Abhilash Padhan (Phd Research Scholar,Fruit Science)

Introduction:

Pineapple (Ananas comosus(L)Merill) is a perennial fruit crop grown in the tropical and subtropical areas of the World. It belongs to the family Bromeliaceae.

Origin & distribution:

It is originated in the Parana-Paraguay basin according to Collins(1960). The pineapple was domesticated by the Tupi-Guarani Indians. In the Gurani language, “a” means fruit & “nana” means “excelling”. The generic name Ananas stands for the excellent edible quality of this fruit. It seems to have reached India by 1558(Hayes,1957).

The most important producers of Pineapple in recent years have been in Thailand, Phillippines, Hawaii, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia, China, Nigeria, Columbia & India.

The major producers of Pineapple in India are Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Kerala, Goa, Orissa, Bihar, Manipur, Karnataka, and Meghalaya.

Nutritional value:

Pineapple is an excellent source of Vitamin C and is a good source of Vitamin A and B.

Plant characteristics:

It is a herbaceous perennial plant. The mature plant is 1.0mtr to 1.2mtr in height and 1.3mtr to 1.5mtr in diameter. Like banana, it is monocarp(each stem flowers only once & dies after fruiting). Once the plantation is done it will live up to 50 years. The plant appears to suit for Xerophytic conditions. The lower epidermis of the leaf bears trichomes which absorbs water from the atmosphere & reduce transpiration, while the leaf itself contains a specialized water storage tissue.

The stem is 20-30 cm long, narrow at the base & wider on the top. The meristem produces 70-80 leaves unless it is prematurely induced to bloom. The time between planting & formation of inflorescence varies between 6 to 16 months depending upon the size of the propagule, date of planting, climate, and soil. (Samson,1986)

The fruit is formed by an extensive thickening of the axis of the inflorescence and by the fusion of small, berry-like fruits produced by each flower. There are 100-200 individual fruits arranged spirally around the thick axis & the whole forms a broad almost cylindrical multiple fruits.

The average fruit size is 20 cm long and 14 cm broad. The fruit tapers towards the top where it is mounted by a rosette of short, stiff, spirally arranged leaves called the crown.

Cultivars:

According to Knight(1980), all cultivated Pineapples may be placed according to their characteristics in 5 major groups. The name of different groups and the cultivar’s name are mentioned below here.

These includes:

1. Spanish Group(Red Spanish,Singapore Spanish,GreenSelangor,Castilla,Cabezona,P.R.1-67)

2. Queen Group (Queen, MacGregor, Z Queen, Natal,Ripley, Alexandria)

3. AbacaxiGroup(Perola,Abakka,SugarLoaf,Papelon,Amarella,Venezolana,Ananas Vermelho)

4. CayanneGroup(Smooth Cayenne,Cayenne Lisse,Boron Rothschild,Smooth Guatemalan,Typhone,St.Michael,Esmeralda)

5. Manipure Group.(Manipure, Bumanguesa, Piamba de marquita, Randon, Perbola:Legrija and Monte Liro)

Some of the most popular varieties like Giant Kew, Kew, Mauritius, Jhaldjup and Bakhat grown in India do not find mentioned in the above group list.

Climate:

Pineapple is a crop of the tropical climate but it thrives well in the subtropical situations.It is susceptible to frost so its cultivation is limited to latitude between 250N & S with a few exceptions like Assam(300N) & Port Elizabeth(330S) in South Africa. (Samson,1986). The optimum day & night temperature for pineapple were reported to be about 300C & 200C respectively. (Neild & Boshell,1976). Bartholomew & Kadzimin(1977) have reported that leaves & roots grow best at 320C & 290C. However, growth ceases below 20⁰C and above  36⁰C.

In general, pineapple needs a sunny climate through there are no exact figures on hours of solar radiation required.

In India, Pineapple is grown commercially in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Coastal Andra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa, Goa, Tripura, Meghalaya & Tamil Nadu. The climate of Odisha is highly suitable for its commercial cultivation among all districts.

As it’s a semi-shade loving crop intercropping pineapple inside Mango orchard having a great future potential among the Mango orchards of all the above states where it’s commercially grown.

The average annual requirement of rainfall ranges from 1000 mm to 1500 mm. Successful production in low rainfall areas requires good annual distribution of rainfall & water conservation management practices. In high rainfall areas, good drainage is most important as the pineapple root system is very sensitive to waterlogging.

Plant propagation method:

Its commonly propagated by different asexual means such as suckers, slips, and crowns. The axillary shoots originating from the base of the plant are called as suckers. Side shoots of the suckers or those originating from just below the fruit are known as “Slips” & the leaf rosette on the top of the fruit is the “Crown”.

