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Pineapple
Botanical Name – Ananas sativus
Family – Bromeliaceae

Varieties
Kew, Mauritius, Queen, Amritha and MD 2
Soil and Climate

Soil- 

  • A light well drained soil with pH of 5.5 to 7.0 is preferable.
  • Heavy soils can also be used if drainage facilities are available.

Climate –

  • Mild tropical climate as found in the humid hill slopes is best suited.
  • It can be grown in plains under shade.
  • Elevation from 500 m to 700 m is ideal. 

Spacing

  • Plant in double rows either in beds or in trenches with the plants into the second rows set in the middle of the plants in the first row.
  • The spacing between two trenches will be 90 cm.
  • Row to row spacing in the same bed per trench will be 60 cm and plant spacing within the row is 30 cm.

Planting

  • Use suckers (500 – 750 g) and slips (350 – 450 g) for planting.
  • Pineapple suckers are allowed to dry at least for 30- 35 days before planting.
  • To facilitate better rooting, it is necessary to strip off the scale leaves from the basal portions of the planting materials.
  • Give a slanting cut to the suckers before planting and dip in Mancozeb 0.3 % or Carbendazim 0.1%.

Season
July – September
Manures and Fertilizers

  • FYM 40-50 t / ha. N 16 g, P 4 g and K 12 g / plant in two equal splits at 6th and 12th month after planting.
  • Apply as foliar spray 0.5% – 1.0 % Zinc sulphate and Ferrous sulphate at
    15 days interval to overcome the deficiencies in the early crop phase.

After Cultivation

  • To have uniform flowering, apply the following when the crop attains 35 – 40 leaf stage.
  • NAA 10 ppm + 2 % urea (20 g in 1 lit of water) @ 50 ml / plant poured into crown or 2 % urea + 0.04 % Sodium carbonate + 20 ppm Ethephon (ethrel) @ 50 ml / plant poured into the crown.
  • To increase the size of the fruit, 200 – 300 ppm NAA should be sprayed after fruit formation.
  • To avoid calcium induced Iron chlorosis, provide adequate shade.
  • Mulching of pineapple field with black polythene, followed by thatch grass/saw-dust gives better yield and quality and suppresses the weed growth.

Nutritional deficiency

1.Nitrogen

Zinc

Deficiency Symptoms
  • Stunted growth.
  • Pale green to light yellow color (chlorosis) appearing first on older leaves, usually starting at the tips.
  • Depending on the severity of deficiency, the chlorosis could result in the death and / or dropping of the older leaves.
Correction Measure

Foliar spray of Urea 1-2 % at fortnightly intervals.

 

2.Phosphorus

Phosphorus

Deficiency Symptoms
  • Symptoms appear on older leaves.
  • The leaves are small and narrow with purplish or bronze discolouration.
  • Leaves develop necrotic areas and fall off.
Correction Measure

Soil application of phosphotic fertilizer or Foliar spray of DAP@2%

 

3.Potassium

Potassium

Deficiency Symptoms
  • Potassium symptoms appear first in older leaves older leaves orange, yellow to pale green colour. 
  • Upper surface show reddish purple discoloration. 
  • Young leaves remain dark green. 
  • Leaves curl down and lose luster and turgidity.
Correction Measure

Foliar spray of K2SO4 1% at fortnightly intervals.

 

4.Calcium

Calcium

Deficiency Symptoms
  • Young emerging leaves show chlorosis become pale green and curl down
  • Leaves later turn to greenish pink or red colour. 
  • The terminal shoot poorly developed.
Correction Measure

Application of CaSO4 @ 2kg / tree/year.

 

5.Boron

Boron

Deficiency Symptoms
  • Fruit necrosis which begins with the browning of inner most part of the mesocarpic tissues at the time of endocarp hardening. 
  • This is extended towards the epicarp resulting into brownish black areas on the fruit surfaces depending of the severity of the disorder.
Correction Measure

Foliar spray of [email protected]%

 

6.Copper

Copper

Deficiency Symptoms
  • Plants show overall droopy appearance with shortened intervals between petiole. 
  • Size of leaves reduced.
Correction Measure

Foliar spray of 1-2% CuSO4.

