Everything you need to know about growing a ber tree! Learn about: 1. Botany of Ber Tree 2. Origin of Ber 3. Climate and Soil 4. Orchard Cultural Practices 5. Propagation 6. Flowering and Fruiting 7. Training and Pruning 8. Harvesting and Fruit Handling 9. Varieties.
Botany of Ber Tree:
The ber belongs to the genus Ziziphus of the family Rhamnaceae and order Rhamnales which has about 50 genera and more than 600 species. The genus Ziziphus includes about 170 species throughout the world. Some species of this family are cultivated either for edible fruits or as ornamentals. The India jujube Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk is very common in India and is widely distributed in warm countries. This species is summer deciduous, sheds its leaves in summer after the harvest of the fruit.
It is thorny shrub or small tree upto 12 metres in height. Leaves are alternate, simple, 3-nerved, minutely denticulate, obtuse, and broadly oval to rounded-elliptical, slightly equal to the base, up to 8 cm long and 5 cm broad, densely tomentose underside and has stipular thorns.
Inflorescence is axillary cyme and sub-capitate in the leaf-axils. Flowers are small, greenish-cream, bi-sexual, actinomorph, pentamerous, upto 0.8 cm in size and acrid-scented. Petals 5, are arising between smaller than the calyx-lobes. Calyx 5-lobed, shortly tubular and lobes are valvate. Stamens 5, opposite to the petals and arising outside the margin of usually conspicuous disk. Style is thrum as it is shorter than stamens.
Anthers 2-locular and opening are lengthwise. Stigma is bi-lobed. Ovary superior to half inferior, 2-locular, ovules in each locule are on basal placentas and anatropous. Fruit drupaceous, persistent lower part of calyx often evident, ellipsoid to sub-globose, greenish yellow to golden yellow, 2.2 – 5 cm long and 2 – 3.5 cm broad. Edible portion is epicarp and mesocarp.
The Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) grows in China, Southern Europe, South and East Asia. It is a winter deciduous and has leaves that are glabrous at the underside. The tree is up to 9-10 metres in height and spiny. The branchlets are often slender and frequently give appearance of pinnate leaves. The leaves are serrate, 2.5 – 5 cm long, oblong-ovate to lanceolate. The fruit is dark-red or brown.
The mallah ber (Ziziphus nummularia (Burm. F.) Wright & Arn.) grows as a small shrub in wastelands of Rajasthan, north-western India and Andhra Pradesh. The fruit from the bushes of mallah being poor in quality is not of much commercial importance. It has a peculiar acrid taste and very little pulp. The seedlings of mallah ber are commonly used as a rootstock for cultivated varieties of ber.
The Jujubie de Palestine (Ziziphus spina – christi (L.) Desf.)- It grows is Iran and Iraq as a commercial crop.
Origin of Ber:
The Chinese date, Chinese fig, ber or bor is an important minor fruit of India. It is the hardiest fruit-tree cultivated all over India and is often called the poor man’s fruit. Most of the trees grow isolated, are of poor quality and their fruit sells cheap. However, many plantations of budded trees have now come up all over India, and fetch higher price than even grafted mangoes.
These Indian varieties are not as rich in sugar and vitamin C as the good Chinese varieties. However, they contain 50 to 150 mg of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) per 100 mg of fruit and 12 to 18.7 per cent sugar. This is even better than the vitamin C content of the juice of sweet oranges. The candied ber also makes an excellent product. These superior varieties of ber are no longer the poor man’s fruit.
Ber is also used for rearing the insect Tachardia laccad, which yields lac (or shellac). The industry, however, received a setback after the gramophone industry started using discs of plastic instead of those made of lac.
Accurate statistics about the area under ber in India are not available, because regular plantations are few. The important areas for ber cultivation are Bihar, Gujarat, Assam, the southern parts of U. P., Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Ber likes a hot dry climate found in the dry tropics and sub-tropics. It does not like a humid climate.
About the botanical identity of the Indian ber, there has been some confusion in the past. It belongs to the genus Ziziphus of the family Rhamnaceae, which is very close to the family of the grape, Vitaceae. Several species grow wild in India. These include Ziziphus oenoplia, Z. rugosa, Z. xylocarnus and Z. rotundifolia. The last one grows as a small shrub in wastelands in Rajasthan and many other states.
