Everything you need to know about growing and harvesting of sapoata! Learn about: 1. Botany of Sapota 2. Origin of Sapota 3. Climate and Soil 4. Orchard Cultural Practices 5. Propagation and Rootstocks 6. Planting Operation 7. Flowering and Fruiting 8. Training and Pruning 9. Harvesting and Handling 10. Diseases and Insect Pests.
Botany of Sapota:
Sapota (Manilkara zapota (L.) P. Royen) belongs to the family sapotaceae. There are several cultivars of sapota in India. They are grouped under four types based on the habit of the tree i.e., nature and branches and colour of foliage.
i. Trees with Erect Growing Habit:
Branches appear in whorls. Foliage is deep green, broad and oval. Fruits are large in size with smooth and yellow skin. Pulp is butter like and sweet.
ii. Trees with Drooping Habit:
Branches appear in whorls. Foliage is light green, narrow and elliptical. Fruits are small with rough brownish skin and pulp of inferior quality.
iii. Trees with Spreading Habit-I:
Branching irregular. Foliage deep green in colour, broad and oval. Fruits are smooth and yellow skin. Pulp is butter like and sweet.
iv. Trees with Spreading Habit-II:
Branching irregular. Foliage light green in colour, narrow, elliptical. Fruits are rough skin. Pulp is inferior.
Sapota is slow growing evergreen tree. It attains a height of about 9 metres. The main stem is strong and stout and from it radiating whorls of horizontally disposed branches are produced at more or less regular intervals. The main branches carry an array of short branchlets which bear fruits terminally in the axils of leaves and also give out vegetative shoots from their sides.
Leaves are elliptic to obovate, flowers solitary in leaf axils, produced over a long season. Sepals 6, tomentulose, petals 6, staminodes 6, petaloid, stamens 6. The fruit is a drupe, egg shaped and round. The skin of fruit is slightly tough resembling to potato skin in appearance. Each fruit contains 3 to 5 or more black shining seeds.
Origin of Sapota:
The sapota (Achras zapota), sapodilla, or bully tree, commonly called sapota in India, belongs to the family Sapotaceae. It is a tropical tree native to Tropical America. Like the guava, it is so well established in India that the man in the street considers it to be indigenous to India.
Actually, its cultivation in India spread around the turn of the 19th century. In India it is grown only for its fruits, but in other-countries the milky latex from the bark of the tree yields an important commercial product, gutta percha, which forms the base for the manufacture of chewing-gum.
In India, the main centres of its cultivation are Karnataka and Maharashtra. The other areas are between Mumbai city and Surat, the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh around Vishakhapatnam, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Saurashtra, the sub-montane areas of U.P. and Bengal.
Sapota covers an area of 0.52 lakh ha with production of 5.93 lakh tonnes, sharing 1.4% of the major fruit production in India.
It is a tropical fruit which likes a warm, moist weather. It thrives in places where the maximum and minimum temperatures do not go beyond 34° C and 11°C, respectively. It does not like a hot dry summer. It can be grown in places where the temperature touches the freezing-point only for short periods. It is grown on hills in South India up to a height of 1,000 metres, but it does not do very well above 500 metres.
It thrives in areas with 100 to 150 cm rainfall. It can grow in a variety of soils but in sandy soils the plants are uprooted by strong winds. If the soil is not well drained or a hard pan is present in the subsoil the trees do not make good growth. It can stand the presence of salts in the soil or irrigation water to some extent. It is sometimes planted in dry river-beds with an alluvial soil.
Seedling trees have been grown in India in the past, as in some other countries. However, these trees show too much variation. Several methods of vegetative propagation are successful. Air-layering has become common in South and Western India. Layering is done in May-June and the detaching of plants is often delayed for a full year in high- rainfall areas where the layers are not hand-watered.
In the Bombay area, there is a belief that air-layered plants give more granular fruits, but this statement seems questionable. In any case, the mortality after transplanting air-layered plants can be upto 50 per cent and some varieties do not layer successfully, and plants inarched or side-grafted on ‘Khirnee’ or ‘rayan’ (Mimusops hexandra) are much more vigorous and high-yielding.
This method of propagation is becoming very popular. The ‘mohwa’ (Madhuka latifolia) root- stock is not very promising for this purpose. Propagation by ground-layering, which takes rather a long time, and the Forkert method of budding as followed in the case of mango is also feasible.
