Scientific Almond Cultivation for Higher Returns
N. Ahmed and M.K. Verma
Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) Old Air Field, P.O.:Rangreth - 190007 Srinagar, J&K (India)
Citation Ahmed, N. and Verma, M.K., 2009. Scientific Almond Cultivation for Higher Returns Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Srinagar, J&K
Compiled and Edited by N. Ahmed M.K. Verma
Published by Prof. N. Ahmed Director Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) Old Air Field, P.O.: Rangreth - 190 007 Srinagar, J&K (India)
Printed by M/s Royal Offset Printers, A-89/1, Naraina Industrial Area Phase-I, New Delhi-110 028 Ph.: 011-25797524
Contents
Introduction
1
Varieties and Technologies identified for Higher Productivity
2
1. Improved varieties Production Technologies
2 5
1. Climate requirement
5
2. Soil requirement
5
3.
5
Quality planting material production Rootstock raising
4. Planting
6
5. Training and Pruning
7
6. Water Management
8
7.
8
Pollination Management
8. Inter cropping
9
9.
9
Nutrient management
10. Harvesting
10
11. Post harvest handling
11
12. Storage
11
Management of important insect pest and major disease
11
Life Cycle of Almond
14
Introduction Almonds are native to Mediterranean region and are considered as one of the oldest tree nut in the world and are closely related to peach and are probably evolved from the same ancestral species in South-Central Asia and from there it spread along the shores of the Mediterranean in Northern Africa and Southern Europe by Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. It was bought to California in the 17th century by Spanish where the industry progressed and production increased several folds due to cultivation of superior varieties accompanied by prudent scientific production and protection technologies making California the world leader in almond production. In India it was 1st introduced to Kashmir during 16th century by Persian settlers but inspite of its great potential in the region, the crop could not be developed on commercial scale as that of apple.
Nutritional Importance Almonds are the healthiest and most nutritious nuts of all, considered a well-balanced cholesterol free food. A 100g contains 575calorie, fibre (12.2g), excellent source of vitamin E (26mg), total fat 949g), monounsaturated fat (31g), total Omega-3 fatty acid (6mg), total Omega-6 fatty acid (12065mg), protein (21g), potassium (670mg), magnesium (268mg), phosphorus (484mg) calcium (265mg) and iron (3.5mg). They have low in saturated fat and contain many other protective nutrients. Calcium and magnesium good for strong bones, vitamin E and compounds called phytochemicals are power house, which may help protect against cardiovascular disease and even cancer, reduce heart attack risk, lower cholesterol had a favorable effect on blood cholesterol levels.
Area and Production World almond production has been increased many folds from 1995 (1034 MT) to 2007 (2065 MT) of shelled product. The main producing countries are United States of America (40%), Spain (12.45%), Syria (6.77%), Italy (6.38%), Iran (6.53%), Morocco (4.70%), Algeria (3.39%), Tunisia (2.67%), Greece (2.83%) and Turkey (2.45%). In India it is grown over an area of 23.81 thousand hectares with a production of 17.23 producing 11.47 thousand MT. The average productivity of almond (with shelled) in India is very low (0.51t/ha) as compared to UAE (14.15t/ha), Jordan (6.55t/ha), Syria (4.81t/ha), Israel (4.49t/ha), Lebanon (4.49t/ha), Uzbekistan (3.45t/ha) and USA (3.04t/ha). However, domestic demand is increasing every year, with the result, the country is importing almond to the tune of more than Rs.920 crores annually. The production and productivity can be increased many fold if high yielding varieties and scientific production and protection technologies suited to the region are adopted. The Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH) and State Agriculture Universities (SAU’s) in the recent past have made efforts in identifying and developing varieties and technologies suited to the region. With the available varieties and technologies, the productivity can be increased from 0.92t/ha in J&K to about 3t/ha which would be much higher than the world average (1.0t/ha) and is almost equal to the productivity of USA (3.0t/ha).
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Varieties and Technologies Identified for Higher Productivity 1. Improved varieties There are number of varieties available in almond. But there are four major varieties of export quality viz., Non Pareil, California Paper Shell, IXL and Merced. In addition to these exotic cultivars, recently released indigenous cultivars like Shalimar, Makhdoom and Waris have also shown very promising results under Kashmir conditions. The salient features of important cultivars are: S. Variety No.
Salient features
1. Non Pareil
Variety is a regular bearer, mid bloomer (bloom during 3rd week of March) and early maturing matures after 141 days after full bloom. The tree is upright to spreading. It bears flower and nuts on both spurs as well as on long shoots having good ability to renew fruiting wood and is relatively resistant to frost. The nut has an extra light colour, papery shell that gives a high shelling percentage (60%). It has a medium size kernel. The variety is suitable for export market as nut and kernels. The average productivity is 2.5t/ha.
