Everything you need to know about growing a loquat tree! Learn about: 1. Botany of Loquat Tree 2. Origin of Loquat 3. Climate and Soil 4. Orchard Cultural Practices 5. Propagation and Rootstocks 6. Planting Operation 7. Flowering and Fruiting 8. Flowering and Fruiting 9. Training and Pruning 10. Harvesting and Handling 11. Varieties.
Botany of Loquat Tree:
The loquat Eriobotrya japonica Lindl) belongs to, the family Rosaceae and subfamily Pomoideae. It is a true pome fruit. The word Eriobotrya is derived from the two Greek words erion (wool) and botrys (a cluster) is implied to wooly inflorescence.
The tree is symmetrical, evergreen, attains a height of about 7 m and has a hairy dense crown. The trunk is short, usually branching 60-90 cm from the ground to form a crown, round or oval in form and is normally compact and dense. The leaves are somewhat crowded towards the end of the stout wooly branchlets.
They are large, alternate, sub sessile, stiff, coriaceous, elliptic, lanceolate to obovate, lanceolate in outline, 21-32 cm in length with remotely toothed to sharply dentate margins, dark glossy green on the upper surface and rusty tomentose beneath. The base is obtuse or narrowed into a very short, stout, wooly, stipulate petiole. Nerves are varying from 12 to 15 and very prominent beneath the surface. The small branches are also covered with a rusty tomentum.
The fragrant white flowers are 1-2 cm broad and are borne in terminal wooly panicles, 10-20 cm long. The calyx is composed of 5 small imbricate, acute teeth, the carolla has 5 oblong- ovate clawed petals, white in colour and delicate in texture, the stamens are 20. There are 5 pistils joined towards the base.
The fruits, borne in clusters are commonly round, oval or pyriform, 2.5-8.0 cm in length, pale, yellow to orange in colour and somewhat downy on the surface. Fruits small sized, 4 cm lengthwise. Fruit skin is thick but slightly tougher. The flesh is firm and meaty in some varieties, melting in others.
Flesh colour ranging from almost white to deep orange, juicy and with sub acid flavour. The seeds are as many as 10, since there are 5 cells in the ovary and 2 ovules in each cell. Several ovules are aborted and not more than 3 to 5 seeds develop. The seeds are large, smooth and brown, oval, flat on the sides when more than one seed is in the same fruit. Seed 2 cm long. Sometimes only one seed is found in the fruit. Loquat is a pome fruit and its edible portion is fleshy thalamus.
Origin of Loquat:
The loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) has come to India from Japan, where its cultivation has developed greatly. All our varieties are believed to be of Japanese origin. However, it is believed to have actually originated in China, from where it went to Japan.
It belongs to the family Rosaceae, to which all important temperate fruits and the rose belong. Botanically, its fruit is a pome, consisting of five carpels united and covered by the edible portion of the fruit consisting of an extension of the stalk of the fruit.
The apple, pear and quince also have the same type of fruit. It is, however, an evergreen sub-tropical tree. On account of its close relationship to these plants, the quince, apple and pear can be used as root-stocks for the loquat. This practice is, however, not for the loquat. Whereas most other fruits flower in spring in North India plains, it flowers from July to December.
One reason for the popularity of this fruit is that it comes to the North Indian markets in April, when few other fruits are available. Other species of Eriobotrya occurring wild in the Eastern Himalayas include E. angustissima, E. dubia and E. bengalensis.
It grows well in the Mediterranean area but can stand considerable frost and tropical heat. However, it does not fruit well under these conditions and is grown only as an ornamental tree.
The area under loquat in India is about 1,300 hectares. The sub-montane area of U.P. is by far the most important area for loquat. This State has about 800 hectares under loquat. It is also grown in the Punjab, Delhi, Assam, Gujarat and the hills of South India.
Whereas it can be grown in a variety of climatic and soil conditions, it must have a good drainage of soil. In Delhi during two successive years of heavy rain many loquat trees were killed outright in poorly-drained soils. A well-drained loamy soil is best suited for loquat.