Sapota is often planted 5 metres apart in India. This distance is too close and a distance of 8 to 9 metres is recommended. The planting is done in May before the rains start. After planting, the young trees are staked to protect them from winds and are often covered with coconut leaves to give protection from the sun.
Sapota requires little pruning. Young trees require heavy irrigation but cannot withstand stagnant water. However, on the West coast of India, where rainfall is heavy, no irrigation is required and on the East coast watering is done in the dry months only.
In coastal Gujarat, a half-metre-high mound of earth is prepared around the trees to save them from bending under the impact of strong winds and to conserve moisture. Irrigation is done in a ring around the mound. A similar practice is followed in the case of mango in Ratnagiri district, south of Mumbai.
It also requires good manuring. Banana which requires extremely high doses of manure is often inter-planted with sapota. The sapota, thus, gets heavy fertilization indirectly. Banana pseudo stems are added to the soil around the sapota trees after decomposing them. Without manuring the bearing of the trees becomes poor after some years. Application of superphosphate improves the size of fruit in old orchards.
Grafted sapota trees begin to bear fruit after three years. Since it is a slow-growing tree, the yield continues to increase upto 30 years, after which it declines. The yield varies from 1,500 to 3,000 fruits per adult tree. The representative figure is 2,000 fruits. In a variety like cricket ball, which has very large fruits, the yield may be only 500 fruits.
Sapota flowers almost throughout the year under tropical conditions, but there are two main seasons of peak fruiting from March to May and September-October. The fruits ripening in summer are generally sweeter. In the Mumbai area, the main season is December to March. In stray plants, pollination can sometimes be a problem due to self-unfruitfulness.
The fruits are harvested when they have developed good bloom on the surface, but are still firm. Sapota fruit has good transport and keeping qualities. It is astringent till fully ripe, as is the case with some varieties of persimmon.
Sapota fruits ripen well after harvesting, but if they are harvested too unripe the milky latex coming out of the cut stem spoils the appearance of the fruit. The fruits ripen well at a temperature of 52° F to 56° F. Ripe fruits can be kept in cold storage at 32°F to 35°F for 6 weeks and firm fruits at 35° F to 38°F for 8 weeks.
Many varieties of sapota are known in different parts of India. These are divided into two main groups, one having round fruits and the other oval fruits. Unfortunately, this character is not stable. The same variety can produce round and oval fruits in different seasons. The important varieties are Kalipatti and Chhattri in the Mumbai area, Pala, Dwarapudi and Kirthabarthi in and lira Pradesh and Cricket Ball in Tamil Nadu and Bengal.
Kalipatti has predominantly oval fruits of outstanding quality. They are borne singly and are harvested in winter. The leaves are dark green. Chhattri has light green leaves and branches spreading horizontally in whorls like an umbrella. The fruit quality is not as good as that of Kalipatti.
The fruits of Pala are oval, thin-skinned and are borne in clusters. The fruits of Kirthabarthi are egg-shaped, very sweet, and have a rough, thick skin. They can stand transport well. Dwarapudi has sweet large fruits. Cricket Ball has the largest fruits, which are gritty and not very sweet. Some people consider this variety to be the same as Calcutta Large.
Sapota is comparatively free from pests and diseases. The most serious insect pest is the caterpillar, Nephopteryx eugraphella, which feeds on buds, leaves and young fruits. It is controlled by spraying calcium arsenate. It also attacks plants of Manilkara elengi. Other pests include the stem borer (Inderbda tetraonis), mealy bugs (Phenacoccus icerjoides), scale insects (Pulvinaria psidii), a fruit-borer and bark-eating caterpillars.
Climate and Soil Required for Growing Sapota:
Sapota is hardy, tropical fruit crop and can be grown in a wide variety of climate. It prefers a warm and moist weather and grows both in dry and humid areas. Coastal climate is best suited. Areas with an annual rainfall of 125-250 cm are highly suitable. The optimum temperature for sapota should lie between 11 to 34°C. A high temperature of 41°C during summer causes flower drop and fruit scorching.
In Karnataka, northern districts such as Raichur, Gulbarga, Bidar and Bellary experience very high temperature in the middle of summer causing scorching of foliage. Sapota has a wide range of adaptability and can be grown successfully upto 1000 m above sea level. Although, in some states like Gujarat, it is grown as irrigated crop, in parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, it has proved to be drought tolerant, suitable for growing even under rainfed conditions.
