Pineapple
Botanical Name - Ananas sativus
Family - Bromeliaceae

Kew, Mauritius, Queen, Amritha and MD 2

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.

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%.

July – September

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.

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.

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