2. California Variety is a regular bearer, bloom during 2nd Paper Shell week of March and ready to harvest after 152 days from the date of full bloom. The tree is upright suitable for high density plantations. It bears flower and nuts on both spurs as well as on long shoots with good ability to renew fruiting wood. The nut and kernel are longer in size with extra light colour, papery shell that gives shelling percentage of 50%. This variety is also suitable for export market . The average productivity is 2.0t/ha. 3. Merced
2
Variety is a regular bearer, bloom during 3rd week of March and ready to harvest after 152 days from the date of full bloom. The tree is upright suitable for high density plantations. It bears flower and nuts on both spurs as well as on long shoots with good ability to renew fruiting wood. Shell colour intermediate with papery shell gives shelling percentage (56%). The variety is also suitable for export of kernels. The average productivity is 2.0t/ha.
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4. IXL
Variety is a regular bearer, bloom during 3rd week of March and ready to harvest after 151 days from the date of full bloom. The tree is spreading type and of intermediate vigour. It bears flower and nuts on both spurs as well as on long shoots with good ability to renew fruiting wood. The nut and kernels are medium and shell colour intensity is intermediate. Shells are soft that gives a high shelling percentage (55%). The average productivity is 2.5t/ha.
5. Shalimar
Variety is a regular bearer, bloom during 2nd week of March and ready to harvest after 143 days from the date of full bloom. The tree growth habit is spreading/ drooping type. It bears flower and nuts on both long shoots and spurs with good ability to renew fruiting wood. The shell colour is light, papery type that gives a high shelling percentage (50%). The variety is also suitable for export. The average productivity is 2.0t/ha.
6. Makhdoom Variety is a regular bearer, bloom during 1st week of March and ready to harvest after 141 days from the date of full bloom. The tree growth habit is spreading/ drooping type. It bears flowers and nuts on long shoots and spurs with good ability to renew fruiting wood. The shell colour is medium, soft type plump that gives a shelling percentage of 42%. The average productivity is more than 2.0t/ha. 7. Waris
Variety is a regular bearer, bloom during 3rd week of March and ready to harvest after 145 days from the date of full bloom. The tree growth habit is upright and is suitable to grow under high density orcharding. It bears flower and nuts on long shoots and spurs. The shell colour is medium, soft shelled, nut are medium, soft shelled with, plump kernels and gave shelling percentage of 48%. The average productivity is more than 2.0t/ha.
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8. Pranyaj
Variety is a regular bearer, bloom during 3rd week of March and ready to harvest after 144 days from the date of full bloom. The tree growth habit is upright and is suitable to grow under high density orcharding. It bears flower and nuts on long shoots and spurs. The shell colour is light, very soft shelled, nut are medium, soft shelled with, plump kernels and gave shelling percentage of 44%. The average productivity is more than 2.0t/ha.
Makhdoom
Merced
Shalimar
Waris
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California paper Shell
Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture
Pranayaj
Primorskij
Other high yielding cultivars Primorskij, Ne Plus Ultra, Peerless, Thompson, Carmel, Price, Butte, Ruby, Fritz, Monterey, Sonora, Padre and Le Grand.
Production Technologies 1. Climate requirement Almond needs Mediterranean climate having slightly hot summer (30-350C temperature) with cool winters for plant growth and kernel filling. Unopened blossoms known to withstand cold up to -2.2oC, but blossoms at petal fall stage are killed at 0.50 to (-) 1.1oC. The blossoms can often withstand temperature from (-) 2.2o to (-) 3.3oC for a short time but if low temperature continuous for many hours they get damaged.
2. Soil requirement Deep, loamy, well drained soils are ideal for almond growing, but can be grown in average soils supplemented with FYM and assured irrigation. Trees do not thrive well in heavy or poorly drained soils.
3. Quality planting material production Rootstock raising For production of healthy and desired size of rootstocks, nuts from freshly harvested dried bitter almonds are preferred. The seeds are first stratified by keeping in moist sand from November to March at the coolest shady place. This treatment releases the dormancy and seeds are ready to germinate during March. The germinated seeds are generally sown in the nursery beds in line at 10cm spacing (plant to plant) and 45cm between row to row. The young seedlings should be regularly irrigated and given nitrogen fertilizers during summers
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for getting the desired size (pencil size thickness) of rootstocks in the same year. These plants are ready for budding during the month of July to 1st week of August. For dry areas, seedlings of almond and apricot are more suitable while for irrigated lands peach seedlings like Lovell, Halford, Nemaguard and Nemared are found good, which are extensively used as rootstocks in commercial cultivation of almonds at California.
Budding and Grafting Scion woods of required almonds are budded/ grafted on to seedling rootstocks of pencil size thickness in July, when sap flow in the rootstock and bud wood is ideal. The ideal method of budding is ‘T’ or shield budding 10cm above the ground. The grafting is done in the month of March following wedge method.