In India loquat is generally propagated by inarching as practiced in the case of mango, but shield-budding on seedlings of loquat is much easier. The best time for budding is February, but it can also be done in September-October. Ground-layering and air-layering with the application of 3 per cent NAA (a plant hormone) is also possible.
The trees are planted 8 metres apart. They should be heavily manured. The general practice is to apply 100 kg of farmyard manure per bearing tree. Application of potassium is also advisable. Irrigation during the fruiting period is important. Training of the tree to build a proper framework is not necessary.
However, the bearing trees, unlike other evergreen trees like mango and citrus benefits from annual pruning to regulate crop. The flowers are borne mostly from July to August. After this sparse flowering may continue upto January. However, the flowers appearing in October-November give the best crop.
So the branches should be snipped off 5 cm below the tips towards the end of May. This encourages growth of new shoots which flower not in July-August, but later in October-November. This increases the yield greatly. Removal of some fruits improves the size of fruit. The average yield per tree is 16 kg.
Many varieties of loquat are cultivated in India. The colour of their fruit and flesh varies from pale yellow to orange. The taste also varies considerably. The varieties include Golden yellow, Improved Golden yellow, Thames Pride, Large Pale yellow and Large Agra. California Advance and Tanaka are late varieties.
There is self-unfruitfulness in loquat varieties. Therefore a pollinizer variety should be planted along with the main variety. Golden yellow, Improved Golden yellow, pale yellow and Large Agra are self-incompatible varieties. The variety California Advance is the best pollinizer for Improved Golden yellow.
The diseases found on loquat included the stem brown caused by the fungus Botryosphaeria ribis, which is serious on apple, and the die-back disease caused by Macrophoma sp. It enters through the pruning wounds, which should be painted with Chaubatia paste (red lead, copper carbonate and linseed oil in proportion of 1: 1: 250) or copper oxy chloride paint. There is no serious pest of loquat in India.
Climate and Soil Required for Growing a Loquat Tree:
The loquat has long been naturalized in India. It is grown nearly throughout the country upto an elevation of 1525 m above sea level. It can be grown throughout the tropics wherever there are elevations of a few thousand feet. The loquat succeeds well under subtropical climate. It can grow successfully to regions in which the temperature does not fall below the freezing point.
In general, a mild climate with an average annual rainfall of 60-100 mm, well distributed throughout the year, is ideal for loquat cultivation. Since the tree bloom between November and late January at certain places, the crop may be destroyed by moderate winter frosts.
The plants especially foliage are heavily injured when the temperature falls to 0°C and remains so for any length of time. The fruit of loquat is most susceptible to frost injury when it just starts colouration. Heavy damage is noticed in early ripening varieties.
In the areas where scorching hot winds begin to blow before the fruit ripens, the fruit either remain too small or do not properly ripen. Under such conditions, the pulp does not produce abundant required quantity of juice. Further, the fruit become sunburnt and remained unfit for marketing. Under cool and foggy weather at the time of ripening, the fruits lack in sweetness and flavour.
The loquat trees are, however, resistant to heat and drought. The thick, leathery leaves are well adapted to withstand seasons of neglect without serious injury.
Although an evergreen fruit, loquat is unique in tolerating cold weather conditions. However, warm and dry climate is essential at the time of fruit ripening. In arid and dry zones, the fruits are prone to sun burn injury. Consequently, loquat should be cultivated only in the sub-montane or other areas with mid-climate or places free from severe hot weather condition.
The loquat can thrive in a wide variety of soils. In some places seems to do best on a light sandy loam; whereas at other places it has fared well on heavier soils. Good drainage is, however, essential and the subsoil should be free from hard pan.
Stagnation of water in the land, even for a short time may damage or kill even grown up trees and such soils should be discarded. According to the opinion of an expert from Israel, heavy soil of medium type should be preferred than a very light soil.
