Pear cultivation

PEAR (Pyrus communis)

Pear stands 2nd in ranking after apples as the most important tree fruit in the world, grown in all the continents of the world. About 72% of all commercially cultivated species of genus Pyrus are native to Asia. Pear are placed in Rosaceae family, sub-family of pomoideae. World leading pear countries are Italy, United State & Japan etc. Genus Pyrus composed of 30 species found in Europe, Asia and North Africa, two major spp. are commercially cultivated European Pears (Pyrus communis L.) with pyriform /oblong in shape and 2nd is Asian Pears (Pyrus pyrifolia) which are more similar to apple, having hard flesh, unlike soft and melting flesh of European pears.

Tree of Pyrus communis is strong, upright and deciduous Flower are white and born on spurs of 4-12 with leaves. The fruit is pome like apple, is a false fruit since develop from floral tube instead of the ovary.  Pear are zuniversally self-incompatible and hence produced more fruits when cross pollinated, many of the good varieties are parthenocarpic. Extracts of different parts of plant have shown variable antibacterial action, fresh juice of pear (Micrococcus pyrogenus & Escherichia coli), extract of leaves is active against some stains of Escherichia coli. Leaves also contain antioxidants & phenolic compounds

CULTIVARS:

Pear cultivars fall into two groups ,first having soft fleshed fruits with inconspicuous grit cells (P.communis) and 2nd having firm hard flesh, with prominent grit cells of (P. pyrifolia) Important varieties grown in Pakistan are Clapp,s favourite, Hardy, Bose, Bartlett, Comice ,LeConte, Kieffer and Samar kandi. The recently introduced Flemish Beauty, Max Red Bartlett and Manning Elizabeth have promising. Bartlett is one of most popular soft cultivar of pear

SOIL & CLIMATE

•       Pears are grown on a wide range of soils, and tolerate heavy, poorly soils better than most tree fruits.

•       Like other fruit, they grown best on deep, fertile loam, a clay loam with well drained subsoil is generally considered the best.

•       Pear buds require about 900-1000 hours of chilling below 5^oC,areas above 1000 meters easily meet the chilling requirements of most pear varieties grown in Pakistan (Mardan,Quetta,Hazara,Peshawar region,Murree hills,AJ&K and Gilgit Baltistan)

PROPAGATION & ROOTSTOCK

•       Pears are prorogated by vegetative methods like cleft & whip grafting in winter or T budding in spring.

•       For standard pear trees seedlings of different varieties of common pear & Japanese pear are used.

•       For producing dwarf trees Quince(Cydonia oblonga) is universally rootstock.

•       In Pakistan seed of Batangi (Pyrus pashia),a wild cultivar of common pear is more commonly  used.

CULTURAL PRACTICES

Planting:

•        one year old plants are suggested as the best ones for transplanting.

•       The general rule for spacing pear tree is 6-7 meter apart and 7-8 meter between rows.

Fertilization:

•       The use of fertilizer on pear tree is about half of that recommended for Apple.

•       For a full grown tree about 50 kg of well rotted FYM , 1 kg ammonium sulphate,1.5kg superphosphate and 1 kg potassium sulphate should applied to.

Irrigation:

•       In young pear orchards moisture should available throughout the growing season.

•       Bearing trees should irrigated during May and June.

•       In Peshawar region weekly irrigation is given from flowering to fruit ripening, suspension in irrigation at any stage adversely affects fruit quality and yield.

Pruning:

•       Light annual dormant pruning is seems to be desirable procedure. Interfering limbs, dead or broken branches, and roots sprouts should be removed.

•       A young pear tree is trained and pruned to the modified leader system.

Fruit Thinning:

•       Relatively little fruit thinning is practiced with pear.

•       In case of verities such as Bartlett,Hardy,and Bose which tend to set heavy crops of fruit in cluster of three to five fruits on a single spur, it must reduced to 1-2 fruits per cluster.

