Everything you need to learn about cultivating pineapple organically. Learn about:- 1. Introduction to Pineapple 2. Climate and Soil Required for Pineapple Cultivation 3. Propagation and Planting 4. Intercropping, Rotations and Management 5. Harvest and Ratooning 6. Insect Pests and Diseases 7. Varieties.
Contents:
- Introduction to Pineapple
- Climate and Soil Required for Pineapple Cultivation
- Propagation and Planting of Pineapple
- Intercropping, Rotations and Management of Pineapple
- Harvest and Ratooning of Pineapple
- Insect Pests and Diseases in Pineapple
- Varieties of Pineapple
1. Introduction to Pineapple:
Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is an important commercial fruit cultivated in India. It is popularly known as “ananas”. Pineapple is essentially a tropical fruit and is native of Brazil. Pineapple is a delicious fruit and is a good source of carotene, vitamin C and is fairly rich in vitamins B and B2. It also contains minerals like calcium, potassium and iron, besides a source of bromelin a digestive enzyme.
In India it is cultivated in an area of 1,05,000 hectares with a total production of 15,71,000 tons (2012-13). Its production is maximum in West Bengal (19.73%), followed by Assam (17.1%), Karnataka (10.7%), Tripura (10.5%), Bihar (5.56%), Manipur (7.90%) and Meghalaya (6.96%).
2. Climate and Soil Required for Pineapple Cultivation:
Mild tropical climate is best suited for pineapple. Temperatures varying from 15.6°C to 32°C are ideal. Natural habitat of pineapple is humid tropical areas and most pineapples are cultivated between 25°north and south of equator.
Growth of pineapple ceases below 20°C and above 30°C. Pineapple is very sensitive to frosts and cold winds and even places up to about 1100 metres above sea level can be used for pineapple cultivation provided such areas are free from frost. High humidity and rainfall ranging between 1000 to 1500 mm are conducive for pineapple.
Any type of soil is suitable for pineapple cultivation, provided these meet the requirement of good moisture retention, aeration and good drainage. Of course there should be no hard pan, calcium content should be low and pH should not be more than 6.0. Thus medium to heavy loams rich in humus and with slightly acidic reaction are most suitable.
In Kerala it is cultivated in marginal soils although sandy and loamy soils of west coast are suiting most. In north-east region, pineapple is cultivated in alluvial soils in plains and lateritic soils in hilly regions. It will be best to grow sun hemp or cowpea leguminous crops and incorporate in the soil at tender stage before planting of pineapple.
3. Propagation and Planting of Pineapple:
Vegetative propagation is the universal practice followed in pineapple. Suckers, slips and crowns are the three most important types of plant materials used for planting. Suckers arise and grow from the buds below the ground level and are produced sparsely. Slips arise from fruit stem and crowns grow on the top of the fruit. Studies at IIHR, Bengaluru have shown that in case of shortage of plant material, even leaf cuttings of crowns can be used for multiplication of plant material.
As far as suitability of different types of planting materials is concerned, suckers provide the first crop within 16-18 months, whereas slips take 20-22 months for first crop. Crowns take longest time (out of the three planting materials) of 24-26 months.
There is large variation in size and weight of suckers and slips. Researches conducted at IIHR, Bengaluru and other SAU’s have shown that suckers weighing around 500g and slips weighing 350g are the best planting materials.
Variation in size of planting materials can be usefully utilized for staggering the harvest period and making fruits available throughout the year. In this way by combining different sizes of planting materials, their planting time and induction of flowering, commitments of supplying fruit to the canneries or exports can be met easily.
Planting time is usually during monsoon; however, planting pineapple during peak monsoon season leads to heart rot. Therefore, planting is required to be taken up either early in the monsoon or at the fag end of monsoon depending upon the situation. If irrigation facilities are available then planting can be done at any time of the year and time of planting can be adjusted as per the demand from canneries or from foreign markets.