Essential requirement i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii)
Suitable age of rootstock Size of rootstock Method of budding Method of grafting Time of budding Time of grafting Height of budding
: : : : : : :
1-1 1/2 yrs. Pencil size ‘T’ budding Wedge grafting July-August Feb. - March 10-15 cm above ground
Raising of rootstocks for budding
4. Planting The budded/ grafted plants should be planted in square system at a distance of either 6X6m (normal farmers planting system), 4.0x 4.0m (Medium high density system),and 3.5 X 3.5-2.5m (under high density planting system) . Every third row should be pollinizer row. Before planting, pits of 3x3x3ft should be dig up size during the month of September-October. The plants should be planted from February to March in the centre of pit, provided by desired bamboo supports to protect the trees from winds etc.
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Medium density plantation (4m × 4m)
Medium high density plantation (3.5m × 3.5m)
High density plantation (3.0m × 3.0m)
High density plantation (2.50m × 2.50m)
5. Training and Pruning i) At planting time:- Head back the tree to 1m above ground level. ii) 1st dormant pruning:- Three primary scaffold branches retained along with few temporary branches below trunk, removing only those which compete strongly with primary scaffolds and the tree is trained to a shape of modified leader system. One year old wood is pruned each year in December/January when tree is completely dormant. Almond produces most of their fruit on short spurs which remain fruitful for about 5 years. Therefore, pruning should be done in such a manner that 1/5th of fruiting wood is replaced each year. Prune in such a way that new wood with new spur growth is constantly replacing spur that are no longer fruitful. To achieve this, only prune or remove older branches that are 1.2 to 3.7 cm in diameter. Thin out very little of the smaller wood, except to remove unwanted water sprouts or suckers. The success of pruning program can be judged,
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in part by the length of new shoots over the entire tree each year, if other factors are not limiting the growth.
6. Water Management For fresh plantings, apply sufficient water to settle the soil around the roots and give subsequent at an interval of 10-15 days and keep the optimum moisture level for achieving better yields and plump kernels. Annual water requirement Rooting depth Allowable depletion soil water Range of application depth of water Irrigation intervals
: : : : :
300-400 mm 2 to 2.5 m 30 % 75-80 mm 10-15 days.
The critical stages of almond which are most sensitive to water shortages are flowering (Feb to March) and fruit development (April, May and June). Therefore, irrigations must be provided during these stages for getting higher yield of quality nuts. The drip irrigation particularly in Karews found very efficient. Four drippers with a discharge of 4 litres/hour for 5 hours at an interval of 4-5 days require about 1600 litres per tree per season resulting in saving of about 40-50 percent water over conventional. Mulching of tree basins with straw or black polythene further conserve moisture and reduces irrigation intervals. In dry rainfed areas where there is no source of irrigation water, rain water harvesting methods depending upon the topography combined with straw or polythene mulching can be very useful for conservation of moisture, enhancing water availability and increasing plant growth, fruit set and nut yield.
7. Pollination Management Almond trees in general are not self pollinating. Therefore it is necessary to provide every third row in each orchard with pollinizer variety (33% pollinizer) so that their bloom should coincide with each other. The varieties which are generally used for commercial almond
Placement of beehive in almond orchard
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cultivation as pollinizer like IXL, Jordanalo, Ne-Plus-Ultra and Waris. In addition, to this, placement of 4-6 beehives is found highly beneficial and can for increase fruit set and yield of almond by 12-15 percent.
8. Inter cropping During the pre-bearing stage of almond orchard, intercropping with several suitable crops are recommended for realizing some farm income through sustainable utilization of interspaces and available resources. The following crops are recommended as intercrops in almond orchard like pea, saffron, pulses, seed production of turnip, knoll khol, carrot, mustard and bulb production of onion and garlic, and medicinal and aromatic plants like lavender, lavendine etc. Besides realizing some income, the growing of legumes like pea and pulses increasing soil fertility, seed production of turnips and mustard augmenting to pollination by attracting bees, and growing of medicinal and aromatic plants like garlic, lavender, lavendine etc are acting as repellant to insect ant pests and diseases.
Intercropping with vegetable crops for seed production
9. Nutrient management Almond is a heavy feeder. Therefore, it requires substantial amount of manures and fertilizers. They should be provided timely and in appropriate quantity at right growing stages. It is recommended to apply well rotten farm yard manure (FYM) in each tree at rate of 20-25 kg/ tree during winter fall (Dec.-Jan). Fertilizers doses should be applied on the basis of soil test and leaf nutrient analysis. However, in general the following recommendations may be adopted depending upon the age of the tree. Urea may be applied in 2-3 split doses. 1st half dose should be applied along with DAP (full) and MOP (full) at fortnight before expected bloom, 2nd dose (1/4th) of Urea may be applied about 3 weeks after fruit set and third dose of Urea (1/4th) should be applied in MayJune. Foliar spray of urea about 1.5-2 percent may also be given for promoting fruiting bud formation and subsequent growth in the next season.
