Crop regulation for round-the-year harvesting of guava

Abstract

Guava (Psidium guajava L.), the poor man's apple, is one of the most common fruit grown widely in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Guava has well established markets in more than 60 countries. The top ten guava producers in the world are India, China, Thailand, Pakistan, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, Bangladesh, Philippines and Nigeria. Guava bear fruits at different times of the year. However, harvesting all the crops in small amount is not profitable, In India, maximum fruiting is found in the rainy season which are poor in quality due to high water content and severely attacked by fruit fly while the winter harvested fruits are superior in quality having good market demand. Cycling of crop to avoid rainy season crop and increasing winter crop is possible. Cycling of crop by using different methods of flower regulation, it is possible to harvest guava round-the-year. The method(s) to be followed for crop regulation depend on climatic factors, cropping pattern, market and industry demand, cultivar, etc. The different methods used for crop cycling are a) water management to induce stress, b) pruning of shoots at different levels and at different times, c) training (bending) of shoots, and d) manual or chemical thinning of flowers. Spraying of different bioregulators (naphthaleneacetic acid, naphthalene acetamide, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, etc.), chemicals (4,6-dintro-o-cresol, potassium iodide, urea, etc.) at different concentrations were found effective in de-blossoming and regulation of cropping. Crop cycling for round-the-year harvest is possible by pruning of shoots at different times of the year. This paper will discuss the different methods of crop cycling in guava.