It also grows as a weed in newly-reclaimed soils. Its fruits are very small and acrid and its leaves are fed to goats and sheep after drying. The cultivated Indian ber is very distinct from the Chinese ber, which belongs to the species Z. jujuba.
The Indian ber has a spreading tree, vine-like branches, leaves which are dark green on the upper surface and densely felted on the lower surface, it flowers in autumn, bears fruits at the end of whiter; if it sheds the leaves it does so in the hot weather after fruiting and does not like a cold climate. These characters are not found in the Chinese species. The Indian species is Z. mauritiana.
The Chinese species is difficult to propagate and is generally propagated by grafting, but the improved varieties of ber in India are easily propagated by ring-budding or by shield-budding in April to June. The root-stocks are generally grown directly in the field, since the ber has a tap-root, which is broken or twisted in transplanting.
Stout new shoot with good bud-wood are ready after about 60 days. Seedling trees of Z. mauritiana are generally used as root-stock, but seedlings of Z. rotundifolia (Malha, Jharberi or Chanibor) can also be used. Old inferior varieties of ber can also be successfully top worked.
The trees are severely headed back in February and a few of the new shoots are budded after about 60 days. The trees are often planted 6 to 7 metres apart, but the distance should be increased to double this length.
The ber can grow in almost any soil even under conditions of neglect. Even under these conditions, some of the seedling trees attain a height of over 20 metres. It can also grow in slightly alkaline or water-logged soils.
Although ber is a very hardy tree, it responds to good care. In Gujarat 20 to 30 kg of farmyard manure is given to each tree. Sometimes 1 to 2 kg of common salt is also applied to each tree, as is sometimes done in the case of mango. This practice seems pointless and should be definitely discouraged. Irrigation of the young trees during the hot weather, especially of the root-stock before budding, is very desirable.
It hastens growth and makes budding easier and surer. No regular tillage is, however, given to plantation of ber. Training of the young trees to give them a strong framework with the main branches well-spaced and arising not too high is important. Some annual pruning of the old trees is necessary. It encourages the growth of new shoots to increase bearing.
Weak branches are removed. Some authorities recommended pruning every other year. The paining is done after harvesting the fruit. Another light pruning can be given shortly before flowering. Trees on Z. rotundifolia root-stock are pruned severely and are cut back close of the bud-union.
Kotho or Katha from Alwar and Meherun ber from Jalgaon in East Khandesh are said to be resistant to fruit-flies. A seedless variety for ber was found in Poona, but it has not spread probably due to the small size of the fruits.
Birds attack the fruits of ber as much as they attack the guavas. During the fruiting season, the ber trees are covered with fishing nets in some places to protect them from birds. The biggest menace to ber cultivation all over India, however, is the attack of fruit-flies, Carpomyia vesuviana. It makes the fruit unfit for sale. The flies may ruin up to over 90 per cent of fruit. The attack on different varieties may vary from 2 to 100 per cent.
The early varieties with large sweet fruits are attacked more. Burying the infested fruits, ploughing the soil under the trees and application of Chlorpyriphos dust (1.5%) followed by spraying 0.1 per cent chlordane or DDT after October every year is able to check the attack. The fruit-borer, Meridarchis scyrode, found in South India can be checked with DDT.
This treatment can also control Porthomologa paraclina, which damages the leaves. Other insect pests found in India are Thiacidas postica, Tarucus theophrastus, Myllocerrus transmarinus and Xanthochelus superciliosus. The only noteworthy disease of ber in India is the powdery mildew caused by a species of Oidiopsis.
It has been reported from western U.P. and can cause shedding of fruits. It can be controlled with lime sulphur wash or 0.1% Karathane spray. Other fungal diseases noticed in India are Mitterellia ziziphina and a species of Cercospora.
Climate and Soil Required for Growing Ber:
The ber is a hardy fruit tree and can grow successfully even under unfavourable climatic conditions, where most other fruit trees fail to grow. It can be grown up to a height of 1,000 metres above sea-level, beyond this it does not bear well. Ber relishes hot and dry climate for its successful cultivation, but the trees need adequate watering during the fruiting season. Excessive atmospheric humidity is considered a limiting factor for satisfactory fruiting.