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Age of the tree (years)
Fertilizers/trees (gm.) Phosphorus DAP
UREA
Nitrogen
1
55
30
25
2
110
60
3
170
4
MOP
Potassium
5
50
30
50
10
130
65
90
75
15
200
100
225
120
100
20
260
130
5
280
150
125
25
330
165
6
400
210
150
30
580
290
7
515
270
200
40
750
375
8
635
330
225
45
910
455
9
740
390
300
60
1080
540
10 year and onwards
860
450
325
65
1240
600
th
10. Harvesting After the bloom the petal drops. The leaves grow and give fuzzy gray –green “fruit�. The nuts are covered with green hull that continues to harden and grow. Around end of July it begins to split open. Between mid to late August the splits widens which exposes the shell and this allows the nut to dry. Therefore, more than 50% split stage; the nuts are generally harvested by manual plucking. Sometimes during the harvest period if rain generally occurs it deteriorates the nut quality and nuts get black to dark brown in colour. The harvesting is done manually or by knocking the branches with sticks but care be taken to save the fruiting wood and branches particularly while knocking the branches with sticks. Later on hull is removed manually. However, in California, nuts generally separates from hull on tree itself
Maturity indices
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Almonds ready for harvest
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Harvesting Manually
Heep of freshly harvested almonds
which are being harvested mechanically through “Shakers� and are being dried and then transported to the huller.
11. Post harvest handling Just after harvestings, fruits needs hulling otherwise they attracts fungal infection very quickly. Nuts are sun dried or dried by forced hot air until their moisture content reaches 57%. Poly tunnels with fan can also be used for best and hygienic drying. Nuts are then dehulled and shelled.
12. Storage Almonds packed in air tight container or sealed bags can be stored in cool dark place for months either inshell or shelled if dry. For very long periods when frozen but should not be exposed to humidity. Commercially, nuts for long storage are fumigated for naval orange worm and kept at below 10C.
Management of important insect pest and major disease Pest/ Diseases
Symptoms
Control
Shot hole (Leaf spot)
Caused by Stigmina, Cladosporium. The leaves, twigs and fruits develop small, round to irregular, light brown to dark brown lesions. The necrotic spots on leaves form shot holes
The tree may be sprayed with 0.2% Captan 50 WP or 0.3% Copper Oxychloride or 0.3% Mancozeb 75% WP. Extract of botanicals such as garlic and Artemisia have also been found effective when integrated with chemical
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fungicides. Leaf curl
Caused by Taphrina deformans. The leaf blade becomes thickened and puckered along with midrib and the leaf curled and turns yellowish and may exude gum like substances. Flower and fruits, when infected drop prematurely.
Spray the tree before bud burst with 0.25% Captan 50 WP or 0.3% Copper Oxchloride. Clip infected leaves.
Leaf curling aphid
The nymph and adults suck the sap from leaves, petioles, blossoms and fruits causing leaf curl and distortion. Blossoms withers and fruits do not develop and drop, if formed.
Clip the infected deformed leaves and spray the crop with (0.025%) ai or Chloropyriphos (0.02%) ai Methyle Demeton.
Gummosis and Gum is exuded and deposited on the bark perennial canker of trees in response to any type of wound, due to insects, mechanical injury or disease infection.
Scrap the lesions and paste with Chaubattia paste/ Boudreaux mixture. Avoid unnecessary injury and control insect pests.
Mite
They puncture the tissues of the leaves and feed on plant sap. Infestation causes early drooping of leaves, retarded growth, weakened fruit buds and reduces size of the fruits.
Dormant oil emulsion spray or delayed dormant spray with diesel oil + Ethion (0.05%) or Methyle Demeton (0.025%) ai (80ml/100lit.) in mid June.
White grub/ chaffer beetle
Fruitlets are eaten away and leaves are perforated by adult beetles after sunset during night. Grubs feed on roots and may cause wilting of the plant. If uncontrolled, the adult beetles defoliate the whole tree during June-July.
Apply Phorate 10g or Aldicarb 10g @2.0kg ai per hectare in the soil against chaffer beetles. Spray 0.02% ai Chloropyriphos after sunset results in complete knock down adult beetles in Karewa conditions of Kashmir. Biological control with Beauveria bassiana 108 spores/ml has also been found effective when integrated with chemical fungicides.
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Shot hole disease
Leaf curl
Leaf curling aphid
Gummosis
Mite
White grub
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Life Cycle of Almond
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1. Dormancy
2. Bloom
3. Maturing nuts
4. Hull split
5. Harvesting
6. Processing
7. Storage
8. Forms
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