Sapota can be grown on a wide variety of soil but in sandy soils, the plants are uprooted by strong winds. The soils having very high percentage of calcium are not suitable. If the soil is not well-drained or a hard pan is present in sub soil, the sapota tree does not make good growth. It can withstand presence of salt to some extent. Sapota grows well in sandy loam soils of coastal region, red lateritic soils of the heavy rainfall area of Western Ghats and medium black soils. Drainage is most important for sapota growing.
Orchard Cultural Practices for Growing Sapota:
i. Irrigation:
Sapota is grown as rainfed as well as irrigated crop in different regions. It can tolerate drought conditions to some extent, yet it responds well to irrigation. In cv. Kalipatti, scheduling 10 to 11 irrigations each at 80 mm depth to be applied at 30 days interval in winter and 10 – 15 days interval in summer and fertilizing with 1 kg N, 1/2 kg P2O5 and 1/2 kg K2O per tree gave significantly highest fruit yield of sapota and net return. At flowering time frequent irrigation should be applied to maintain humid conditions in the orchard for better fruit set. Normally, young plants are watered regularly during dry season having long breaks in the monsoon and in winter and summer at an interval of 6 to 12 days.
In Maharashtra, young plants are given irrigation once in 8 days from October onwards till monsoon starts. In Karnataka protective irrigation is given during first two seasons for better establishment of plants. Insufficient irrigation results in dropping of a large number of flowers leading to a loss up to 40 per cent in yield.
Drip irrigation saves 40 per cent water and increase the yield. In drip system during the initial two years, two dripper spaced at 50 cm from the tree should be laid out and subsequently two more dripper can be added. The discharge rate of drippers should be 4 litres per hour depending upon the climate and soil type of the area.
ii. Intercropping:
During the first 10 years, when the trees are young, much of the orchard land between rows of trees remains unoccupied. Some vegetables can profitably be taken if, adequate irrigation facilities are available. Peach, plum, phalsa and papaya may be planted as fillers in those orchards which come into bearing rather late. The vegetable crops like bhindi, brinjal, tomato, chillies, onion and leguminous crops like cowpea, moong, urd and cluster bean can be grown as intercrop in sapota.
iii. Weed Control:
At Bangalore, Bromacil @ 3 kg/ha proved to be the best herbicide for controlling both broad leaved weeds and grasses and was effective for a period of 6 months. Diuron @ 4 kg/ ha also showed almost similar effect like bromacil but nut grass could not be completely suppressed by this chemical.
iv. Manuring and Fertilization:
One year old tree should be given 25 kg farmyard manure, 80 g CAN, 63 g superphosphate and 12 g muriate of potash. Thereafter, the above dose should be increased by 5 kg of farmyard manure, 80 g of CAN, 63 g of superphosphate and 12 g of muriate of potash, respectively annually upto the ninth year.
From the tenth year onward, 45 kg farmyard manure, 1.5 kg CAN, 560 g superphosphate and 200 g muriate of potash per tree should be applied. The beginning of monsoon is the right time of manuring. From the seventh year onward, the trees bear heavily and therefore, they should be manured twice a year. The second dose of manure can be given in the month of February.
Manures and fertilizers are applied twice in a year. The first half is applied in beginning of monsoon (June-July) and the remaining half dose at the end of monsoon (September-October).
At Rahauri (Maharashtra) 1.5 kg N, 0.45 kg P2O5 and 0.50 kg K2O recorded the highest yield in Kalipatti sapota. To full grown tree of sapota cv. Kalipati 50 kg FYM, 900 g N, 450 g P2O5 and 450 K2O per plant per year is recommended in Gujarat.
Under Punjab conditions, sapota at the age of 1 – 3 years is given 25 kg FYM, 220 – 660 g urea, 300 – 900 g SP and 75 – 250 g MoP per tree. At the age group of 4 – 6 years, 50 kg FYM, 880 – 1300 g urea, 1240 -1860 g SP and 340 – 500 g MoP is applied to each tree. To the next age group of 7 – 9 years, 75 kg FYM, 1550 – 2000 g SP and 600 – 770 g MoP is applied. To full grown tree of 10 years age and above doses are stablised at 100 kg FYM, 2200 g urea 3100 g SP and 850 MoP to per tree. FYM, phosphorus and potash should be applied in the month of December – January. Half of nitrogen should be applied in March and remaining half in July – August.
