POMEGRANATE CULTIVATION

Pomegranate is one of the commercial fruit crops of India. It is native to Iran (Persia).Pomegranate is known as a drought tolerant crop, yet regular irrigation is mandatory to commercial yield production.Water levels and optimal irrigation regime depend on a plurality of factors as soil type, tree size, physiological phase and potential evaporation.As a rule the tree needs little supplemental irrigation. The commonly used irrigation regime in pomegranate orchards relies mainly on the experience gained by growers and less on formal experiments. Pomegranate prefers dry climate. During fruit development. Proloned hot and dry climate is required. Optimum temperature congenial for fruit development is 38 degree C. in humid climate the fruits are severely damaged by pomegranate butterfly and do not develop sweetness. It is winter hardy and very drought tolerant. It can grow upto an elevation of 1850 meters. Pomegranate grows well under semi-arid conditions and can be grown upto an altitude of 500 m. above m.s.l.. It thrives well under hot, dry summer and cold winter provided irrigation facilities are available. The tree requires hot and dry climate during fruit development and ripening. Pomegranate tree is deciduous in areas of low winter temperature and an evergreen or partially deciduous in tropical and sub-tropical conditions. It can tolerate frost to a considerable extent in dormant stage, but is injured at temperature below – 110C. It grows under wide variety of soils and can tolerate even alkalinity and salinity to certain extent. However, best results are obtained in deep heavy loam and well drained soils. It is sensitive to soil moisture fluctuations causing fruit cracking which is a serious problem of this crop. Well drained, sandy loan to deep loamy or alluvial soils is suitable for Pomegranate Farming. Pomegranate is one of the “seven kinds” mentioned in the Bible which Israel was blessed with long ago. It grew in the region for thousands of years and is very much adapted to it: it sheds its leaves in the cold of our winters, while it sprouts in early spring when temperatures rise. It ripens at the end of the summer, very close to the beginning of the Jewish New Year. It was and is used for decoration and blessings in ceremonies of the New Year celebrations and the later holidays. It decorated temples in the past and appeared on ancient coins. Because of its decorative value in Israel, its selection was done mainly for external appearance, not so much for eating quality. Nice colour and crown are very important characteristics of the fruit. Consumers in Israel do not distinguish pomegranate according to names. Merchants know two groups: sweet and sour cvs. Therefore the price is decided mainly by appearance. There are objective difficulties in eating pomegranates. The edible grains have to be separated from the hard rind and from the bitter yellow diaphragms. The juice stains hands and clothes. Therefore “tools” are needed to prepare the fruit for eating while many other fruits can be eaten directly. There were attempts to serve the consumers with a “ready to eat” product of separated grains. Those products are hand prepared and have not gained popularity yet because of their high price. We believe that the market for the fruit can be expanded if good products are available to the consumers. The aim of the growers is to produce more than 30 tons per hectare of high quality fruits. Big fruit obtain higher price than small one. Fruit weight should be more than 400 grams. Small fruits have no market. The fruit should have nice colour, preferably red with a nice crown. Grains should be pink-red, large, sweet with pleasant aroma. The seeds should be soft. Except for very calcareous or saline soils the pomegranate can be successfully grown in all soils. Most orchards in Israel are planted in medium or heavy soils with good drainage. In heavy soils ridges are sometimes prepared to have a better aeration of the root system in order to obtain higher production. There is no problem to plant in light-sandy soils as all orchards are well irrigated and can be irrigated even daily with the needed amount of water. The shape and size of the mature trees should influence the orchard design. Generally in Israel the trees are standing alone, producing all around the tree. No hedges are created. As the planting material of pomegranate is very cheap (many people just plant unrooted cuttings), there is a tendency to overcrowd the orchard. In a crowded orchard, production is lowered, fruits are set only at the top of the trees, colouring is bad and distribution of spraying materials is very bad. Therefore the planting distances are generally 6×4 m or 6×5 m, except for the semi dwarf cultivars where planting distances could be somewhat closer like 5×3 m. Generally a tree will have few trunks 3-5 in a modern orchards while there were 5-12 in old orchards. The trees are trained to grow as an open vase. In such a way that light penetrates the trees from between the rows as well as from the inside of the trees. If the main trunks are bent too much, binding them with strong material to the opposite side branches is carried out. New branches appear on the exposed trunks. They are hand removed few times during the season while suckers are sprayed by “paraquat” or by 24D compounds. For renewing old trunks, new branches are left one per trunk. They can replace a trunk within 2-3 years of growth. The light penetration from between the rows depend on the distance between the rows and on the height of the trees. In the previously mentioned distances, tree height should not exceed 3.0-3.5 m. Higher trees will be more expensive to harvest as fruits will be mostly at the top of the trees. All manual treatments will be more expensive, and sprays of pesticides will be less effective. In order to achieve the desired shape of trees they are pruned in the winter, some care is taken also in the summer. In the winter pruning the height of the trees is brought back to the desired height. Broken, bent, and interfering branches are removed. In order to keep the interior of the tree open during growing season, summer pruning is carried out according to needs.