Orchard Cultural Practices for Growing Loquat:
i. Irrigation:
The loquat is more tolerant to drought. However, the best results are obtained when the orchard is irrigated judiciously. There must be sufficient moisture in the soil in order to enable the shoots to develop and the mature terminal buds to fill out properly. As the trees blossom early, the orchard must be irrigated just before the swelling of blossom buds. During fruit growth to maturity (November to March) three to four irrigations are generally advisable.
During winter and rainy season, no irrigation is applied to loquat trees. After the withdrawal of monsoon, young orchards should be irrigated at weekly interval/fortnightly intervals from September onwards. To the bearing orchards, irrigation should be applied at the end of November or first week of December to protect from frost injury.
ii. Inter Culture:
Thorough cultivation of loquat field should be given to check the weed growth. It prefers clean cultivation management practice. Mulching with brown, black, or transparent polythene film from November to June in loquat orchard was found effective.
The cultivation of leguminous cover crops is, however, considered beneficial. Winter cover crops may be planted before September; the purpose is that their sufficient growth to be turned under before the harvesting starts. The leguminous crops like gram, peas, mash etc. should be preferred as intercrops.
iii. Manuring and Fertilization:
It is generally recognized that loquat tends to exhaust the soil and that for good regular cropping it needs adequate nutrition.
The farmyard manure should be applied in September along with entire quantities of phosphorus and potash. However, one-half dose of nitrogenous fertilizer should be applied in October before flowering and remaining half in February-March i.e. after the fruit-set.
Propagation and Rootstocks of Loquat Tree:
The loquat is rather difficult to propagate. The seeds grow readily but seedlings trees often bear fruits of variable and inferior quality. Thus, vegetative propagation is very important to raise the good quality true-to-type plants for commercial orcharding.
Air-layering is possible but the success is low. The usual technique followed by nurserymen is to raise the plants through inarching which is time-consuming and cumbersome. Thus, there is need to standardize better and quick methods for loquat propagation.
Improvement in this fruit is needed by:
(a) Carrying out extensive survey of loquat orchards for spotting out and selecting some meritorious trees and
(b) By importing promising loquat cultivars from foreign countries, particularly from China and Japan, from where this fruit actually originated.
Raising of Rootstock:
The loquat seeds germinate readily when it is sown immediately after extraction from the fruit. The seed should not be allowed to dry after extraction as exposure to heat and light tends to results in poor germination and stunted seedling growth. Fresh seed are sown during April-May in moist sand for germination.
When the seedlings are 4-5 cm tall, they are transplanted in the nursery under the mother trees for inarching. If the mother plants are high headed, the seedlings are transplanted in the pots and brought in contact with the mother plants by raising platforms when they attain in charchable size. The seedlings grow rapidly and are fit for grafting in the following rainy season.
Promising loquat varieties are generally grafted upon domestic loquat seedlings of the commercial varieties. Several other rootstocks such as pear, apple, quince (Cydonia oblonga) and Mespilus have also been used in certain occasions.
Propagation Techniques:
The usual technique followed is to raise the plants through inarching. The best time for inarching is July-August. Air-layering can also be tried but success is much less. In air-layering 3 months old shoots are used. The use of 3 per cent indole butyric acid enhances the success in air-layering.
Planting Operation for Loquat:
There are two planting seasons for loquat plants viz. February- March and August- September. The plants should preferably be planted during August-September when the weather has cooled down sufficiently. In general, loquat is planted at a distance of 6.5 m x 6.5 m in square system, thus accommodates 225 plants per hectare.
The pit should be made 1 x 1 x 1 m. While mixing, add 3-4 baskets of farmyard manure and 200 g of single superphosphate per pit. Add 15 ml of chlorpyriphos 20 EC mixed in about 2 kg soil toward the attack of white ants.
The recommended cultivars of loquat are either self-incompatible or partially self-compatible. It is, therefore, advisable, not to plant solid blocks of one cultivar alone; California Advance is known to be a good pollinizer for Golden Yellow, Pale Yellow and Tanaka and should be planted along with these varieties.