Temperature below freezing is injurious to the young twigs and developing fruits and result in substantial crop loss. It can very well withstand hot and dry weather during summer months of May-June; its tree enters into dormancy by shedding its leaves. New growth starts in July with the advent of rains and the growth period continues till the middle of November when it is inhibited with the onset of cold weather.
Ber provides a good scope for cultivation on soils which have so far been considered marginal or even unsuitable for growing other fruits. Its tree develops a deep tap-root system within a short period of growth and as such adopts itself to a wide variety of soils. Ber is well known for its ability to thrive under adverse conditions of salinity, drought and water-logging. The ber can flourish even in soils with pH as high as 9.2. Ber cultivation can succeed even under constraints of irrigation and fertilization; however, for good tree growth and yield, deep sandy-loam soils with neutral or slightly alkaline reaction and good drainage are more desirable.
Orchard Cultural Practices for Growing Ber:
i. Irrigation:
To young ber plants (first 2 years) for initial establishment and better production, application of 8-11 irrigations per year on the basis of climatological approach irrigated at 100 and 75 mm cumulative pan evaporation (CPE) are recommended.
Irrigation is essential during the development of fruit, i.e. from October to February at intervals of 3 or 4 weeks depending upon the weather. Trees will continue to bear even if no irrigation is applied during this period but the yield is substantially reduced because of heavy fruit drops and smaller size of the remaining fruit.
The quality of fruit is also very poor. It has been observed that the fruit become large and their quality is improved and the fruit shedding is very much minimised if irrigation is applied during fruit development period. Irrigation should be stopped in March as fruits on the branches lying on the ground get damaged and their ripening is delayed.
The harvesting of fruit is over in April and they become dormant in May- June and shed their leaves. They need little or no irrigation during this period. If irrigation is applied during the dormant period, the trees would continue to put forth growth haphazardly which is not desirable.
ii. Cultivation:
Generally, no cultivation is practiced in the ber orchard. However, cultivation of orchard land can help to kill the weeds like baru, kahi, motha, etc. which propagate vegetatively through rhizomes/bulbs are indeed very difficult to eradicate. Cultivation with tractor or ploughing rather helps their further spread. The land infested with such obnoxious weeds should be dug up and all rhizomes/bulbs collected and burnt.
Cultivation of orchard land, apart from checking weeds, is helpful in promoting aeration of the soil, in conserving soil moisture, in burying the green manures, in exposing grubs/pupae of various insects as well as in imparting a neat look to the orchard. However, only shallow cultivation should be carried out in the orchard land. It has been seen that deep cultivation especially near the root zones of the fruit trees may do serious harm by destroying fibrous roots, which are mostly in the upper soil.
iii. Weed Control:
Among the various problems with which ber cultivation is confronted, one serious problem is of excessive weed growth. The sub-tropical climate of Punjab is very conducive for the rapid multiplication of weeds in the ber orchard. The traditional method of controlling weeds i.e. manual weeding is very expensive and time consuming. So the use of herbicides seems to be the efficient, convenient and more economical method of controlling weeds in ber-orchard.
Pre-emergence application of Hexuron 80 WP (diuron) at 3 kg/ha can be made during the first fortnight of August when field is free from growing weeds and stubbles. Glycel 41 SL (glyphosate) at 3 litres/ha or gramoxone 24 WSC (paraquat) at 3 litres/ha as post-emergence should be sprayed when the weeds are growing actively preferably before weeds flower and attain a height of 15-20 cm. Dissolve the herbicide in 500 litres of water per ha to give complete coverage of weeds/field. Spray Glycel and Gramoxone during the calm day to avoid spray drift to the foilage of the fruit trees.
iv. Manuring and Fertilization:
Studies on the removal of NPK in ber cv Umran reveals that a total of 142 to 191 g nitrogen, 57 to 87 g phosphorus and 467 to 684 g potassium was removed by a full grown tree during one growing season.