Micronutrient application also affects productivity and quality of sapota. Deficiency symptoms of Zn and Fe have been observed in field. The deficiencies can be corrected by spraying 0.5 per cent zinc sulphate and ferrous sulphate.
Propagation and Rootstocks of Sapota:
Sapota is propagated by both seed and vegetable methods. Propagation by seeds is not advisable because seedling trees are slow growing, take longer time to come into bearing and have lot of variations.
For sexual propagation, seeds are collected from elite trees and sown in pans or beds with light sandy soil as germinating medium and watered at regular intervals. GA3 promotes the percentage of germination and increases the growth of seedlings.
Propagation by vegetative methods is essential. Sapota is commercially propagated by veneer and inarch-grafting and air-layering. However, veneer/inarching is preferred as compared to air-layering. Propagation by cuttings, budding and stone grafting is also successful.
i. Veneer Grafting:
It is a commercial method of propagation for sapota. The rootstock seedlings are raised in pots or bed. Khirni is the best rootstock producing vigorous plants with high productivity. Pencil thickness seedlings of rootstock are suitable for veneer grafting. The best time for doing this propagation method is during raising season i.e. July to September. The plants become ready for sale within one year after grafting.
ii. Air-Layering:
This method is common in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. It is possible to get a sizeable plant in a short time but mortality is high and the root system is shallow. The air-layered plants are likely to be uprooted when heavy winds are experienced in sandy soils. The best time for air-layering is the beginning of rainy season. High humidity prevailing during the monsoon facilitates rooting.
The rooting percentage in air layers of sapota increases with a mixture of IBA and NAA at 10,000 ppm. In rooting of air layers, the invigorated shoots produced as a result of beheading a grafted tree, possess a better rooting ability than mature shoots. Invigorated shoots after etiolation treatment, treated with 10,000 ppm IBA gave 91.7 per cent success and 90.9 per cent survival. In another study, etiolated and ringed shoots treated with 2000 ppm IBA gave best rooting percentage of 80.
iii. Inarching:
Inarching is also a commercial method of propagation. The different rootstock such as khirni or rayan, sapota seedling and Mahua seedlings are used. The scion remains attached to the parent tree till the union is complete. The rootstocks are raised in pots. One year old seedlings of rayan are suitable for grafting. Inarching is done during spring season. Maximum success was recorded in February (90%) followed by January and March. The graft could be detached from the mother plant at 5½ months after inarching.
iv. Soft Wood Grafting:
It could be done in one year stock plants during July-August with more than 80 per cent success and in September-October with over 50 per cent success.
Rootstocks:
Several rootstocks have been tried in sapota. These include- (i) Sapota seedlings (Manikara zapota) (ii) Rayan or khirni (Manilkara hexandra or Mimusops hexandra), (iii) Adam’s apple (Manilkara kauki or Mimusops kauki), (iv) Star apple (Chrysophyllum cainito), (v) Mahua (Madhuca latifolia), (vi) Mee tree (Bassia longifolia) and (vii) Miracular fruit (Sideroxylon dulicificum).
Of all the rootstocks tried (Mimusops hexandra Roxb. Syn. Manilkara hexandra Dab) popularly known as Rayan-a tropical tree is extensively used as rootstock for grafting sapota as it has a very profuse root yield as compared to air-layered trees and those grafted on self-rootstock, respectively.
Raising of Rootstock:
Manilkara hexandra was found to be most vigorous and productive rootstock. Its fruit are small, oval and sweet. They are washed to get rid of pulp in water and dried under shade and sown. The seeds are soaked in water for a night for easy and quick germination. Seeds are sown in raised seed beds or pots. The seed germinate in about 4 weeks and when they are about 15 cm high they are transferred to small pots.
In Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra and Surat district in Gujarat, self-grown seedlings of rayan from the forest areas are collected for potting. All the side growths are removed up to a height of 30 cm from ground level to get a clean and straight stem. When they attain a thickness of 1 cm they are used for grafting or budding.
Planting Operations for Sapota:
Sapota being evergreen fruit plant can be planted during February-March and August- September. However, monsoon is the best time for sapota planting. The pits of 60 to 100 cm3 size are dug in advance during summer. The plants should be planted 9 metres apart in heavy rainfall tracts and 7.5 metres apart in dry zones. In this way, it accommodates 180 to 123 plants per hectare. After planting, the young tree should be supported with a stake. Copious irrigation is required soon after planting.