The different time period of production of fruits is 18 to 20 months using Slips, 15 to 18 months using Suckers and 22 to 24 months using Crowns.

Precautionary step:

Before planting all the planting materials must be cured or dried for one to several weeks after separated from the mother plant. This allows the formation of a callus layer on the cut surface which reduces losses from decaying organisms.

Tissue culture:

In recent years the micropropagation technique has been developed for faster multiplication of pineapple.

Cultural practise:

It is raised in a double-row system. Traditionally Pineapple was raised with a recommended spacing of (100*60*30)cm with a plant population of 39,000P/ha for market production whereas with a spacing of(100*45*30)cm with 43,500P/ha can be applied for canning purpose.

Chadda et al.(1974) recorded the best results using 63,758 plants/ha while Mustafa(1988) obtained the highest yield with 59,829 plants/ha.

Pineapple as an intercrop:

As it is a semi-shade loving plant, it can be successfully grown for commercial purposes inside mango orchard as an intercrop in between two rows of mango plants. It can be grown using a double row system in flatbeds or using raised beds. It is grown with or without the use of mulching.

Flower induction:

Inflorescence development is initiated naturally by shortened day length & cool night temperature. Usually flower initiation begins in November & continues through out the winter till february. Under natural conditions flowering is highly irregular & some plants may fail to produce fruit.

Thus in commercial practice , growth regulators such as ethylene & NAA are used to force plants to flower. Flower initiation is pineapple is promoted and fruiting becomes more even when pineapple are treated with ethylene. Water deficit or drought like situation also induces early flower initiation in pineapple.

Now a days synthetic plant hormones like NAA or ethylene are often used to induce flowering. In the past calcium carbide (CaC₂) was employed for this purpose.

Crop regulation:

Use of different planting material allows manipulation of the crop growing period and particularly in selection of the time of harvest when climatic conditions are favourable for high quality fruits. As its growth cycle & flowering is not influenced by seasonal influence, it gives additional advantage for planning fruit production in advance to suit the market.

Harvesting & Yield:

The pineapple produces a composite or multiple fruit, made up of numerous indivisual fruitlets which are fused together to produce pineapple.

The half yellow stage is regarded as ripe & at this stage brix & titrable acidity has reached maximum. This stage is near the maximum in fruit weight

Yield is 40-50 t/ha may be expected from a well managed plantation. Under optimal conditions the yield goes upto 70t/ha or even more.(Samson,1986)

Fruits are graded in 4 class.

A(1500-1800g),B(900-1000g),C(900-1000g),D(100-900g).

Bigger fruits are packed in 2 layers where a smaller fruits are packed in 4 layers.

At temp(0-4)⁰C fruits may be stored weeks but upon removal, the fruits fails to ripen shows chilling injury. At 7⁰C the maximum storage was about 4 weeks. 

The new intervention in pineapple farming as an intercrop:  A success story of a progressive farmer from Boud district of Odisha.

Sangram Pradhan(40) is a highly progressive youth farmer from Boud district of Odisha who has specialized in farming of Mango from the last 10 years. After completing his higher education in law he has working in an MNC in Mumbai. But his interest & passion for agriculture made him to come back to his native village Balanda of Purunakatak area of Boud district of Odisha. Along with his father Sri Prafulla Kumar Pradhan(62) he is involved in cultivation of mango using latest improvements and technology and using it in his 15 acres of mango orchard which was established by his father before 15 years back next to his house at his native village.

At present, he maintains a diversity of 22 different cultivars of mango with more than 1600 plants in an area of 15 acres. The mango varieties he grows for commercial purposes include Baiganpalli, Mallika, Neelum, Kesari, Ratnagiri Alphonso, Arka Neelachal Kesari, Ratnagiri Hapus, Baramasi and recently introduced the Thai Mango varieties. Out of total 15 acres of the area, he grows Amrapali variety (a dwarfing variety suitable for high-density planting developed by the crossing of Dashehari and Neelum ) in an area of 5 acres from last 12 years. The spacing he has followed is 5 * 5 metres in Amrapali mango variety. By regular training and pruning operation in Amrapali the plant height is maintained up to 10 feet after harvesting each year.

Although he was highly successful in mango cultivation utilizing the latest technologies he was not getting more than an annual profit of 50,000 Indian rupees per acre from his Mango orchard. So he decided to go for an intercrop inside the Amrapali Mango orchard where an interspace of 25 square meters ground area (Neglecting tree girth and spread area) was available between two different rows of Mango Plantation.