Proper nutrition of ber tree is necessary to get good crop over the years. The fruit becomes large and attractive and get decent price in the market. 20 kg farmyard manure and 100 g nitrogen (200 g urea) is recommended for one year old ber tree. Similar amount of farmyard manure and nitrogen should be increased every year up to the age of five years. The quantity of farmyard manure and nitrogen should be stabilized at 100 kg and 500 g (1 kg urea), respectively, after the age of five years.
Farmyard manure should be supplied in May-June. Half of the urea may be applied during rainy season (July-August) and the other half at the time of fruit-set (October-November). The fertilizer should be evenly spread in the basins of trees upto the periphery. After adding the fertilizer, light hoeing with spade or khurpa should be given to the basins to mix it thoroughly with the soil.
Propagation of Ber:
Seeds of Katha ber (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.) are generally used for raising rootstock, which are easily available from the wild growing trees and possess the qualities of a good rootstock. The ber plants should be budded on Ziziphus mauritiana (Elongated Dehradun) for higher fruit yield. Ber plants raised on semi-vigorous rootstock Ziziphus mauritiana (Coimbatore) can profitably be planted at a closer spacing of 6 x 6 m.
Seeds of Mallah ber (Ziziphus nummularia) can also be used as rootstock. The seedlings of Mallah ber are slow growing and become buddable after longer period than the seedlings of Katha ber.
In Rajasthan, ber trees on Barodi (Z. mauritiana var. rotundifolia) produce vigorous growth and result in higher fruit yield. Budding on Z. nummularia results in an inverted bottleneck graft union as the rootstock remains thinner than the scion. Z. mauritiana Ecotype- 291 and Z. mauritiana (Ecotype – Assam,Guwahati with Banarsi Karaka, Ponda and Gola cvs. were compatible with perfect union). At IARI, the Jhar ber rootstock showed incompatibility with inverted bottleneck symptoms budded with ‘Gola’ cultivar.
At PAU, Umran on Z. joazeiro and Z. xylopyrus rootstocks produce greater diameter and resulted in inverted bottleneck union. The ber plants on Z. jujuba develop typical proliferation of cambium tissues at bud union.
Raising of Rootstock:
The germination of ber seed is quite a difficult process on account of the stony nature of the shell (endocarp) which contains the seed. A large percentage of seed stones are non-viable and require elimination at the time of sowing. Seed stones collected from dropped fruits contain 50-70 percent non-viable seeds. Seeds should be dipped into a salt solution of 17-18 per cent concentration for 24 hours before sowing.
The floating seeds should not be sown as these are generally non-viable. The ber seeds can also be sown by cracking the hard shell (endocarp). They germinate rapidly in about 8-10 days. However, for commercial purpose, stones should be sown as such to avoid injury to embryos. To get best rootstock material, it is important that seeds should be collected only from healthy and vigorous growing Katha ber trees.
The ber seedlings raised from Katha ber stones, which are sown during March-April, after fresh extraction, in well-prepared nursery field at a distance of 15 cm in rows 30 cm apart. Germination starts in about 3-4 weeks and seedlings make a rapid growth. The seedlings should be trained to the single stem. Nearly one-fourth of the seedlings attain buddable size of a lead pencil by August, while the rest are ready for budding by April next.
Raising of Seedlings in Polythene Bags and Tubes:
The ber seeds can also be sown in the polythene bags of 30 x 10 cm size in the month of April. Transplanting of very young seedlings at the two leaf stage gave field survival up to 82 per cent and subsequent bud take up to 72 per cent. The budded plants of ber can be raised in the polythene tubes (25 x 10 cm) of 300 gauge thickness.
The seeds are sown in the polythene tubes filled with well-prepared compost in the first fortnight of April. These tubes should be protected from direct exposure of sun. Three months old seedlings are budded in July and plants become ready for transplanting in August – September or next spring season.
Flowering and Fruiting in Ber Tree:
The flowering period in north India lasts for about two and a half months from September to November. In Rajasthan, flowering has been observed to begin in July reaching its peak in September. In the tropical climate of Southern India, flowering continues throughout the extended summer i.e., May to September. Flower buds appear both on current season growth and one year old mature shoots. The inflorescence is axillary cyme on the main as well as the lateral shoots. The number of flowers per cluster varies from 16 to 28. The whole period of bud development is divided into eight stages.