At many places, sapota is planted at 8m x 8m which accommodates 156 plants per hectare. High density planting at 8m x 4m is followed for high productivity, it adjusts 312 plants/ha. High density planting with a spacing of 5m x 5m upto the age of 13 years has been adopted successfully in different regions of the country.
Flowering and Fruiting in Sapota Plants:
The sapota plants raised vegetatively start flowering from second or third year after transplanting. However, economic yield is only obtained from seventh year onwards. Under tropical conditions, sapota flowers throughout the year with two main flowering seasons i.e., July to November and again in February-March and hence two harvesting seasons i.e. September- November and January-March.
Under Dharwar (Karnataka) conditions, three seasons of flowering were recorded with maximum in June, while in October and March the flowering was less. The peak anthesis was found at 4 A.M. The maximum receptivity of stigma was observed on the day of opening of flowers. Under Ludhiana (Punjab) conditions, flowers opened at 5 A.M. and flowering reached a peak between 5 AM to 7 AM. The anther dehiscence started before anthesis suggesting protandry.
The maximum anther dehiscence occurred between 8 AM and 11 AM. The cultivar Chhattri had the largest pollen grains (16 µ). The highest pollen viability of 95.8 to 97.6% was noted in Kalipatti cultivar. The pollen germination was observed maximum (45.5 – 57.5%) in 15 per cent sucrose solution after 48 hours. Stigmas were receptive from a day before until a day after anthesis. The shape of pollen grains was roundish and their colour being yellowish with an average pollen size of 16.25 µ. The acetocarmine stainability was recorded 96.3 to 97.6 per cent in different cultivars.
Flowers are borne on past season shoot. The flowers are protogynous in nature. Therefore, planting of single sapota tree in home garden is not recommended. The fruit setting is very high but fruit retention is poor. There is a high fruit drop at early stages. In Kalipatti, 22 percent natural fruit set was observed. The maximum fruit drop occurred immediately after fruit setting. Pollination is affected by wind.
Sapota is a cross-pollinated crop. The improvement of fruit set at cheaper rate can be obtained by the application of NAA at 300 ppm at flowering stage and repeated at pea stage. Only about 10% of the total fruits setting developed into complete fruits and were retained till maturity. Fruit set as indicated by petal fall took 47 days after anthesis. Maximum fruit drop was observed immediately after fruit-setting.
Fruit growth appeared quite steady throughout the growth period until maturity. From middle of October, increase in fruit length was faster. Fruits reached maximum size and maturity in first week of March. Further retention of fruits rendered them unfit for transport.
Growth of fruit followed a double sigmoid curve. It has been reported that time taken from fruit set to maturity is more than 10 months. Fruits that mature doing March – May are generally better in quality.
Training and Pruning of Sapota:
A strong central stem is needed in sapota. In air-layers most of the branches are put-forth very near the ground level. In the beginning, the basal branches help in developing a thick central stem and hence care must be taken to maintain proper distribution of branches on all sides. At later stage, the lower most branches weigh down to ground level and become unfruitful. In general, sapota has a well-balanced distribution of branches thus there is no necessity of pruning every year.
The lower most branches of sapota up to a height of 60-90 cm may be removed after 3 to 4 years of planting. The over-shaded and crowded branches are also to be removed. The new growth and flowering occur simultaneously and it is a mixed type of bearing habit. Flowers and fruits appear in the axil of leaf on the new growth and hence pruning of branches should not be done.
Use of Growth Regulators:
Self-pollination is seen in stray plants and pollination becomes difficult. To get higher fruit set and retention of the set fruits, GA, ethrel, CCC and planofix and SADH were tried on Cricket Ball cultivar. SADH at 100 ppm before flowering and again at the peak stage resulted in the highest fruit set. Planofix at 300 ppm and GA3 100 ppm resulted in the highest fruit retention and largest fruits. NAA @ 25-100 ppm at flowering and at 15 days interval resulted in better fruit set at Navsari.
Harvesting and Handling of Sapota:
Sapota is a climacteric fruit, it ripes properly and improves in its quality after harvesting. It matures in 8 to 10 months after fruit set depending upon cultivar and available heat units. Great difficulty is experienced in determining maturity because of continuous flowering and fruiting. The fruit harvested earlier than physiological maturity takes too long to soften and has poor quality. On the other hand, fruits harvested late soften quickly resulting in spoilage during handling and transport.
