way to make a products of fruits, which is easy to prepare and needs very low initial investment.

Syed Pula Ruksana

M.Sc. Horticulture

SHUATS,Prayagraj,Uttar Pradesh

email @syedruksana1616@gmail.com

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Scope of Organic Kinnow Cultivation at Prayagraj Agro-Climatic Conditions

Kinnow belongs to the citrus group of fruits. It is botanically known as Citrus reticulate Blanco with a chromosome number of 2n=18. It is also known as King’s willow mandarin, an interspecific hybrid between Citrus nobilis x Citrus deliciosa. It was first developed by H.B Frost in the year 1915 at the University of California Research Center, Riverside.

picture 1.A healthy bearing Kinnow plant at the Central Field of Department of Horticulture,SHUATS,PRAYAGRAJ,UTTAR PRADESH,INDIA.

In India, kinnow came in acquaintance during 1954 when it was first introduced by J.C Bakshi at the Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Fruit Research Station, Abohar. Kinnow gain its popularity in India mainly due to its high yielding attribute as well as of its flavor also. The tree grows vigorously and has an upright form, with a strong tendency of bearing heavy fruit yield. The fruit is the rich source of vitamin C and their daily consumption protects mankind from scurvy. The rind of the citrus fruit contains a number of alkaloids, out of which is limonene which have the potential to act as an insect repellent.

Prayagraj comes under the sub-tropical region of India, due to its climatic conditions it experience only one bahar in a year i.e mrig bahar (winter flowering). The kinnow orchard of SHUATS was first established by W.B Hayes in the late 90’s who was the British Agriculture scientist also the first HOD(Head of Department) of Department of Horticulture, SHUATS. The soil of the Prayagraj is clay loam which is enrich with nutrients and also good for the cultivation of most of the fruit crops. And thus this soil type provides suitable environment for the growth of micro-organisms and suitable for the use of bio-fertilizers. Being a sub-tropical region, it experiences a hot dry summer with a maximum temperature of 48°C. Due to this, kinnow cultivation at Prayagraj region need more frequent irrigation in order to prevent the june drop. It experiences an annual rainfall of 981mm (approx) which leads to the heavy infestation of flies and moth in the kinnow plants and causes a huge pre-harvest loss (upto 80-90% yield losses).

Kinnow is a nutrient loving plant and requires an adequate amount of nutrients in order to produce a good quality yield. It also requires a fair quantity of micronutrients in order to enhance its juice quality. Use of organic farming as well as bio-fertilizer reported to increase the quality of fruits as well as it helps in restoring the soil nutrients in a natural way. It not only provides good quantity of nutrients to plants also helps in saving the soil fauna. One can use bio-fertilizers like Azotobacter, PSB (Phosphorus Solublizing Bacteria), Azospirillum as a replacement of chemical fertilizer. These bio-fertilizers require substrate to grow, so using FYM as a substrate is very effective. FYM not only serves as a good substrate for these eco-friendly bacteria but also acts as a chelate and makes other micronutrient available to plants.

Phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (PSB) under acidic or calcareous, fixes large amounts of phosphorus in the soil but are unavailable to the plants. Phosphobacterins are mainly bacteria and fungi which can make insoluble phosphorus available to the plants. The solublization effect of phosphobacterins is generally due to the production of organic acids that lower the soil pH and bring about the dissolution of bound forms of phosphate and hence making the soil available with the phosphorus. Azospirillum is the associative symbiotic nitrogen fixer, aerobic bacteria, which have the ability to associate with growing root system of a variety of crop plants. This nitrogen-fixing Azospirillum when applied to the soil undergoes multiplication and fixes atmospheric nitrogen in the soil for utilization of various crops. Azospirillum is a gram-negative bacteriumthat fixes atmospheric nitrogen and makes it available to plants in non symbiotic manner. Azotobacter, aerobic, free living bacteria, acts as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in the rhizosphere of almost all crops. Azotobacters are abundant in well-drained, neutral soil. They can fix 15-20kg/ha N per year. Azotobacter spp. can also produce antifungal compounds to fight against many plant pathogens.

In order ensure the maximum benefit of these bio-fertilizers; it is very important to apply them in a right way. These fertilizers are mainly applied along with compost, mix the recommended amount of bio-fertilizer with the compost and leave it overnight in order to multiply the bacteria in compost and then apply it. In this may the bio-fertilizers give the best result.