Planting:
Planting material must be procured from fields, which are free of infestation of mealy bug and heart rot. Plants are graded according to size so that planting of uniform suckers or slips is done in a particular plot. It helps in cultural operations and harvesting of fruits.
To facilitate better rooting, plant material is stripped of scaly leaves from 2- 3 cm of stem base by a knife and is then cured for 4-5 days. To take care of infestation of mealy bugs and heart rot, the planting material is dipped in Beauveria bassiana (10g/lit water) solution and later in cow dung slurry mixed with Trichoderma viride or Pseudomonas fluorescens (10 g/lit water).
Method of Planting:
Methods of planting depends upon the system. In mixed cropping situations where pineapple is being taken up as an intercrop with other fruit trees, planting is done in two paired rows between two rows of fruit trees. In hills, banana can be planted randomly between pineapple plants or pineapple can be planted in one or two rows between every row of banana.
Under mono-cropping mode different methods of planting like flatbed planting and furrow or trench planting are followed. In hilly areas where lands are slopy contour planting is adopted especially where there is a problem of soil erosion, planting is done on terraces.
Most common method of planning is trench planting. Usually a two-row system is adopted in this method. The field is laid out in trenches alternating with mounds. Mostly, 20 to 30 cm deep trenches are dug and in hilly areas trenches are dug across the slope.
While planting, two shallow furrows 10-15cm deep in a trench are made. In these furrows holes are made with the help of crowbar and a mixture of FYM, vermicompost, oilcakes and bio-fertilizers etc. is added. The plants in the furrows are so arranged that the two plants are not exactly apposite each other thus allowing larger area for each plant for its growth. After planting, soil around the plant is made firm but ensuring that the soil does not enter the heart of the plant.
Spacing and Planting Density:
By following different spacings between plant-to-plant, row-to-row in a trench and between trench-to-trench different planting densities can be planted per unit area.
High planting densities ranging from 43,000 to 53,000 plants per hectare have been found ideal under mono-cropping mode under conventional management systems. However, under organic management systems if such mono-cropping mode with high planting densities is to be resorted then the adequate availability of organic sources of nutrients need to be ascertained and ensured that they are available in quality and quantity. But under organic management such mono-cropping high density plantations are not sustainable in the long run.
Normally when pineapple is cultivated as an intercrop in coconut, rubber or cocoa plantations, a planting density of about 15,000 to 20,000 plants can be maintained during early growth years but the same may be reduced to 10,000 to 12,000 plants/ha when the plantations are well grown.
Higher planting density of 27,000 to 31,000/ha can be adopted with cassava, yam and leguminous crops as intercrops. In such planting densities, spacing’s of 30 x 90 x 120 or 150 cm between plants, rows and trenches is followed.
4. Intercropping, Rotations and Management of Pineapple:
Under organic management, pineapple is an ideal intercrop with various fruit trees. In south India pineapple is grown successfully under the coconut, cocoa or rubber plantations under organic management. Pineapples can also be grown as shade crop with mango, guava and other crops. In north-eastern states pineapple and banana are grown together for higher profitability.
Cassava and yam can also be grown successfully with pineapple. One row of cassava/yam can be planted after every 4-paired rows of pineapple. Legume intercrops such as ground nut and beans can also be grown during rainy season on the alternating bunds. Under mixed cropping mode nutrient and pest management approaches must be taken care of for both, the main crop and the intercrops.
To maintain the fertility of soils, rotation of pineapple with leguminous crops is very important. Alternate year rotation with various crops such as beans, legume vegetables and fodder crops with pineapple ensures sustained fertility and natural control of insect pests, diseases and nematodes.
Water Management:
Pineapple is grown mostly as a rainfed crop in heavy rainfall areas. Optimum rainfall range for pineapple is 1000-1500 mm. Thus though pineapple is drought tolerant crop but consistent dry conditions can affect growth and fruiting.
