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Essay on Fruits
Essay Contents:
- Essay on the Introduction to Fruits
- Essay on the Fruits as Essential Diet
- Essay on the Area and Production of Fruits
- Essay on the Scope of Fruit Growing
- Essay on the Natural Factors for Fruit Growing
- Essay on the Classification of Fruit Trees on Climate Basis
Essay # 1. Introduction to Fruits:
Fruits are nature’s gift to mankind. These are not only delicious and refreshing but are also the chief source of vitamins, minerals and proteins. These constituents are essential for the normal physiological well being and help in maintaining healthy state through development of resistance against pathogens.
The fruits also contain mineral salts, the deficiency of which can lead to disturbance of metabolism resulting in ill-health. Carbohydrates and fats are the chief source of energy and, therefore, are essential for keeping good health.
Their pectin and cellulose contents help in stimulating the intestinal activity. Certain extract like Badam Roghan obtained from almonds possess specific medicinal value that makes the use of fruits in our daily diet imperative. It may not be an exaggeration to say that 80-90 per cent of problems arising from under nutrition or malnutrition can be well managed with indigenous medicines and fruits are an important part of these.
Essay #
2. Fruits as Essential Diet:
According to nutrition experts, an individual should consume at least 85 g. fruits per day in addition to vegetables, pulses, milk, meat, eggs etc, to maintain proper health. The consumption of fruits as part and parcel of balanced diet acts as a catalyst and therefore, has a special significance.
The approximate nutritive value of this diet is calories 3000, protein 90g, carbohydrates 450 g, calcium 1.4 g, phosphorus 3 g, iron 47 mg, nicotine acid 22 mg and vitamin 240 mg.
i. Vitamins:
These are the most important constituent of fruits and are indispensable part of human diet. Although required in very minute quantities, they are absolutely essential for the maintenance of health. The deficiency of any vitamins from the diet for considerable period may lead to diseased state or disorder conditions.
a. Vitamin A (Carotene):
The deficiency of vitamin A in our daily diet leads to the disorders like night blindness, cessation of growth in young ones, drying up of lachrymal glands in the eyes, eruption of skin, bitterness of teeth and susceptibility to various diseases. Carotene is a precursor of vitamin A which is found in most fruits in varying quantities. Fruits like mango, papaya, jackfruit, persimmon, cashew-nut, fig and ber are the chief sources of vitamin A.
b. Vitamin B1 (Thiamine):
The absence of this vitamin in the daily diet causes beri-beri, paralysis, loss of sensitivity of skin, enlargement of heart, loss of appetite, loss of weight and fall in body temperature. Fruits like cashew-nut, walnut, almond, banana, apricot, apple, pear and plum are the chief sources of thiamine.
b. Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin):
Riboflavin is important for growth and health of skin. The deficiency of this vitamin causes sore throat, cataract, and loss of body weight, anorexia and development of swollen nose.
The fruits which are major sources of this vitamin are – bael (bil), litchi, papaya, pineapple, pomegranate and pear.
ii. Minerals:
A large number of minerals are present in human body. Bones and teeth are mainly made up of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. Iron is an important constituent of blood whereas iodine regulates the functioning of hormones (thyroxine). Minerals like zinc, molybdenum and manganese are activators of certain enzymes.
In addition to these, many other elements are also required for adequate growth of tissues. Minerals are found in varying concentrations in fruits. For example, karonda is rich in iron and walnut and almond are rich in phosphorus and calcium and blue-berry and banana in potassium, respectively.
iii. Carbohydrates, Fats and Protein:
Carbohydrates and fats provide energy to the human body while protein builds up the body tissues. Some fruits are important source of carbohydrates, protein and fat which are essential for proper growth and development of the human being.
Fruits are the best co-prescription. A patient with night blindness is advised to take mango and papaya and those suffering from scurvy diseases should take amla and guava. The children deficient with protein energy malnutrition (PEM) are co-prescribed with fruits rich in protein and carbohydrates like almond, cashew-nut, walnut, apricot (dry), banana, bael, dates, karonda and raisins.
Similarly, citrus fruits are mandatory co-prescription to diuretic. Bael is a useful tranquilizer. Its aqueous extract, (sharbat) has a cooling effect; therefore, it is useful in hot summer days. Almond oil extract is useful in malnourished as well as bronchy asthma cases in winter. Dried powder of amla in combination with Harad and Bahera is commonly dispensed as useful remedy for constipation. Banana is a useful co-prescription in diarrhoea.