It takes 21 days to 22 days for passing through various stages of bud development. The peak of flower anthesis is at 6 A.M. in Sanaur-2, Sanaur-5 and Chhuhara cultivars and 2 P.M. in Thornless, Khaithli and Umran cultivars. The dehiscence of anthers starts just after anthesis and completes within 4 hours. Pollen grains are highly viable-the viability ranging between 87 to 91 per cent in different cultivars. Pollen grain germinability is also quite high to 36- 48 per cent. The peak receptivity in stigma is found on the day of anthesis. It does not set any fruit by self-pollination, thereby shows self-incompatibility.
Fruit-setting starts in second week of October and continues upto first fortnight of November. The ber fruit reaches to ripe stage in about 180 days after fruit-setting. The fruit growth in terms of length and diameter shows three distinct phases and follows a pattern of ‘Double Sigmoid’ curve.
The Indian jujube has a somatic chromosome number of 2n = 48. This might indicate polyploidy and may be tetraploid. The Chinese jujube has chromosome number of 2n = 24. This has polyploid variants with 2n = 48 and 2n = 96.
Training and Pruning of Ber:
Training:
The ber plant starts bearing within 2-3 year of their planting in the orchard. In the fourth year, the trees bear commercial crop. Hence, the ber plants should be properly trained during the first 2-3 years, to build up a strong framework. The young budlings should be given support with a bamboo stake to avoid the breakage of the bud-union and to support the main stem. The commercial varieties are spreading in nature; therefore, staking is absolutely essential during the first two years to train the tree properly.
The plant will make vigorous growth during the first year. Many secondary branches will emerge from the main stem. The ber trees are trained according to modified leader system. All the branches upto 75 cm from the ground level should be removed. Four or five laterals which are most favourably located around the main stem should be selected to make the proper framework. At the end of the year, the main stem should be headed back to some outgrowing laterals.
Pruning:
The pruning of ber trees is highly desirable to maintain their vigour and productivity as well as to improve fruit size and quality. Pruning also saves the fruit from being affected by the powdery mildew disease and strong winds. The ber tree remains young upto 30 years, if proper pruning is done regularly.
Ber fruit is borne in the axils of leaves on the young growing shoots of the current year. Hence, a regular annual pruning is essential to induce a good and healthy growth which will provide a maximum fruit bearing area on the tree as well as to improve fruit size and quality.
In unpruned ber tree, the canopies of the trees get un-necessarily enlarged, the growth and branchlets become weak and both fruit size and quality gets impaired. Ultimately, such trees become economically unproductive besides occupying large orchard space. Some thinning out of the branches of ber trees is also necessary to avoid too much crowding so as to admit adequate sunlight and facilitate proper aeration.
Ber pruning experiments have shown that light pruning, i.e. heading back of 25 per cent of the previous year’s growth (branchlets, shoots, etc.) is desirable to obtain heavy yield, good fruit size and better quality. The lower branches should be pruned suitably to prevent them from spreading on the ground. The diseased, broken and intercrossing branches should also be thinned out. Severe pruning after every four-five years is recommended.
The ber trees shed their leaves and enter into dormancy during summer months. The best time for taking up pruning would, therefore, be be the second fortnight of May.
Pruning of Sanaur-2 cultivar should be done during the third week of April when the trees are dormant. Pruning by heading back at 8 buds length of previous year’s growth gives higher yield of better quality fruits. The cv. ‘Umran’ pruned on 9 May by retaining 6 buds yielded superior quality fruits. It has been observed that the selective pruning of late flowering branches (21 October to 5 November) has slightly improved fruit size, weight and palatability rating in Umran cultivar of ber.
Top Working:
Inferior ber trees growing on neglected lands and along the borders of the fields yield crops of small and inferior fruits, and do not fetch any income. Such uneconomic and inferior trees can be made to yield good income, if top-worked by budding with improved varieties.
The method of top-working wild ber trees is quite simple and can be practised by the growers themselves. The wild ber trees are headed back during April-May (to a height of about 1 metre) when they are in the dormant stage. After heading back, Bordeaux paste should be applied to the cut end of thick branches.
The headed-back trees produce a number of healthy shoots from below the cut-ends during June- July. Of these, two strongest shoots should be retained and the other removed. The selected shoots of 2-3 cm diameter should be T-budded in July-August with the buds from the desired variety.