 

7.Iron

Iron

Deficiency Symptoms
  • Symptoms are first seen in the youngest leaves. 
  • The leaves eventually turn completely chlorotic.
Correction Measure

Foliar spray of [email protected]%

 

8.Zinc

Zinc

Deficiency Symptoms
  • Stunted growth narrowing of leaves with pale green or yellow. 
  • Inter-veinal chlorosis starting from tip of leaflets and spreading to the remaining area leaving only the midrib green. 
Correction Measure

Foliar spray of [email protected]%

Diseases

1.Heart rot: Phytophthora parasitica

Bacterial heart rot and fruit collapse of pineapple | Department of ...

Symptoms

  • The disease causes complete rotting of the central portion of the stem.
  • The top leaves turn brown and basal portion of leaves shows sign of rotting with foul odour.

Management

  • Affected plantations should be sprayed with Fosetyl AL 0.1%.
  • Good soil drainage and use of healthy planting material at helps in minimising the spread of the disease

2.Leaf and Fruit rot: Cyratostomella paradoxa

Fact sheet - Pineapple black rot (190)

Symptoms

  • Base or butt rot of planting material occurs when they are not dried and packed with little aeration.
  • Fungus also destroys older plants by entering through wounds caused in the collar region while weeding or other operations.
  • In severe conditions the entire plant may turn dark and rot within two or three days

Management

  • The disease can be controlled by dipping planting materials in 0.3% Dithane Z-78 or by spraying on leaves.
  • Copper fungicide should not be used in pineapple as they cause leaf scorching.
  • The diseased plants must be destroyed and suckers for propagation should never be collected from the infested area

3.Thielaviopsis rot: Thielaviopsis paradoxa

 

Root Rot (Thielaviopsis) | Center for Agriculture, Food, and the ...

 

Symptoms

  • The symptoms start at the stem and advance through most of the flesh with the only external symptom being slight skin darkening due to water soaking of the skin over rotted portions of the flesh.
  • As the flesh softens, the skin above readily breaks under slight pressure

Management

  • Avoid suckers from infected area for planting.
  • Avoid deep planting and used raised beds, improve drainage.
  • Use Bordeaux mixture 1% or Copper oxychloride 0.25% for preplant dip and for soil drench.

Plant Protection

1.Mealybug: Pseudococcus brevipes  

pineapple mealybug (Dysmicoccus brevipes)

Symptoms of damage

  • Nymphs and adults congregate on leaves and suck the sap
  • Yellowing
  • Wilting of leaves
  • Stunted growth of the plant
  • It is vector of pine apple wilt disease

Management

  • Cultivate resistant varieties like Red Spanish and queen
  • Collect planting material from unaffected plantation
  • Remove basal brownish leaves of cured planting
  • Dip the basal portion of the planting material in malathion 0.2%
  • Spray dimethoate 2ml/lit or methyldemeton 1.5 ml/lit
  • Release coccinellid beetle, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri @ 10 / tree

2.Rhinoceros beetle: Oryctes rhinoceros 

Rhinoceros (Oryctes nasicornis) 40 m/m

Symptoms of damage

  • Wilting of the plant due to adult boring at the base of the stem.

Management

  • Remove and burn all dead pine apple trees
  • Collect and destroy the various biostages in the manure pits
  • Iron hooking – kill adults from base of the stem
  • Set up light trap 1/ha
  • Soak castor cake 1 kg in 5 lit of water in small mud pots keep them in pine apple garden
  • Incorporate Metarhizium anisopillae, Baculovirus of oryctes was controlled the beetle
  • Use Rhinolure vane trap for attract adults
  • Conserve predators like reduviid bug Platymeris laevicollis
  • Spray carbaryl @ 0.1% at once in three months
  • Spray malathion @ 5%

Crop Duration

 18 – 24 months.

Harvest
Fruits can be harvested from 18 to 24 months. Slight colour change at the base of
the fruit indicates maturity.
Yield

50 t / ha.

A plant crop and two ratoon crops are normally taken. In Mauritius variety, upto five crops can be taken