In scanty rainfall area/season, irrigation at an interval of 20-25 days will result in a good crop. Irrigation is also useful in establishing off-season planting to maintain supply all year round to canneries/and meeting commitments for exports. Most common method of irrigation is furrow or trench. Sprinkler method of irrigation is also common especially in slopy lands.
Weed Management and Mulching:
Weed control is one of the most important factors, which contributes to high cost of cultivation under organic production regime because of increasing labour wages. In the beginning hand weeding can be adopted. However, mulching with the grass or placing cut green manure crop material in between the two lines of pineapple can help in controlling weeds.
Nutrient Management:
Intercropping of legumes and using their biomass as mulch and rotations with legume crops is an essential activity in soil fertility management for organic pineapple cultivation. Ensuring recycling of entire harvested biomass through composting is also essential. But still these two options are not sufficient to meet the entire nutrient requirement and the same is to be fulfilled through the application of nutrient rich concentrated organic manures.
To calculate the requirement it is essential to keep the recommendations of fertilizers made under conventional cultivation in mind. Under conventional system for Kew variety, a fertilizer dose of 12 g of nitrogen, 2 g of P2O5 and 12 g K2O per plant is recommended for first crop under irrigated conditions.
In case of rainfed conditions nitrogen dose is increased from 12 g per plant to 16 g per plant. In ratoon crop a 20% reduction in dosage of nutrients is made. Regarding application time, under irrigated conditions nitrogen needs to be applied in 4-6 split doses and potash in two splits i.e. half at the time of planting and remaining half six months after planting.
To ensure optimum productivity the steady supply of nutrients for uptake is the key to successful pineapple cultivation, therefore a combination of nutrient rich manures and liquid manures through soil application and foliar feeding through leaves is the best possible approach.
The composition of concentrated manure mixture, liquid manures and foliar feeding solution is as follows:
i. Preparing Concentrated Manure Mixture:
For preparation of every 100 kg of nutrient rich concentrated manure mixture, mix 80 kg of well decomposed FYM/ compost with 12 kg vermicompost + 2 kg wood ash + 1.0 kg neem cake + 3.5 kg poultry manure + 200 g each of Azotobacter + PSB + KMB bio-fertilizers and 300 g each of Trichoderma viride + Trichoderma harzianum + Pseudomonas fluorescens.
Mix all the ingredients with some water and incubate for 48 hrs. This mixture is most effective within 7-8 days of preparation and needs to be incorporated in the soil within a week’s time. In case if wood ash is not available then use sulphate of potash. 150 gm sulphate of potash equals 1 kg wood ash.
ii. Liquid Manure:
A mixture of fermented cow urine, Jivamrit and farm made protein hydrolysate in equal quantities makes ideal liquid manure for soil application. 500 lit of such liquid manure needs to be applied in soil along with irrigation water. Liquid manure can also be applied close to plants by drawing a shallow furrow near the plants and pouring liquid manure in it.
iii. Foliar Feed Solution:
Feeding plants through leaves is an important strategy in organic farming. Vermiwash (5%), Panchagavya (3%) and farm made protein hydrolysate (4-5 ml/lit of water) are ideal inputs. Any one or combination of two or all can be used depending upon the requirement.
Since pineapple plants have shallow root system, earthing up provides better anchorage to plants and thus is most important operation. This requires moving the soil from mounds or ridges into the trenches and firming the soil around the plants. However care has to be taken that soil does not enter heart of the plants while earthing up.
Induction of Flowering:
It has been observed that even after 15-18 months of growth under optimal management, only 30-40% plants flower. Other remaining plants continue to remain in vegetative phase for a prolonged period of time. This renders pineapple plantations uneconomical.
Although, use of chemicals is not permitted in organic farming, but ethylene is permitted. Therefore under such situations induction of flowering can be done by application of 0.025ml ethrel, 50 ml Vermiwash and 0.4 g sodium carbonate per litre of water. Fifty ml of this solution is to be added in heart of the plant. Rainy days need to be avoided.