Essay # 3. Area and Production of Fruits:
India is the second largest producer of fruits after China, with a production of 76.4 million tonnes of fruits from an area of 6.7 million hectares (Table 5). It is almost 29 per cent of the area under horticulture in India. The production has increased to manifold in the last five decades from 6.8 million tonnes to 76.4 million tonnes.
In the year 2005-06, the area under fruits was 5.3 million hectares with annual production of 55.4 million metric tonnes. A continuous increase in area and production was registered every year but a brief lull in area was observed between the year 2009-10 and 2010-11. In recent year of 2011-12, there was considerable increase in area under fruits which was recorded 6.7 million hectares.
India accounts for 12 per cent of total world production of fruits and leads the world in producing mango, banana, papaya, sapota, pomegranate, lime and aonla. This increase in production is accounted for enhanced productivity owing to the adoption of high yielding cultivars and improved production and protection technologies. Most of the fruits are grown on wide range of agro-climatic conditions with varied production. A large variety of fruits are grown in India, of which banana, mango, citrus, guava and apple are the major ones.
Apart from these, sapota, grapes, pomegranate, papaya, pineapple, litchi, ber and aonla in tropical and sub-tropical group and pear, peach, plum, almond, apricot, walnut and strawberry in the temperate group are grown in sizeable area.
The fruits are grown throughout the country, however, the major fruit growing states area wise are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Bihar, Kerala, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The major fruit producing states on the basis of fruit production are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha.
Mango is the most important fruit covering 35.5 percent of area and accounting for 21.2 per cent of total production in the country, which is 40 per cent of global mango production. The productivity varies from 3.6 to 14.9 tonnes per hectare in different mango growing states. Major mango growing states are Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
Citrus fruits are grown in 9.15 lakh hectares with total production of 79.22 lakh metric tonnes annually. Productivity of citrus varies from 4.4 to 21.9 metric tonnes per hectare depending upon agro-climatic regions. Mandarin, sweet oranges (Mosambi), lime and lemons cover bulk of the area under citrus fruits. These fruits are grown mainly in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Assam, Odisha, Haryana and Uttarakhand.
Limes and lemons producing states are Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Chhattisgarh. The higher production of limes and lemons to the tune of 31 per cent is recorded in Andhra Pradesh followed by 19 per cent in Gujarat. Mosambi (Sweet Orange) is cultivated only in few states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab.
Andhra Pradesh is the leading Mosambi producing state with a share of 46.8 percent. In Mandarin, Nagpur Sangtra and Kinnow are the two important cultivars grown in India. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Assam and Rajasthan states have largest area under mandarin cultivation. Punjab is the leading state in kinnow production where average productivity is highest i.e. 21.4 metric tonnes per hectare.
Banana rank second in area and occupying 13.6 percent of the total area and accounting for 37.2 percent of the total production in India. India has first position in the world in banana production. Tamil Nadu leads other states in area with a share of about 23.7 per cent. Gujarat has highest productivity of 62.3 metric tonnes against India’s average of 35.7 metric tonnes per hectare. The major banana growing states are Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam.
Apple is the fourth most important fruit crop in India. The fruit is grown in 3.22 lakh hectares having annual production of 22.03 lakh metric tonnes accounting for 4.8 and 2.9 per cent of area and production, respectively. Apple is largely grown in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh. The production of fruit is the highest in Jammu and Kashmir which is 80.6 per cent of the total production in India. The average productivity in the state is 10.4 metric tonnes per hectare.
Guava is the fifth most widely grown fruit crop in India. The area under guava is 2.20 lakh ha yielding annual production of 25.1 lakh metric tonnes accounting for 3.3 per cent each of area and production. Maharashtra is the leading state in guava production with a share of 12.8 per cent of total production in India. Madhya Pradesh (10.2%), Uttar Pradesh (10.0%) and Bihar (9.8%) are other leading guava producing states. Guava is also grown widely in West Bengal, Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
Sapota emerged as sixth important fruit crop on the basis of area under cultivation. Major sapota producing states are Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Karnataka is the leading state producing 26.5 per cent of total produce in India. It is followed by 21.7 per cent in Gujarat and 20.9 per cent in Maharashtra.