After attending several pieces of training and workshops on Pineapple cultivation as an Intercrop in Mango orchard at CHES(Central Horticultural Experiment Station), Bhubaneswar which is a sub research station of IIHR(Indian Institute of Horticultural Research), Banglore, he finally decided to start pineapple cultivation as an intercrop utilizing the latest technologies and pop(Package of Practices) developed by CHES, Bhubaneswar.

He started pineapple cultivation by purchasing 6000 numbers of suckers(as planting material) of Queen and Kew variety of Pineapple. He started the cultivation by preparing a raised bed inside the rows of Amrapali mango. The raised beds were prepared using compost and soil of height up to 7 inches and a breadth of 5 feet at the base to 4 feet at the top. The total length of one bed is up to 40 meters.

The suckers were planted above the raised beds in two rows with a spacing of 2 feet between the R-R and 2 feet 2inches between the P-P. A total of 110 numbers of suckers were planted in a single bed of 40 meters length between two rows of mango. The silver-coated black polythene of 200-micron thickness was used as a mulching material whose life span is up to 3years.

In case of using polythene mulching, there is a complete protection from weed growth up to 3 years using this mulching.

The suckers of pineapple were planted during October to November month of 2019. After 7-8 months it completes its vegetative stage and will start the reproductive stage by the initiation of flowering. The fruit maturity and harvest begin in May & June months of the coming year when its flowering initiation occurs during November-December.

From the previous experiments by CHES, Bhubaneswar he was acknowledged about the yield of the cultivars he has transplanted. He is expecting an average yield of 1.0-1.5kg of fruit/plant/year in Queen cultivar whereas, in Kew, he is expecting an average yield of 1.5-2.0kg of fruit/plant/year.

Benefits of raised bed & polythene mulching in Pineapple :

The raised bed helps proper root growth due to good aeration in soil & prevents the water stagnation & damage to the plant’s roots from various fungal and bacterial diseases.

Whereas utilization of polythene mulching not only prevents competition with weeds growth but also helps the plants to complete its vegetative growth within short spans and initiate flowering. Using mulching practice not only minimizes water loss & but also maintains optimum soil moisture & temperature and provides a suitable environment for soil microbial population which are beneficial for the plant root.

Farmer’s  initiatives:

In natural condition, pineapple starts flowering from November and the fruits are harvested after 4-5 months in the month of May-June. During this time period due to large scale production in south Indian states, it fetches a maximum market price of 25-30 Indian rupees per fruit in Odisha.

But during the off-season in the months of November and December, it fetches up to 50-60 rupees per fruit in the market due to high demand in Marriage functions as dessert purposes.

So he is planning to induce flowering in the months of august utilizing synthetic flower initiating hormone-like Planofix(NAA) with  Ethereal(Ethephon) so that he will be able to harvest the mature fruit during November and December and get a higher return.

Profit Analysis:

The total number of suckers were planted in one acre as an intercrop in Mango is 2000. The cost of suckers are 5-6 rupees each and once purchased can be used for life long, so here we are neglecting the initial cost of purchasing the suckers as planting material of Pineapple.

If he will get an average yield of 1 kg fruit weight per plant he will get 2 tons of fruit per acre per year. If the average cost of fruit will be 25 rupees during the on-season then he will get up to 50,000 rupees per acre.

Whereas by artificial induction of flowering in pineapple during the month of July-August he will be able to harvest the fruit during the off-season(November-December) and will get a double price of 50-60 rupees per fruit. In that case, he will earn upto 1,00,000 Indian rupees per year.

The maximum cost of cultivation from the second year onwards will be very less which will be a maximum of 10,000 rupees per acre including all. So he will be getting a profit of 40,000 rupees annually and up to 90,000 rupees maximum per year as an intercrop from Pineapple as per his calculations.

In the case of mango, he was getting 50,000 rupees earlier as profit per acre per year when the yield was on an average of up to 4 tons/acre. So after intercropping of Pineapple his total profit per acre in a year will be between 90,000 to 140,000 Indian rupees in a year.

Conclusion:

Taking pineapple as an intercrop will not only double the profit of the farmer within a year of time span but also will provide an assurance of benefit from intercrop when the main crop (Mango) production falls due to irregular bearing or other environmental factors. This is an innovative step towards doubling the farmer’s income.

Enquiry:

Any Farmers across India wants to implement pineapple as an intercrop can contact Mr.Sangram Pradhan on his mobile number and can visit his Farm.

Mobile Number:91-7735509155

Farm Address: At: Balanda, Via: Purunakatak, District: Boud, Odisha,