The portion of the shoots above the point of insertion of a bud is cut off entirely soon after the buds begins to sprout. The successfully top-worked trees develop sufficient head growth within a year to bear a small crop of fruit. In the subsequent years, they start bearing normal drops.
Harvesting and Handling of Ber:
Harvesting:
The ber tree grows quickly and the first crop can be harvested within 2-3 years of planting. The fruit itself requires about 22-26 weeks to mature after fruit-setting. The peak season for harvesting in north India is in mid-March to mid-April but some early varieties may ripen by end-February. This period being a slack season for other kinds of fruits, ber sells readily at remunerative prices. In South India, the fruits are ready for harvest in October to November. The harvesting season of ber in Gujarat is December to March and in Rajasthan it is January to March.
Ber is a late peak type climacteric fruit. The fruit should always be picked at the right stage of maturity, i.e. when it is neither under-ripe nor over-ripe. It should be picked when it has acquired normal size and characteristic colour of the variety, e.g. golden yellow colour in Umran. The specific gravity of Umran fruits at maturity should be less than one. Normally four to five pickings have to be made as all the fruits on the tree do not ripen at the same time. In no case, the fruits should be allowed to become over-ripe on the trees, as they deteriorate in taste and quality and thus fetch lower price in the market.
Ripening:
Umran a commercial cultivar of ber in north India ripens late. The optimum harvesting time of this cultivar is around first week of April in south-western districts of Punjab. The technique to, induce early and uniform ripening permit staggering the harvest which avoid the bothersome operation of picking in 4-5 lots. Ethephon at 400 ppm at colour break stage (250 ml in 300 litres of water in first week of March) advance ripening by two weeks in Umran and produce attractive, uniform, better quality and deep golden yellow with chocolate tinge coloured fruit.
Ber fruits harvested at early maturity on 15 March ripen unevenly. Ethephon (2000-3000 ppm) and hot water dip regardless the stage of maturity enhances ripening percentage and develops the best colour of fruits after ripening. Delaying, the picking of fruits to later maturity stages results in higher TSS, vitamin C, total sugars and PME activity and low acidity and total phenolic. Ber fruits should be picked upto 29 March for distant markets and in between April 5-12 for local markets.
Marketing:
Ber trees are regular and heavy bearers and the mature trees of different grafted varieties can bear 100 to 200 kg of fruit per tree. It is relatively easy and inexpensive to grow a ber orchard. Yet the returns from it can exceed the profits from the cultivation of several other fruits. The grower can get an income of about Rs. one lakh to Rs. two lakh per hectare or even more by growing selected varieties and using latest techniques.
Grading and Packaging:
The grading should be regularly practised before the fruit is marketed so that they sell at a premium. The ber fruits should be graded into four grades namely, A grade – large sized; B grade – medium sized; C grade – small sized and D grade – under ripe, over ripe, deformed, misshaped and cankered fruits. Highest distribution of fruits is found in B grade (33%), which is closely followed by grade A (27%). The extent of C and D grade fruits is 21% and 19%, respectively. The fruits of Umran belonging to A and B grades which accounted for 60% of the total crop have deep golden yellow colour are more acceptable to the consumers and considered the best for marketing.
The ber fruits should be packed properly in CFB cartons, wooden crates, baskets, polynets and gunny bags of convenient size on the basis of grades. The fruits should be sent immediately to market after packing those properly.
Packing of ber fruits in hard board corrugated cartons of 8 kg (40 x 25 x 20 cm size) with 6 holes of one cm diameter on two sides and paper shavings as cushion retained good quality for 9-12 days. Packing in bambo baskets using dry grass as a cushioning material could be useful for local or a short distance transport. Gunny bags could be useful for packaging of poor quality produce. Packing of ber in polynets of one kg capacity and perforated polyethylene bags of varying sizes could be used for local sale of fruits (consumer packs). CFB cartons of 4 and 8 kg capacity are preferred for packing of ber fruits. Gunny bags of 16 to 40 kg sizes are used for long distance transportation of ber fruits.