Walnut is grown in 1.5 lakh hectares with annual production of 284 lakh metric tonnes. Papaya is grown on 1.17 lakh hectares with annual production of 44.57 lakh metric tonnes. Productivity of papaya is the highest among the fruit crops. Major Papaya producing states are Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat area are producing major share of 26.7 and 23.8 per cent, respectively of the total production in the country.
Grapes occupy 1.16 lakh hectares area producing 22.21 lakh metric tonnes annually. Maharashtra occupies the first position in production of grapes with a total share of 81.5 per cent. The other grape growing states are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Mizoram.
Pomegranate is cultivated in 1.12 lakh hectares accounting for 1.7 per cent of the area. Maharashtra state has maximum area of 82000 hectares under pomegranate with annual production of 4.7 lakh metric tonnes. But, the productivity is the highest (26.4 mt/ha) in Tamil Nadu. Pomegranate growing states in Indian are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
Pineapple is cultivated on 1.02 lakh hectares with annual production of 15 lakh metric tonnes. The highest productivity of 58.2 metric tonnes per hectare was recorded in Karnataka. The overall production of fruit is the highest in West Bengal and area is maximum in Assam state. The other pineapple growing states are Tripura, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh.
Cashew-nut is grown in the west coast, east coast and in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The highest productivity is observed in Maharashtra. The total area under this crop is 9.79 lakh hectares with annual production of 7.25 lakh metric tonnes. Major cashew-nut growing states are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Pondicherry, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and West Bengal.
The leading fruit growing state in India is Maharashtra which accounts for 14 percent of production followed by Andhra Pradesh (13%), Tamil Nadu (11%), Gujarat (10%), Karnataka (9%), Uttar Pradesh (8%) and Bihar (5%).
Banana is the major fruit crop accounting for 37 per cent of total production followed by mango 21 per cent, citrus 10.4 per cent, papaya 5.8 per cent and guava 3.3 percent.
Major Markets of Fruits in India:
Azadpur Fruit Market Delhi is the major market in India. Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jaipur, Patna, Kolkata, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Indore, Hyderabad and Chennai are the other important fruit markets in India.
Essay # 4. Scope of Fruit Growing:
Cultivation of fruits contributes to the health, happiness and prosperity of the people. The standard of living of the people can be judged by production and consumption of fruits per capita. Inspite of the fact that India is climatically favourable for production of a variety of a tropical, sub-tropical and temperate fruits, our per capita per day consumption of fruits is the lowest (60 g) relative to developed (250-450g) countries.
So, there is great need to increase the area and production of fruits to meet the minimum dietary requirements at a reasonable cost. The fruits in India occupy only 6.7 million hectares area. There is good scope to increase the area under fruit crop. With growing urbanization, requirements for fruits in the cities are increasing tremendously and there is need to boost fruit production.
Presently, the fruits are available at very high cost in the markets and are not within the reach of common people. The production has to be increased till the country becomes self-sufficient in the fruit and the price of the fruit falls to a level at which all people, rich and poor can afford to buy it. This can be only achieved by increasing the area under fruits and by rejuvenating the existing orchards.
Earlier the fruit production was confined to the pleasure gardens of kings and nobles. However, the commercial fruit production emerged in a real sense, after the end of Second World War and it was adopted as a profession by many enterprising farmers. Fruit cultivation is labour intensive industry and it is ideally suited to over populated countries of the world like India and China, where per capita cultivated land holding is less than one hectare.
Like all other branches of horticulture, the fruit production involves certain specialised skills in production, harvesting, marketing and canning and processing and many intricacies of the trade require a touch of professionalism. The involvement and commitment of small and medium level entrepreneurs is highly desirable and prerequisite for increasing the level of production and the profitable marketing of the fruit what has been produced.
The economic productivity of the fruit plants per unit area is no less than any of the agricultural crops. Some of the fruit plants have a very high and encouraging production. The production of 45 tons of pineapple, 40 tons of papaya, 30 tons of banana and 25 tons of grapes from a hectare of land per annum is obtained and these may compete with any other agricultural crop enterprises.