But when Tanka pollinated with Pale Yellow gave lower set than the self-one, indicating thereby a partial cross-incompatibility. Under Saharanpur conditions Golden Yellow was found totally self-incompatible, whereas California Advance, Pale Yellow and Tanaka were partially self-incompatible.
Self-incompatibility in the loquat is a gametophytic nature. The pollen tube penetrate the stylar canal upto one-fourth to one-third of its length and fail to go beyond even after 72 hours of pollination. This suggests that self-incompatibility in the loquat is of gametophytic nature because in saprophytic type of self-incompatibility, only germination of pollen grain is inhibited.
Flowering and Fruiting in Loquat Tree:
In India, the flowering period of loquat is very long, lasting from mid-July to January or sometimes even up to May. Three reproductive flushes under tropical conditions are noted, out of which the intermediate ones give the higher yield of better-sized fruits. At Saharanpur, only one flush continued flower from September to February. The number of inflorescence was higher in beginning but only a few of them bore fruits.
The number of inflorescence continued to decrease with the advancement of season, but the percentage of fruit-bearing panicles gradually decreased. The fruit size seemed to be inversely proportional to the number of fruits per panicle. Earlier panicles gave best-sized fruit and size reduced afterward.
In northern India only one continuous reproductive flush appears. No peak hour of anthesis was observed. The opening of flowers continued throughout the day. The dehiscence of anthers took place in longitudinal fashion. It took more than a day to complete dehiscence in all the varieties except Improved ‘Golden Yellow’ and Pale Yellow’ in which case it was completed only in one day. The time of dehiscence was found to have hastened with the increase in temperature.
In Punjab, the flowering period in loquat is very lengthy. The flowering starts sometimes in the first week of October and continues upto third week of December. The number of flowers per cluster may vary from 50 to 100 but in general, not more than 15- 20 fruits per cluster are set. Some of the varieties are good pollinizers for others.
Loquat trees grow singly or in small groves, though produce perfect flowers, yield negligible or no crop. This is reported to be due to self-incompatibility in commercial loquat varieties.
After fertilization, the loquat fruit develops very rapidly. The first indication of fruit enlargement is a thickening of the toral rim immediately above the carpel level. The whole toral region undergoes cell division and enlargement is more of less uniform throughout.
The sepals grow towards the centre and cover over in ‘hood’ fashion, the distal portions of the carpels. The sepal bases thicken and persist as permanent structures, whereas the petals, stamens and styles dry up.
The hood or cap enclosing the distal portions of the carpels may be excised from immature fruits and the 5 carpels are exposed to view. The functional ovule develops into a fertile seed (occupy central region) and the confines of the individual carpal walls, surrounding non-functional ovules are wholly disrupted. By the time, the fruit is mature, the carpal wall are more or less parchment-like. The seed is extremely hard. The skin of the mature fruit is comparatively tough and leathery.
The edible portion in loquat is entirely toral in nature, consisting of pith and cortical areas. The development of edible portion consists of rather uniform growth of receptacle tissue throughout the fruit. The toral cells of mature fruit are large, thin walled and very juicy.
Training and Pruning of Loquat:
Loquat is generally trained according to modified leader system or open centre system. During initial stages, stem up to height of 50 cm should be kept clean. Later on, pruning is confined to removal of dead and diseased branches in the full grown tree. Harvesting of mature bunch is a kind of pruning and it encourages new growth. The best time for pruning is during summer after the crop has been harvested.
Top-Working:
A large percentage of the loquat seedlings trees are unprofitable. Such healthy trees should be top-worked with some improved commercial varieties. The vegetative method of propagation such as inarching, T-budding and bark grafting could be employed.
Grafting plants will start bearing superior quality of fruit after third years. Top-working of inferior loquat tree should be done during May. Good number of healthy shoots will emerge from the headed back plant during the rainy season. Only one or two healthy branches should be retained for grafting purpose.
Thinning of Fruits:
The loquat is a prolific bearer fruit plant. The tree has tendency to over bear. Thinning of fruit in the clusters or removing of some of the cluster may, therefore, be practiced, for improving the size and quality of the remaining fruits. The thinning should be done when the fruits are less than 1.2 cm in diameter.