Optimum Stage for Induction of Flowering:
It has been observed that if induction of flowering is done at an early stage, then fruit remains small and in addition suckers and slip production are also reduced. Studies at IIHR, Bengaluru, have shown that under Karnataka conditions flower induction at 35-39 active leaf stage is best without any adverse effect on fruit weight, sucker and slip number per plant. However, appropriate leaf number for induction of flowering may vary at different locations as plant vigour varies from location to location.
Advantages of Flower Induction:
Advantages of induction of flowering are enumerated below:
1. Restricting the vegetative phase and thereby reducing the cost of cultivation.
2. With uniform ripening, uniform harvesting is undertaken again cutting cost on repeated visits to field for harvesting.
3. With assured yields commitment for supplying fruits can be met.
Improving Market Value of Pineapple Fruits of Kew Variety by Pinching the Crowns:
In pineapple, crown grows at the expense of the fruit. Large sized crowns not only reduce the fruit size, but they add to the cost in transport. Besides this such big crowns are difficult to manage in transit and often get damaged.
Studies at IIHR, Bengaluru have shown that partial pinching i.e. removal of innermost whorl of leaves including growing tip 1½ months after fruit set not only reduces the crown size but also increases the fruit size and improved fruit shape of Kew variety of pineapple.
Making Availability of Fruits in the Off Season and Round the Year:
Availability of fruits in the off season, and round the year helps in getting premium price for the produce and also helps in meeting the demands in foreign markets at a time when other countries are not able to supply. Making quality fruits available all-round the year can be managed by varying time of planting, using different types and sizes of planting materials and by induction of flowering when plants have reached the appropriate stage, can help in making fruits available throughout the year.
5. Harvest and Ratooning of Pineapple:
Stage of harvesting is very important for pineapple, as if pineapple is harvested at immature stage it will not develop its full sugar content and flavour. Yield of pineapple, depends upon the variety, plant crop or ratoon crop and planting density. Thus if appropriate planting density of 27,000 to 31,000 plants/ha is maintained and appropriate agro techniques are adopted than yield of about 40- 45 tons can be obtained.
Ratooning:
In pineapple, there needs to be at least one sucker per plant in first crop, to continue cropping in ratoon crop. However, that normally does not happen and that is the reason, yields are lower in ratoon crop compared to first crop.
In Kew variety of pineapple where high planting density is adopted not more than 1 ratoon crop is possible but invariably, total yield and fruit weight decreases in ratoon crops. However under organic management and with medium to low planting density at least one or two ratoons can be taken.
Harvesting Technique:
Shelf life of pineapple depends upon a number of factors like time of harvest, stage of harvest and method of cutting stem end. It has been observed that harvesting in the morning hours, cutting the stem end smoothly and harvesting at designated maturity stage help in providing better quality fruits.
Pineapple must be harvested in cool hours either in the morning or in the evening. While harvesting, stem end must be cut smoothly and should not be more than 2 cm long.
Stage of Harvest and Transport to Packhouse:
Harvesting of pineapple can be started without any adverse effect on fruit quality at the stage when fruits start colouring at the base. This stage is also termed as turn in colour. Earliest a pineapple fruit can be harvested is when 1/8th fruit surface has become coloured.
In world trade different ripening stages have been designated as M1, M2 and M3:
M1: Fruit colour on turn
M2: Half coloured fruit
M3: Fully coloured fruit
Usually fruits are harvested between M1 and M2 stages depending upon the distance it is to be shipped. At M3 stage fruits are sent only by air. Fruits after harvest are kept in shade in plastic crates till these are shifted to pack house. During field storing as well as transport, fruits should not be compressed or bruised and effort should be made to shift them to pack-house immediately.
Post-Harvest Handling:
Pack House Operations for Export:
During various operations in pack-house, temperature should preferably be maintained at 25-30°C. All operations as usual like sorting and grading, the fruits that are scarred, insect pest infested, ones affected by sun scald should be rejected. After this fruits are washed in chlorine solution (100-150 ppm) and then rinsed with clean water. After rinsing, excess water is eliminated with the help of absorbent rollers.