It has been reported that the horticultural crops with their meagre share of 2-3 per cent of land area in most of the countries, contribute 5-7 per cent of gross food production and 10-35 per cent of the national income from the crop enterprise. The high productivity of fruit trees gives higher economic return per unit area. This also provides higher caloric return from the same area of land.
The multiple cropping systems in the orchards also generate more avenues for employment apart from giving additional income. The intensive horticultural practices may accommodate skilled and trained personnel’s where unemployment is a serious problem. Mango, litchi and pear are the permanent fruit crops and come into bearing late. The filler trees like kinnow, peach, plum, papaya and phalsa can be intercropped in the permanent trees during prehearing period. Vegetables can be intercropped between the tree rows in the orchard.
With our rapid increasing population, the pressure on land is likely to continue and size of holding will remain small in the foreseeable future. Moreover, fruit crops give much more production per unit of area and are certainly more paying than ordinary farm crops. The growers can net an income of Rs. 1,00,000 lakhs to Rs. 2,00,000 lakhs per hectare by growing fruit crops which is much more than field crops. Keeping in view the above facts, there is an enormous scope for expanding area under fruits in the country.
The fruit production has a great possibility in trade and industrial development. A large number of ancillary industries and trade sectors are also developed. Processing units, garden tools, CFB boxes and wooden crates, baskets, spray pumps, insecticides and pesticides, fungicides, cold storage and refrigerated vans are the important areas of trade.
In addition, the fruit crop may fit well in crop diversification programmes in various scales, ranging from organised large orchards to a few trees in the waste land or backyard of home or elsewhere. Wheat-rice rotation is not profitable. Water table is going deep. Rice crop should be replaced slowly with fruit crops.
Essay # 5. Natural Factors for Fruit Growing:
i. Climate:
Climate may be defined as the weather changing in a certain manner during the course of a year. This includes several basic environmental factors such as temperature, atmospheric humidity, rainfall and wind.
a. Temperature:
It plays an important role in determining the success or failure of a fruit crop in a particular locality. Every type of fruit needs a certain range of temperature. The deciduous fruits like apple, pear, peach and plum can grow only on sites having sufficiently cool climate (45-55° F) to induce the trees to shed leaves during winter and after a specific period of rest come into flowering and leafing again. The fruits like mango and banana require a long-growing season and high temperature (65-75° F) without any frost or snowfall.
However, different varieties of fruit may differ in their tolerance or adaptability. Banana, a tropical fruit crop, suffers heavily if the temperature falls below 50° F. The vital temperature for plant growth and development of different fruits varies from 45-75° F. High temperature may promote high sugar contents whereas low temperature cause delayed blossoming and also inhibit the activity of pollinators.
Sunshine plays important role in fruit growing because of its influence on pollination and on the development and colouring of fruit. The same temperature acts differently on the shaded buds as against those receiving sunshine. Intensity and quality of light influence the formation of carbohydrates. Sunshine also influences the formation of flower bud.
b. Atmospheric Humidity:
The fruits like banana, papaya and sapota require high atmospheric humidity while others like mango and ber require less humidity. If the fruits of high atmospheric humidity requirements are grown in arid zones, they will not survive. Humid conditions are conducive for fungal and bacterial growth e.g. powdery mildew in mango and ber, scab in apple, black-rot and downy mildew in grapes and brown-rot in peaches. In certain fruit crops, high humidity affects adversely on the fruit colour and keeping quality.
c. Rainfall:
The amount of rainfall and its distribution in a particular region is very important in deciding the kind of fruits and varieties which can be grown successfully. Rainfall affects plant growth and development in many ways. Generally, heavy rainfall is unfavourable to fruit trees grown in the plains, as it leads to water-logging and affects adversely the flowers and fruits.
At the time of blossoming, rain washes away the stigmatic fluid and pollen from the stigma. Due to the heavy rains, activities of pollinators are greatly reduced. On the other hand light rainfall needs to be supplemented by additional irrigation to meet the growth and fruiting requirements of plants and thus increase the expenditure. Rains before harvesting cause softening of fruits in banana and date palm and induce infection of fruit-fly in guava and peaches.
d. Wind:
High velocity and hot winds cause heavy damage to fruit trees. They cause breakage of limbs of fruit trees. High velocity winds also cause shedding of flowers and dropping of immature fruits. The increasing wind velocity retards the activity of pollinators. Bee activity is maximum when wind is still, gets little reduced when wind is 2-3 km per hour, gets greatly reduced when wind velocity is 25 km per hour and their activity is altogether ceased when the wind velocity is 40 km per hour.