Shelf Life:
The ripe fruits of Umran ber could be stored for about three weeks in the home refrigerator (0-4°C) in perforated polythene bags. The storage life of fruits can be extended upto 10 days in Umran and 12 days in Sanaur-2 by storing them in perforated polythene bags at room temperature after treating with 6 per cent wax-emulsion. The shelf life of fruits can be enhanced up to 30 days in Umran and 40 days in Sanaur-2 by storing them in perforated polythene bags of 100 gauge thicknesses in the commercial cold storage (0-3.3°C and RH 85-90%) after treating with 6 per cent wax-emulsion.
The colour development of ber fruits proceeds slowly when packed in HDPE bags and CFB cartons and retain its original colour up to 20 days in cold storage (0-3.3°C temp, and 85-90% RH). The fruits in paper bags develop browning after 30 days of cold storage. The palatability rating of fruits in CFB cartons and HDPE bags remain excellent upto 20 days of cold storage with better consumer’s acceptance. The shelf life of ber fruits cv. Umran can be extended upto 20 days after treating with GA3 25 ppm, packing in CFB cartons and storing in commercial cold store (temp 0-3.3°C and RH 85-90%).
The ber fruits remain in good condition in perforated polythene bags for one week at ambient temperature. The fruits of Umran harvested at colour break stage can be stored at 7.5 ± 1°C and 90 – 95% RH for two weeks with acceptable colour and quality.
Pre-harvest spray of TIBA 25 – 50 ppm and SADH 2000 ppm showed higher and morphactin 10 – 25 pm and ethephon 300 – 400 ppm registered lower pectin methyl esterase (PME) activity in paper bags after 40 days of cold storage.
Varieties of Ber:
The choice of suitable varieties is of paramount importance for successful cultivation,. More than one hundred cultivars of ber are grown in India which has been developed by selection in different regions. Given below, are the salient features of some varieties which have proved promising for commercial cultivation.
i. Umran:
This variety is cultivated in a large scale in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan Punjab and Haryana. The fruit is large, oval in shape with a roundish apex and has an attractive golden yellow colour which turns into chocolate brown at full maturity. The fruit is sweet, with 14-19 per cent TSS and has pleasant flavour and excellent dessert quality. It is a prolific cropping variety, yielding 150-200 kg of fruit per tree. The fruits ripen late from second fortnight of March to mid-April in north India and have a good keeping quality. It is susceptible to powdery mildew.
ii. Sanaur-2:
This is a selection from Sanaur – a small town near Patiala, which is known for ber cultivation. The fruit is large and oblong with a roundish apex. On ripening, fruits are attain a light yellow colour and TSS of 18-19 per cent. Like Umran, it is also a prolific bearer-yielding about 150 kg fruit per tree. It is a mid-season variety, ripening during second fortnight of March under north Indian conditions and has been found fairly resistant to powdery mildew disease.
iii. Wallaiti:
Trees are semi-erect. The fruit is medium in size, oval in shape, skin smooth and light golden yellow to golden yellow at maturity. Pulp is soft, sweet with 13.8 to 15.0 per cent TSS. It is an early variety and ripens during first fortnight of March. Average yield is 114 kg per tree. It is moderately susceptible to powdery mildew disease.
iv. Kaithli:
This variety is a selection from Kaithal in Haryana. The fruit is medium in size, oval in shape and has a tapering apex. Fruit pulp is soft and sweet with TSS of 14-16 per cent. Fruits ripen in the second fortnight of March to first week of April. The average yield is 120 kg fruit per tree. This is an excellent variety but appears to be more susceptible to powdery mildew disease.
v. Z.G.-2:
The fruit is medium in size and roundish in shape with smooth skin. The fruit pulp is soft with an excellent sugar-acid blend. When ripe the fruits attain light-yellow colour and TSS of 13.0 per cent. The average yield amounts to 150 kg fruit per tree and the ripening time extends from second fortnight of March to first week of April. This variety is recommended for growing for local markets only. It is less susceptible to powdery mildew.
vi. Gola:
This is an early variety and popularly grown in Haryana and Rajasthan. The fruits are round in shape, medium in size and attain golden yellow colour at maturity. The pulp is soft, taste sweet with TSS 16-20 per cent. The quality of fruit is excellent but cannot stand long transportation. The average yield is 80 kg fruit per tree.