Pineapple

                Pineapple is a third important tropical fruit after Banana and Citrus.  Fruits are renowned for distinct aroma and taste.  It  is a special fruit as it contains rare nutrients like bromelanain, a digesting enzymes. Bromelanain helps in digestion, especially meat. In some counties like Brazil, it is common to serve meet with slices of pineapple. The Pineaaple fruits are rich in  Vitamins like  C and B12 and also  rich in minerals like magnesium and potassium.  The fruits are consumed as refreshing juices or delicious salads or savoring curries or  in the form of jams. Having impregnated with variety of Phenolic and volatile compounds,  makes it therapuitically important. 

             Botanically, pinaple is 'Ananas comosus, and commonly called as Ananas, belongs to family Bromeliaceae. Stems are formed from rosette leaves. Leaves are sword shaped and spiny at the margins. Plants bear multiple fruits, a fusion of 50-100 fruitlets developped from indivudual flowers.

Major producer and exporter of pineapple is Costa Rica,  thanks to availibility  of volcanic soil that made the country a notable producer and exporter of  high quality producer of pineaaples. Other counties follow are Indonasia, The Phillipines and Thiland.

India is the 5th largest producer of pinespple and Assam, Meghalay, Maipur, West Bengal, Karntaka, Kerala and Goa are leading states cultivation pineapples.

Cultivation of Pineapple:

         Succkers, crowns and slips are diiferent propgatory materials available for cutivation of pineapple. These are looking similar and differenciated  mainly by their postion on mother plants. They take different time to start yeilding. Quality and size of the fruits also vary according to propogatory materials used. Suckers are originated  from leaf axil of mother plants at ground level. They take long time to reach fruit bearing stage and yeild. Slips are those located just below the fruits in mother plants. They are smaller in size and with curved base. They have  inermediate bearing and yeilding time. Crowns are bunched leaves at the top of the fruits which takes longest time to bear fruits. Pineapple can be raised even through micropropogation. Here genetically identical propogatory materials are produced at labs, hardened at nurcery and planted in the field. They are usually free from disease, fruits are of uniform in size and colour and to quick to bear fruits. These microprogatory materials  are avaible in the nurcery irrespective of the seasons. 

          Suckers or slips of uniform weight has to be taken for propogation. Suckers weighing 400-500 gms and slips weighing 350-450 grams are ideal for selection. Uniform sized shows uniformity in growth and flowering periods. Larger slips and sucker may grow faster and yeild earlier. Thus grading of propagatory materials is very important. The selected propogatory materials are removed of few basal leaves, exposing the stem portion and root buds.  Later they are  dried under shade for a week to heal them, so that they may not start decay once planted in soils.  If needed these propogatory materials are dipped in mild fungicidal solutions before planting. 

Spacing and planting:  A double row method of plating is commonly followed in pineapple. A ditance of 30 cm between the plants and 60cm between the rows are allowed. A wider space of 90 to 120 cm or still more are left between the two rows for various purposes like digging the trenches, free movement and inter cultivations. Propogatory materials are planted in zig-zag manner to avoid enough space for sun rays and avoid competition for space and nutrients among plants. Sucker are planted at the depth of 10 cm and burrying of heart of suckers are avoided. 

Soil and climatic requirements: Pineapple comes up well in areas of  well distributed annual rainfall of 1000-1500 mm and temperature ranging from 20°C to 30°C. Fruits are mostly cultivated in coastal belts of peninsula and north-eastern hills. Interior plains with moderate rainfall and assited irrigation has shown considerable sucess in pineapple cultivation.  Sandy or loamy soils are suitable for cultivation of pineaaple. 

Insects pests affecting Pineapple:

               Among the insect pests affecting pineapple cultivation, the   Rinoceros beetles, Mealy bugs, scales, Thrips, Fruit Borer are very important.

Rinoceros beetles bore holes at the base of the plant to cause the deformity. The grubs of the beetles feed on roots to obstruct  nutrient and water uptake  leading to wilting of plants. Keeping the orchard free from debris and decaying matters, use of light traps and mannual collection of grub and adults will aid in management the beetles. 

Mealy bug: Dysmicoccus brevipes, specially called as pineapple mealy bug, a polyphagus pest, infests the crop in colony.  Both the  shoots and undergrounds portions are affected. They suck the sap from there to affect the plant growth. Bugs secrete sugary substances to cause sooty mold formation that affects the plants photosynthesis.  Keeping the orchard free from weed, dipping the planting material in mild insecticidal solutions may take care of bugs.

Fruit borer: Strymon megarus is a butterflies and caterpillars of which bore into fruits and cause damage. Here butterflies lay eggs on flowers and caterpillars are hatched during fruiting  stage and start feeding there on. Caterpillars bore tunnels into fruits and affected fruits shows oozing of gums. They bore deep into the fruits causing galleries and the same may lead to decay of entire fruit.  

Thrips: Holopothrips ananasi is a pineapple thrip. Adults lay eggs by incising the leaves. Freshly hatched nymphs and adults suck the sap from shoots, leaves and flowers. Affected leaves shows silvey streaks  or patches on their surfaces. To manage the thrips, mulching around the plants to avoid them pupating in soils and  spray with suitable insectides will be useful. 

Diseases affecting Pineapple cultivation:

         There are some of the important diseases affecting pineapple cultivation and affects their growth and  yield. Heart-rot, root-rot, base-rots and fruitlet rots are very important fungal diseases,  where as  Pink disease and Marbling are two important viral diseases.

Heart and root rot : The disease is other wise called as top rot or phytopthera rot. The disease is caused by Phytopthera sps kind of  fungai. The pathogens are  soil borne. Previous seasons debris may become  source of inoculum. This rot affects roots, leaves and stems. Initially heart leaves turns yellow to coppery browns, later spread to younger leaves. In advanced stage, heart start getting detached or easily be pulled out from the plant. In severe condition entire plant decays  with emiting foul smell. In case of root rot, roots start decaying and necrosis, associated with   yellowing of leaves and wilting of plants. The diasese is well managed by avoiding water logging conditions by providing proper drinage, collecting and destroying plant debris. 

Base  rot: caused by the fungus Chalara paradoxa. Infection starts developing at initial stages itself on suckers, slips,  just after planting. The greyish to black spots start developing on base of the suckers or slips or crowns leading to decay and cavity later on. The condition affect initial establishment of plants. Proper drying and fungicidal dip of propogatory materials takes care of the disease. 

Green eye: The ailment is caused by Penicillium and Fusarium type of fungus. The disease is otherwise called as fruitlet rot.  Here indivudual fruitlet start decaying internally, leaving the fruits healty outside.  Affected fruits develop cavity inside and show brownish or dark decaying. The diseases is managed by balanced nutrition, leaving less scope for Ca difficiency. Keeping the orchard weed free is also essential.

Corking of fruits: The disease is caused by Penicium funiculosom. The disease is symtomatic of corking of tissues between futilets.   It almost resemble boron difficiency.  Here portion or entire fruits remains deformed.