Important Point

• Guava is a climactic fruit.
• Guava is a day-neutral plant
• UP has maximum area and production.
• Guava is entomophilous (insect-pollinated)
• The fruits are axillary on the current season’s growth.
• Guava improvement work started in Pune in 1907.

Guava Bahar

Bahar	Flowering	Fruiting	Quality
Ambe Bahar	Feb.-March	July- September	Watery, poor
Mrig Bahar	June – July	Nov. – Jan.	Excellent
Hasth Bahar	October	Feb. – April	Good, Low yield

• In South India, fruiting takes place 3 times.
• Guava is cultivated throughout the year except in May and June.
• Chinese guava – P. fridrichsthalianum – is a dwarf rootstock and also resistant to guava wilt and nematodes.
• High-density planting reduces TSS, sugar, and ascorbic acid but increases titrated acidity.
• L-49 is more susceptible to bronzing than Allahabad Safeda.
• Fruit quality is best in winter crops, it is protected from the attack of fruit flies.
• The practice of taking winter crop in place of rainy season crop is called crop regulation.
• Rainy season crop can be removed by spraying 10% of Urea at Allahabad Safeda and 20% in Lucknow-49 at the time of maximum flowering period.
• The best quality fruits are from the Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh.
• Vitamin E is highest in the peel of the fruit at the ripe stage.
• Guava wilt occurs more in alkaline soils.
• Aneuploid – 82 is a dwarf rootstock.
• Bending in Guava is done in MH.
• Useful in the human diet to avoid scurvy disease.
• Is a rich source of pectin.
• The Meadow orcharding technique was developed in Guava for horizontal use of space.

Varieties

• Lucknow – 49 (Sardar) – chance seedling selection from Allahabad Safeda in 1927 in Pune by Dr. Cheema.
• Allahabad Safeda
• Chittidar – Numerous red dot on the skin
• Harijha – Most popular in Bihar
• Hafsi – Red fleshed guava
• Apple Colour
• Behat Coconut – Seedless guava
• Arka Mridula – seedless selection from Allahabad Safeda, soft seeded
• Allahabad Surkha – Uniform pink fruit with deep pink flesh.
• Allahabad Round – Parthenocarpic variety
• Saharanpur Seedless
• Nagpur Seedless
• Arka Amulya – Arka Safeda x seedless
• Hissar Surekha
• Lalit – 24 % higher yield than Allahabad Safeda. Suitable for jelly making
• Shweta – High TSS (14⁰ brix)

Hybrid

Kohir Safeda – Kohir x Allahabad Safeda

Safed Jam – Allahabad Safeda X Kohir

Pusa Srijan – Dwarf rootstock

Climate

• Guava requires tropical and sub-tropical climates.
• It requires a dry environment during flowering and fruiting.
• Suitable annual rainfall is 1000 to 2000 mm.
• The suitable temperature is 23⁰C to 28⁰
• Guava is grown up to a height of 1000 meters above sea level.

Soil

• Light clay loam to clay soil.
• Sensitive to waterlogging conditions.
• pH – 4.5 – 8.5

Propagation

• Guava is mainly Propagated through air layering and stooling/mound layering.
• The proper time for air layering is the rainy season.

Planting

• Before the onset of the monsoon, pits of size 75 – 100 cm³ are dug.
• The best time for planting is the onset of the monsoon (June-July).
• The planting distance is kept at 5×5 m or 6×6 m.

Manure and Fertilizer

• Irrigation is stopped till May after harvesting to take the Mrig Bahar crop.
• Manure and fertilizers are applied during June followed by irrigation till it rains.
• 1st year N :P: K, 50:40:50 g/tree
• 7 years and above – 350: 280: 350 g/tree

Irrigation

• First just after the planting.
• In fruit trees, irrigation is required for flowering and better fruit settings.
• Fruit size remains small if sufficient soil moisture is not maintained through irrigation.

Interculture and Intercropping

• Guava plants are sometimes cared for by hand hoeing.
• Some vegetable crops can also be grown in guava orchards like brinjal, okra, beet, radish, etc.

Training & Pruning

• At an early stage young plants deheaded, they produce some lateral branches of which 2 or 3 are allowed to grow and others are removed.
• From each of these branches, 2 or 3 strong secondary branches are allowed to grow, then the tertiary branches emerging from these secondary branches are allowed to spread.
• Fruiting trees can be lightly pruned in September-February annually.