After this the fruits are waxed using carnauva wax without fungicide. In a packing house fruit passes on a conveyer and wax is deposited on fruit surface by traversing nozzles. Good quality edible wax only should be used. After waxing, wax coating is dried in drying tunnels at a temperature of about 30-35°C.
Sizing and Packing the Fruits:
In foreign countries size grading is done by weight sizers. In our country it is usually done manually.
Maximum demand for fruits is for medium size pineapple in the range of 0.9 to 1.5 Kg. Packing of pineapple fruits is generally done in gunny bags which is not at all suitable for good quality fruits. For export market, pineapples are packed in card board boxes horizontally keeping fruits side by side with tops opposite to one another. Carton size is maintained according to size of the fruit to be transported. Fruits are also packed in cartons keeping vertical orientation. The size of cartons will vary according to number and size of fruits to be packed.
Pre-Cooling and Cold Storage:
Pineapples are very sensitive to temperature.
Before storing in cold store, fruit needs to be pre-cooled by forced air cooling at below mentioned temperature ranges:
Ripe or half ripe – 7-10°C
Mature green – 10-13°C
Humidity should be around 85-90%.
After pre-cooling, the fruits packed in CBF boxes need to be stored in cold store in temperatures mentioned for pre-cooling.
6. Organic Management of Insect Pests and Diseases in Pineapple:
As diversity is the key to pest management in organic farming all out efforts must be made to maintain diversity by growing diversified plants on borders, hedge rows and as intercrops. Planting of nitrogen fixing plants such of Gliricidia on the outer borders and insectary flowering plants such as caraway, dill, parsely, anise, cosmos, Chrysanthemum, French bean, cluster bean, marigold, coriander, carrot etc. in the inner row also add to the diversity.
Inter planting of cassava, papaya, banana, cotton, Sesbania and Crotalaria also helps in effective management of pests. 3-4 rows of maize, sorghum, pearl millet, Ocimum and spearmint along the field border act as natural barrier to immigrating pest population. Due to enhancement of biodiversity by the flowering plants, numbers of parasitoids and predators (natural enemies) will also increase due to availability of nectar, pollen, fruits, insects, etc.
Important natural enemies of pineapple pests are – spiders, ladybird beetles, long horned grasshoppers, Chrysoperla, earwigs etc. Other important parasitoids are Anagyrus spp, Aphytis spp, Encarsia spp and predators are robber fly, red ant, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, spiders and predatory thrips. All the natural enemies mentioned above need to be conserved and promoted.
Other important physical and ecological management strategies found effective in keeping the pest load below threshold level include:
1. Must ensure that plant material is free of mealy bugs and heart rot at the time of planting by treating first with Beauveria bassiana and later with Pseudomonas fluorescens both @ 10 gm/litre of water.
2. Crop rotations with leguminous plants, which enhance nitrogen content.
3. Keep soils covered year-round with living vegetation and/or crop residue.
4. Add organic matter in the form of farm yard manure (FYM), vermicompost, crop residue which enhance below ground biodiversity of beneficial microbes and insects.
5. Application of balanced dose of nutrients in the form of composts and concentrated organic manures and bio-fertilizers based on soil test report.
6. Setting up of yellow pan water trap/blue sticky traps 15 cm above the canopy for monitoring of insect pests @ 4-5 traps/acre.
7. Setting up of light traps 1 trap/acre 15 cm above the crop canopy for monitoring and mass trapping insects. Light traps with exit option for natural enemies of smaller size should be installed and operate around the dusk time (6 pm to 10 pm).
8. Apply mycorrhiza and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR)
9. Apply Trichoderma and Pseudomonas fluorescens as soil application
7. Varieties of Pineapple:
Most popular varieties of pineapple are- Kew, Giant Kew, Queen and Mauritious. All these varieties are being cultivated successfully in India.