Kinnow mandarins are medium sized with thin, tight and orange colored skin. It is rich in vitamin-C, sugars and in addition to this it also contain vitamin-A, vitamin-B, and vitamin-K and contains a sweet sour taste. Due to this it fetches a high price in the market and also utilized by the processing industry. India earns a sizable amount of foreign exchange by exporting kinnow to various countries of the world like Iran, Singapore, Qatar, Nepal, Switzerland etc. In India, the best quality of kinnow was obtained from the Nagpur region of Maharashtra where these fruits got its characteristic flavor due to the climatic conditions of that region.

picture 2.Harvesting of Mature Kinnow

Kinnow is also heavily attacked by insect and pest out of which one of the most damaging pests of kinnow is fruit sucking moth (Eudocima fullonia). They mainly puncture the fruit and suck out the juice from them, a heavy infestation results in yield loss of upto 80-90% was reported. As they are nocturnal in nature it is hard to control them, setting light trap or poison bait is effecting against them. Dilute suspension of fermented molasses or jaggery and malation 0.05% (50 EC at 1ml/l) as poison bait is effective, or bagging of fruits with 500 gauge polythene bags also prevent the adult moth attack.

picture 3.Poison bit to kill fruit sucking moth in kinnow

Plant nutrients are the key factor in order to increase the fruit yield. Adopting organic means of farming practices are not immediate result giving but it improves the quality of fruits in the successive years. Organic farming improves the soil physical properties such as aeration, texture, water holding capacity, infiltration as well as chemical properties such as pH, CEC, etc. Apart from this the price of organic produce are fetching good price in the market. So, this is the high time that we should slowly move towards the organic farming and make our food a little more healthy and free from chemicals. Thus keeping in mind, the climatic conditions and the soil type of the Prayagraj region adoption the organic farming not only in Kinnow but in other fruit crops not only helps in enhancing the fruit yield but also helps in restoring the soil fertility.

Mandeep Rawat

Msc.Fruit Science (Student), SHUATS, Prayagraj

email:mandeeprawat107@gmail.com

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Agriculture:- The Ultimate Savior

India is a land of agriculture and presently there is 159.7 million hectare arable land i.e. second largest after United State. From ancient time agriculture is the main profession of the people of India. In India agriculture is not only the profession but also the people of India see it as a way of living and they also relate it with their dignity and probity. Though it is well known, that in a developing country like India the maximum number of people depend on agriculture for their livelihood and indeed they live a dignified life.

picture.1 The younger generations of a farmers family busy transplanting rice seedlings at Ghazipur,Varanasi,UttarPradesh

Why we are saying that Agriculture is the ultimate savior? The main reason can be understand after getting some information from history about several pandemics that had been faced by the world and not only the pandemic but also World War or when there is economics crisis in the world, since the middle age, about a dozen of notable pandemics including COVID 19 outbreak and two world war which causes a massive destruction. Since 1900, there have been 8 pandemic in the world, among that some of the majors are, The Spanish flu (1918), The AIDS (1981), The MERS (2012) epidemics, West Africa Ebola (2013) and the current ongoing pandemic  COVID 19 had infected more then 110 countries of the world. The only one thing is common in these pandemic is that ultimately many of the unemployed people who lost their jobs in these pandemic fell back on Agriculture for their livelihood. Like every profession even agriculture has a limited capacity to absorb unemployed people but the main important thing is, having limited capacity, agriculture will not lead any individual to die of Starvation though it lead to increase in Hidden unemployment (prachhann berojgari).

picture 2.Two young researcher doing their research work on application of growth regulators on Allahabad Safeda Guava at Prayagraj,UttarPradesh

Pandemic had adversely affected the supply chain of the nation so that many of the necessary things are not available to number of people. They are searching for the alternative of the utmost priority goods and services but they fail to do so and they have only one hope and that is Agriculture. In the circumstances like pandemic where survival is of utmost priority and people are suffering from fear of losing job and indeed they are losing, high risk of future uncertainty, and also suffering from different abnormal mental health condition like Depression, in that circumstances agriculture has been raised like Savior to mankind. Agriculture, along with providing job, food to people and mitigating their risk of livelihood it also act as a psychiatrist because agriculture is also a medium of entertainment, one can be physically strong and fit if he/she is regularly working in field and also having healthy food.

People who had lost their job in these pandemic they are migrating from city/town to Villages as in city they don’t have any alternate job upon which the can fall. Those people who have small holding they will grow something to full fill their and family needs. And those people who are landless they will take field either on sharing or they will work as Agriculture labor. In short we can say that with limited resources agriculture may not have the capacity to full fill the unlimited wants of the people but agriculture do have capacity to satisfy the hunger of the people.

Akhilesh Kushwaha

M.Sc. Agriculture

Allahabad Agriculture University