Guava cultivation

GUAVA

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) belongs to large family Myrtaceae or Myrtle and introduce in central position of America and the southern area of Mexico Guava is main temperate and subtropical fruit produced in various soils and endure environment. It produced fruit two times annually but the most excellent quality fruit is getting in winter 

       In terms of production, guava is considered fourth most important fruit after banana, citrus and mango At market level guava is considered as "super-fruits" in term of nutritional importance. Guava mainly contained vitamins C and A with seeds that are rich in omega-6 poly-unsaturated fatty acids, riboflavin, dietary fiber (promotes digestion and ease bowel), proteins and mineral salts. Vitamin C helps in absorption of vitamin E and regulates the LDL and HDL cholesterol level. Guava fruits are used in the preparation of jelly, juice, jam, nectar, slices in syrup, bar/ leather and dried products

Nutritional value

Guava fruit is  rich in dietary fiber and vitamin C, it also contains moderate levels of folic acid. it is rich of, low-calorie essential nutrients, its total vitamin C content in one serving (90 mg) still provides 100% of the Dietary Reference Intake, Guavas contains a large amount of phytochemicals like  carotenoids ,polyphenols like (gallocatechin and leucocyanidin)  these phytochemicals produce the fruit skin and flesh color, red-orange guavas have more polyphenol and carotenoid content than yellow-green ones

Medicinal Uses: The roots, bark, leaves and immature fruits, because of their astringency, are commonly employed to halt gastroenteritis, diarrhea and dysentery, throughout the tropics. Crushed leaves are applied on wounds, ulcers and rheumatic places, and leaves are chewed to relieve toothache. The leaf decoction is taken as a remedy for coughs, throat and chest ailments, gargled to relieve oral ulcers and inflamed gums

Origin and Distribution

At present, it is mainly produced in South Asian countries, the Canada, Hawaiian Island, Cuba, Brazil, Pakistan and India. The major guava growing areas include Shariqpur, Kasur, Lahore, Sheikhupura, Sangla Hills and Gujranwala in Punjab; Kohat, Haripur and   Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Larkana and Hayderabad in Sindh. Thus, it has attained the status of the fourth most important fruit of the country and the third most important fruit of the Punjab. Since last decade the guava production has been adversely affected by a decline problem Decline of guava is a national problem in Pakistan and has resulted in yield reduction from 8920 kg per hectare in 2003-04 to  8223 kg per hectare in 2008-09 (1). In many orchards, a large number of guava plants has declined and become unproductive, particularly in different guava growing districts of the Punjab, namely Lahore, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, Jhang and Sargodha

Cultivars grown in Pakistan

 Safeda,Allahabad,,KarelaSeed less,Red fleshed,Apple colour, White Allahabadi, Red

Allahabadi, and loca/Desi,  Ramzani, Allahabadi, Indian, Benazir

Propagation

Guava seeds remain viable for many months. Seeds require 2 to 3 weeks for germination but may take as long as 8 weeks.. Seedlings are transplanted when 5-75 cm high and set out in the field when 1 or 2 years old. Propagation through sexual method cant give true to type fruits that’s why vegetative propagation is preferred like root cuttings,air-layers ,inarching,Approach grafting it can be successfully propagated from cuttings under mist. Leafy shoot-tip cuttings of current season growth (10-12 cm long) treated with Indole butyric acid give more that 80% rooting after six weeks when planted in sand under mist in greenhouse during July-August.

Pollination

The best pollinator of guavas fruit  is the honeybee (Apis mellifera). The amount of cross-pollination ranges from 25.7 to 41.3%.

                                                           Climate

The guava tolerate in both humid and dry climates, it grows up to an altitude of 3,280 ft .It can thrive only a few degrees of frost. Young trees have been damaged or killed by frost. The guava requires an annual rainfall between 1,000-2,000 mm

Soil

The guava will grow in any type of soil, well on heavy clay, light sandy, gravel bars near streams, and tolerating a pH range from 4.5 to 9.4. It is s salt-resistant. Good drainage gives better results   but guavas can also grow on land with a high water table–which is not suitable for other fruit trees.

Growth an development

Recommanded distance for Guava trees is 5-6 meters.plant  grows rapidly and gives fruit in 2-4 years. It live 30-40 years but productivity declines after the 15th year. In guava, fruits are borne on current season’s growth.. NPK at the ratio of 2:1:1 in two equally split doses once in January and other in August is recommended. Guava some time suffers from deficiency of zinc and iron. Spraying the trees with 7.0 gm per litter of ZnSo4  and 46.5 gm of FeSo4 improves yield and quality. guava trees can be grown as cordons on a wire fence. Rows should always run north and south so that each tree receives the maximum sunlight. Exudates from the roots of guava trees tend to inhibit the growth of weeds over the root system.Light pruning is always recommended to develop a strong framework, and suckers should also be eliminated around the base. The fruit tree is drought-tolerant but in dry regions lack of irrigation during the period of fruit development will cause the fruits to be deficient in siz

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                                                                             Cropping and Yield

The fruit requires 90 to 150 days after flowering to harvest. Yields vary with the cultivar and cultural treatment. Experiments have shown that foiler application with 25% urea plus a wetting agent to young guava trees will bring them into production early and shorten the harvest period from the usual 15 weeks to 4 weeks. At maturity fruit color  turns from green to oil green and at ripening creamy. Hand picking of ripened fruits two to three times a week is suggested. The harvesting season many last 8-10 weeks. Fruit is highly perishable, therefore, it should be immediately marketed after harvest  cultivation of guava is 58,500 hectares and the total production is 468,300 tonnes. Pakistan's guava production increased from. 19,000 tons in 1958 to 552,000 tons in the year 2008; an annual growth rate of 6.9%.

Diseases:

during rainy season, the fungal attack is responsible for fruit rot. Wilt, associated with the fungi brings about gradual decline and death of under nourished, 1-5 years old guava trees. Fruit fly is major pest during the fruit production period. Fruit dropping and inside rotting cause heavy losses. 

Export

Pakistan’s exports of guava over the past five years were to Canada, UAE, UK, Saudi Arabia and Qatar

Local market for fruit drinks and juices have grown rapidly over the years. The market size of juice, nectars and still drinks for the year 2009 was 461 million litres. Overall market growth from 2005 to 2009 was recorded at 126 per cent.

Fruit processing and preservation

 Selection of fruits

            Sound, healthy and fully ripened guavas will be selected for food processing and quality control of the, the fruits will be washed and the help of mechanical pulper extracted pulp. This pulp will be used to prepare drink.

 Preparation of drink:

            The drink samples will be prepared by the addition of pulp and water at 1:4 while the sweeteners (aspartame,glutamase ,cyclamate etc these are non nutrutive). Or sugar can be used 2 ratio   .The low caloric sweeteners will added in various treatments according to their relative sweetness with sucrose at different level as given below. The control drink will be prepared by using the same formulation.  Citric acid (0.01%) will be added to maintain acidity of the product. For enhancement, the preservation period of drink samples potassium metabisulphite will be added as chemical preservative at the rate of 0.06% to each formulation.

Packing and storage of drink

            The ready drink samples  will be filled in 250 ml capacity clear glass container and placed at room temperature for physicochemical and sensory valuation at gap of 15 days for whole time of 90 days.