For successful cultivation of fruit crops, raising of dense windbreak rows around the orchard is necessary. The trees like Eucalyptus, shisham, mulberry, seedling mango, jamun, ber and karonda may be used as windbreak.
ii. Soil:
Soils play a significant role in the success of fruit growing. The roots of the fruit trees generally penetrate into the soil to a much greater depth than the field crops. So, the nature of the sub-soil plays an important role in the growth of the fruit plant. Both soil and sub-soil should be suitable for orchard plantation.
Suitable Soil:
The soil for growing fruit plants should be deep, well-drained, loamy and fertile. There should be no hard-pan within two metres of its depth. The water table should be below three metres and it should not be fluctuating. Water-logged, marshy, salinic or acidic soils should be avoided for fruit-growing.
Most fruit trees do well in soil with pH ranging in between 6.5 to 7.5. The maximum availability of primary nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and of secondary nutrients like sulphur, calcium and magnesium lies within this range. The availability of micro-nutrients like iron, manganese, boron, copper and zinc is more in acid range.
There are fruit trees like date-palm, ber and guava which have been found to grow successfully even in soil above pH 8.5 and even up to pH 9.5. Normally when pH is higher than 8.7, application of gypsum is recommended for successful cultivation of fruit trees. Fruits trees vary in their tolerance to salt present in the soil. Only the fruits which are able to tolerate salt may be planted in such soils.
Essay # 6. Classification of Fruit Trees on Climate Basis:
On the basis of climate, India can be divided into following zones:
i. Temperate Zone:
These fruits grow successfully in cold regions where temperature falls below freezing point during winter. During the cold season, the trees shed their leaves and enter into rest period. A definite chilling period is needed for breaking this rest period. Temperate regions are further sub- divided into two groups i.e. higher and lower elevations.
a. Higher Elevation 1500-2500 Metres above Sea Level:
In this region, the fruits like apple, pear, walnut, almond and cherry can be successfully grown.
b. Lower Elevation 1200-1500 Metres above Sea Level:
The fruits like peach, plum, apricot and strawberry can be grown successfully.
The important regions where these fruits are grown are Kashmir valley, Kullu, Kangra, Kotgarh and Nahan in Himachal Pradesh and Kumaon hills in Uttarakhand.
ii. North Western Sub-Tropical Zone:
In this zone, the temperature occasionally goes below the freezing point, but not as a rule below 25°F. The sub tropical fruits grow mostly in the plains where the climate is hot and comparatively dry and the winter is dry and less cold. The types of fruits grown in this zone are citrus, mango, guava, litchi, ber, grape, pear, peach, plum, phalsa, loquat, aonla, date-palm and pomegranate.
The chief regions of this zone are Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and parts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
iii. North Eastern Sub-Tropical Zone:
The temperature is high, slightly humid during summer. The winter is less cold. The fruits like citrus, mango, guava, fig and litchi can be grown successfully. The tropical fruits like pineapple and avocado can also be grown in this zone. Some varieties of pear, peach, plum and apple of temperate zone can also be grown on commercial scale in this zone.
The chief regions of north eastern sub-tropical zone are eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, parts of Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, parts of Chhattisgarh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Manipur.
iv. Central Tropical Zone:
The temperature of this zone is hot during summer with humid conditions during rainy season. The winter is mild and less humid. The, fruits like mango, grape, guava, citrus, pomegranate, ber, aonla, papaya, sapota and banana can be grown successfully.
This zone includes the regions of Gujarat, parts of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
v. Southern Tropical Zone:
The climate of this zone is hot and humid during summer. The winter is mild. The fruits like mango, banana, cashew-nut, guava, citrus, grape, sapota, pineapple and papaya are grown on commercial scale.
The chief regions of southern tropical zone are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
vi. Coastal Tropical Humid Zone:
The climate is hot and high humid during summer and mild in winter. The types of fruits grown in this zone are mango, banana, cashew-nut, guava, pineapple and papaya.
The important regions of this zone are Kerala, Goa and Coastal belt of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and West Bengal.