Harvesting and Handling of Fruits:
Harvesting:
The loquat tree starts bearing fruit after third year of planting. The yield goes on increasing as the trees grow older and maximum yield is obtained after fifteen years of age. The harvesting of immature and green fruits should be avoided.
All fruits in a cluster usually mature uniformly, and then entire cluster may be cut at once. But, in some cases where the fruit at the base ripens before that at the tip of the cluster, the pickers will have to clip the ripe fruits by hand. The fruits should never be pulled from the tree by hand, as the stem would separate from the flesh and cause decay to set in at once. The fruit should preferably be harvested with clipper.
The average yield of loquat tree is about 16 kg. Well maintained and healthy tree can yield fruit upto 40 kg.
Grading:
The fruits should be suitably graded before packing into two grades. The large sized fruits free from blemishes should be placed in one box while all the remaining marketable fruits should be packed separately. The undersized and mis-shapen fruits should be collected in a separate lot which can be sold for the preparation of jam, jelly or other products. All superfluous stems should be clipped off and badly bruised, shrivelled or scarred fruit should be discarded.
Packing:
The fruit requires careful packing. Paper is placed at the bottom of each box. The large sized choice fruit should receive better handling and packing. The paper cuttings can be used for providing cushion. The wooden boxes of 14 kg size should be used for sending fruit to nearby markets. However, for distant markets, smaller packages are used to give considerable protection to the fruit.
Varieties of Loquat:
No systematic attempt has so far been made for the selection or improvement work of varieties. However, there are generally two types of varieties having small or large size fruits. Depending upon colour of rind, the varieties may be called ‘Surkha’ or ‘Sufeda’.
The small- fruited varieties are usually sweeter than the large fruited ones but the latter get premium price due to their larger size and attractive appearance. The shape of the fruits also varies from round to oval and various shapes in between or some may be egg-shaped.
Most of the loquat plantations in India are of seedling type.
The following are the important varieties of loquat:
i. Golden Yellow:
It has medium sized, egg-shaped fruits with attractive golden yellow colour. Flesh is yellowish which tastes sour-sweet. Each fruit contain 4-5 dark brown, medium sized seeds. Ripens during, third week of March.
ii. Pale Yellow:
It has large fruits, which are slightly conical to roundish in shape and pale yellow in colour. Flesh is white and tastes sour-sweet. Each fruit contains 2 or 3 medium-sized seeds. Ripens during, second week of April. Loquat is a pome fruit and its edible portion is fleshy thalamus.
iii. California Advance:
Fruit is medium-sized, conical to round in shape, external colour yellow. Flesh creamy white, sour-sweet in taste. Fruit contains 2 or 3 medium-sized seeds. Ripens during, fourth week of April.
iv. Tanaka:
Fruit is medium, 4-5 cm long, 3-7 cm broad, ovate in shape, smooth and moderately pubescent. Rind is medium and firm. Pulp medium completely filled, sayal brown, coarse, firm, juiciness abundant, tastes pleasant, sub-acid. Seeds are 2 to 4 per fruit, medium in size.
v. Loquat Selection:
Trees are tall. Fruit medium in size, oval in shape, weighing 37g and attain orange colour at maturity. Pulp percentage 53, pulp seed ratio 1.95. Each fruit contain 4-5 seeds. The average yield is 20 kg fruit per tree. Ripens during, fourth week of March.
vi. Pathankot:
Trees are medium in height. Fruits medium to large in size, ovate in shape, weighing 40 g and attain orange colour at maturity. Pulp 61 per cent, pulp seed ratio is 2.9. Each fruit contain 3 seed. The average yield is 25 kg fruit per tree. Ripens during, third week of March.
vii. Improved Golden Yellow:
Fruits are golden yellow in colour, pyriform in shape. The fruit flesh is orange coloured, crisp and sub-acid. Each fruit contain 3-5 seeds. Ripen in the end of March.