Phenols and sugar level increased during development while acidity and ascorbic acid reduced. The fruit nearing physiological maturity sheds off the brown, scaly scurf from the skin. At this stage, fruits become corky brown in colour with intermixed yellowish tinge. Such fruits give a yellow streak when scratched with finger nail, and show practically no green tissue or latex. However, considerable experience is needed to determine the exact stage. Harvesting is done by twisting the individual fruit. Fruit picker is used to pluck fruits at height.
Continuous flowering and fruiting is observed in sapota though there are two distinct periods of harvest viz. September-November and January-March. At some location June-July crop is also obtained in small quantity.
Sapota yields about 250 fruits per tree in the 5th year, in 7th year the yield rises to 800 fruits and between 10th and 15th year it may range from 1500 to 2000 fruits per tree. A 30 year old tree yields about 2500 to 3000 fruits. The yield usually declines after 40th year and it may not be profitable to maintain the orchard thereafter.
The fruits are graded into 3 grades i.e., large, medium and small. They can be packed in CFB boxes, wooden crates, bamboo baskets which are padded with straw, soft grass or dried banana leaves for sending to distant market. The fruits of Cricket Ball and Kalipatti are packed in 3 kg boxes at 15 – 20°C when exported to Middle East.
Sapota fruit is highly perishable and cannot be stored for long. Under ordinary conditions, fruits keep well for 5-7 days and spoil within few days from picking due to rapid degradative metabolism. Thereafter, post-harvest losses are enormous. While placing fruits for ripening, care should be taken that they are kept in thin layer otherwise there are chances of rotting and uneven ripening.
Uniform ripening of fruits can be achieved by dip treatment with 1000 ppm ethephon for two minutes. The polyethylene packing was highly effective in checking weight loss and maintaining turgidity and freshness of sapota fruits. GA @ 75 ppm was found optimum and effective in arresting ripening process and weight loss. GA treatment at 75 ppm for 3 minutes dip + 100 gauge polythene with 1.2% vents was the best for prolonging the shelf life of sapota fruits upto 11 days. Treatment of fruit with GA 300 ppm also retarded the ripening by reducing respiration and ethylene production.
Ripe sapota fruits can easily be stored at 2-3°C and 85- 90% RH for 5-6 weeks and firm fruit at 3 to 5°C for 8 weeks.
The storage life at 20°C can be extended for 21 – 25 days by removing ethylene and adding 5-10 per CO2 to storage atmosphere. Dipping the fruit in 300 ppm GA3 and 1000 ppm Bavistin extend the storage life of fruits. For sending fruits to distant market, Refrigerated vans (12 – 23°C) should be used for transportation.
Diseases and Insect Pests of Sapota:
The common disease of sapota is sooty mould, caused by Capnodium spp., which can be controlled by spraying with oil resin soap or crude oil emulsion, followed by starch solution or organophosphorus compounds, e.g. Folidol, Ekatox or HETP (113 g in 100 litres of water).
The common insect pests are:
(i) Chikoo moth (Nephopteryx eugraphella), which can be controlled by removing and destroying infested parts, spraying with 0.1% BHC + 0.1% DDT or 0.2% Carbaryl or 0.05% Endosulfan.
(ii) Thrip (Frankliniella dampfi), which can be controlled by spraying 0.03% Phosphamidon, Dimethoate, Monocrotophos or Methyl-demeton.
(iii) Fruit flies (Dacus dorsalis, D. correctus and D. zonatus), which can be controlled by destroying all fallen fruits, spraying trees, hedges and other plants in the vicinity with 0.1% BHC + 0.1% DDT and also by a poison bait (20 g Malathion 50% W.P. or 50 ml of Diazinon+ 200 g of gur or molasses in 2 litres of water) kept in flat containers to attract and trap flies.
(iv) Scale insects (Pulvinaria psidii, Phenacoccus iceryoides, Pseudococcus lilacinus), which can be controlled by pruning and destroying the affected parts, spraying 0.04% Diazinon, Monocrotophos or Methyl-demeton.
(v) Bark-eating caterpillar (Indarbela teteraonis), which can be controlled by removing all ribbon-like webs and inserting into holes and tunnels swabs of cotton-wool soaked in petrol or carbon bisulphide or chloroform or 0.13% Dichlorvos or 0.05% Trichlorofan and the holes are sealed with mud.