Regulation of flowering and fruiting in guava for Mrig Bahar

Across India, Mrig Bahar is preferred over Ambe Bahar and Hasth Bahar. Therefore, it becomes necessary to regulate the flowering so that the Mrig bahar can produce heavy flowers and fruits are available in winter. The practices are:-

1. To restrict irrigation water

• Stop irrigation from February to mid-May.
• By doing this the tree sheds its leaves during the summer season (April to May) and goes to rest.
• During rest, the tree preserves the food in its branches.
• After irrigation in the month of June, the tree is well cultivated and fertilized. After 20-25 days the tree blooms profusely.

2. To expose roots: –

The top soil around the stem (about 45 to 60 cm radius) is carefully removed so that the roots are exposed to the sun which results in loss of moisture in the top soil, leading to leaf drop. And the tree goes to rest. After about 3-4 weeks the exposed roots are again covered with soil, fertilized, and watered.

3. To do deblossoming

50ppm naphthalene acetamide (NAD) is most effective for deblossoming, flower buds can also be removed by hand.

4. Bending

Trees in which branches grow straight and have less fruiting. Such branches can be bent down and tied to pegs buried in the ground. Doing this activates the dormant buds which produce flowers and fruits.

Harvesting

• Seed propagated plants start giving fruit in 4 to 5 years. Whereas vegetative methods take 2 to 3 years.
• Guava fruits take 22 weeks (about 5 months) from full bloom to maturity.
• When the color of the fruit changes from dark green to yellow-green.
• Ripe or half-ripe fruits are preferred for eating.

Yield

150 – 200 kg / tree

 

Insect pests

1. Guava Fruitfly (Dacus dorsalis)

Dangerous during monsoon. The fly lays eggs on the surface of the fruit. After hatching, young maggots enter the fruit and feed on the soft pulp.

Control

• Collect all affected fruits and burn them thoroughly.
• Dig the soil around the tree during the summer months.
• Avoid taking Ambe Bahar crop.
• Spray Malathion 0.05% or Labacid 0.05%

 

2. Mealy bug

They suck the sap from tender leaves and flowers.

Control

• Treat the soil at the base of the tree with Thimate 10g or Phosphate 10g.
• Tie a polythene film on the trunk of the tree so that the nymph cannot climb up.
• Spray with 0.1% Metacid.

3. Bark eating caterpillar (Arbela tetraonis)

The insect lays eggs under loose bark and the hatched larva pierces the stem and bark.

Control

• Try to take out with the help of wire from the holes and destroy it.
• Pour kerosene or petrol and fill the hole with cotton.

 

Disease Control

1. Wilt (Fusarium solani, Macrophomina phyascolina)

• Yellowing of leaves, followed by drying of leaves and twigs from the top, and later the tree begins to wilt.
• It is more during the rainy season and in alkaline soils.

Control

• Inject 0.1% 8-quinolinol sulfate into healthy plants.
• After pruning in the months of March, June, and September, give 15 gm of Bavistin to the basin of each plant.
• Spray a mixture of 0.05% Metasystox and o.3% Zinc Sulphate on diseased trees during March and September.
• Grow resistant varieties like Allahabad Safeda, Banarasi, Supreme, etc.

 

2. Anthracnose (Gloeosporium psidii, Glomerella psidii)

• Small pin head-shaped spots appear on fruits, especially during monsoon. Later, the spots fuse together to form a larger lesion.

Control

• Spray copper oxychloride or Dithane Z-78 at 0.2%
• Grow a resistant variety such as Apple.
• Follow the scientific management techniques.

 

3. Guava fruit canker (Pestalotia psidii)

The infection causes microscopic, brown, or rust-colored monolithic spherical necrotic corky cankers on young immature fruits. The spots are shallow on the surface of the skin.

Control

• Spray 1% Bordeaux mixture or Dithane Z-78 (0.2%)
• Take only the Mrig Bahar crop which matures during dry winter months.

Physiological Disorders

1. Bronzing in Guava

• In the affected guava tree branch, the interveinal tissue of older leaves turns red to purplish red, with the first or second pair of leaves remaining green.
• It is severe (80%) during the rainy season and much less (10%) during the winter.

Cause

• Complex nutritional disorders due to P, K, and Zn deficiency.
• More in Alfisol (red soil) of southern Karnataka.
• Soil acidity is attributed to bronzing along with poor management and low soil fertility.

Management

• Adopt plant phytosanitary measures.
• Grow resistant varieties like Allahabad Safeda.
• Apply balanced fertilizers (NPK) and recommended amounts of Zn and Boron based on the soil test.
• Avoid planting guava orchards on acidic soil.
• Avoid planting in conditions of extreme water stress condition.