•       Ethephone (400 ppm) is applied after full bloom was efficient against fruit thinning without any side effect on TSS,firmness or total acidity

 

Harvest

Summer and autumn cultivars of Pyrus communis, being climacteric fruits, are gathered before they are fully ripe, while they are still green, but snap off when lifted. In the case of the 'Passe Crassane', long the favored winter pear in France, the crop is traditionally gathered at three different times: the first a fortnight or more before it is ripe, the second a week or ten days after that, and the third when fully ripe. The first gathering will come into eating last, and thus the season of the fruit may be considerably prolonged.Nashi pears are allowed to ripen on the tree

Uses

Pears are consumed fresh, canned, as juice, and dried. The juice can also be used in jellies and jams, usually in combination with other fruits or berries. Fermented pear juice is called perry or pear cider.Pears ripen at room temperature. They will ripen faster if placed next to bananas in a fruit bowl.] Refrigeration will slow further ripening. Pear Bureau Northwest offers tips on ripening and judging ripeness: Although the skin on Bartlett pears changes from green to yellow as they ripen, most varieties show little color change as they ripen culinary or cooking pear is green but dry and hard, and only edible after several hours of cooking

peach varieties

Health benefits

The raw  Pears, contains  Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) Energy 239 kJ (57 kcal) Carbohydrates 15.23 g ,Sugars 9.75 g ,Dietary fiber 3.1 g, Fat 0.14 g, Protein, Vitamins and minerals

Pear juice

Pears are less allergenic than many other fruits, and pear juice is therefore sometimes used as the first juice introduced to infants However, caution is recommended for all fruit juice consumption by infants, as studies have suggested a link between excessive fruit juice consumption and reduced nutrient intake, as well as a tendency towards obesity.[26] Pears are low in salicylates and benzoates, so are recommended in exclusion diets for allergy sufferers.[27] Along with lamb and rice, pears may form part of the strictest exclusion diet for allergy sufferers Most of the fiber is insoluble, making pears a good laxative

Transport and Packaging to Optimize Pear Quality

Transportation of peaches in packing material

during transportation roller bruising or vibration damage  which  causes a dark mark on the fruit skin but does not damage the flesh. and also damage occurs when fruit is faces to vibration of greater acceleration of greater than one g. This is the threshold acceleration that just allows the fruit to move with respect to neighboring fruit or packaging. This type of damage usually occurs during highway transport.
Impact - Fruit that falls against a hard surface will have damaged flesh at the point of impact but will have little immediately noticeable damage to the skin. Drop height that causes damage is dependent of fruit firmness and shape and hardness of the landing surface. An intermediate firmness is often least susceptible to damage. Safe drop heights are lowest when fruit strikes a hard round surface (pipe), greater when fruit hits a hard flat surface, and greatest when fruit contacts a resilient surface.

Compression - A slowly applied pressure causes flesh damage with only a small effect on the skin surface. This damage is caused by weak packaging that allows the fruit to support the weight of product above it. Pears are most susceptible to compression damage when they are ripe and have a low flesh firmness.
Scuffing - This damage is caused by fruit rubbing or being pushed against a hard surface. Rough field bins and pickers leaning against filled canvas picking bags can cause this damage.

Harvest Damage
Harvest damage to pears can be reduced by:
Teaching pickers to not lean against the picking bag.
Using smooth-sided field bins - keeping plastic bins clean and lining wooden bins with plastic sheeting.
Grading orchard roads.
Keeping tractors speeds low.
Using air ride suspended trailers to move fruit bins.
Covering fruit in bins with a padded top that is pulled down against the fruit with rubber chords.

Highway Transport Damage
Vibration damage in highway transport is most noticeable on fruit on the top two or three box layers on the two rear-most pallet positions on a truck. Fruit is usually not damaged in the front of the trailer because it is supported by the tractor, which often has an air ride suspension. The rear of many trucks is on a steel-spring suspension that transmits a great deal of damaging vibration and the vibration. Top boxes are more subject to vibration damage because vibration is amplified as it is transmitted through a load of boxes.
Damage can be reduced by immobilizing the fruit in its package or by reducing the level of vibration transmitted to the product.
Pack pears in 3- to 5-lb plastic bags.
Ship fruit on an air-ride suspended trailer.
Do not load pears in the two rear-most pallet positions of a truck.