Major Achievements

Till date 21varieties of different fruit crops & several technologies on various aspects of fruit cultivation have been released from the centre. Apart from above activities, about 45-50 thousand elite planting materials of various fruits are being produced every year and made available to the farmers. The details of the developed varieties, technologies & research works being conducted at the centre are given as follows:

1. Developed Varieties: The following varieties of various fruit crops have been evolved at the centre.

S.No.	Crop	Varieties
1.	Mango	Pant Sinduri, Pant Chandra
2.	Citrus	Pant Lemon-1
3.	Papaya	Pant Papaya-1, 2, 3
4.	Guava	Pant Prabhat
5.	Bael	Pant Shivani, Pant Aparna, Pant Urvashi, Pant Sujata
6.	Karonda	Pant Sudarshan, Pant Manohar, Pant Suvarna
7.	Peach	Pant Peach-1
8.	Plum	Pant Plum-1
9.	Low-chill pear	Pant Pear-3, 17, 18 (Gola)
10.	Jackfruit	Pant Garima, Pant Mahima

2. Developed technologies
   
   
   • High Density Orcharding of mango: High density orcharding have been standardized in mango. Dashehari mango planted at a distance of 2.5x3.0 m (1333 trees per hectare) with paclobutrazol (pp333) treatment gave 32 tons fruits per hectare at 10 years after planting. The bearing shoots of these trees are pruned, just after harvesting in last week of June.
   • High Density Orcharding of pear: Tatura trellis with a density of 2000 plants/ha and penn state low trellis hedge row system with a density of 1600 plants/ha proved excellent for pear-18 (Gola) yield more than 3-4 times as compared to square system.
   • Double Hedge row system in mango guava and litchi: To get maximum fruit yield from a per unit area Double Hedger row system of planting has been recommended to the growers.
   • Use of plant bio-regulators in mango: In case of cv. Langra, foliar spray of NAA (40 ppm) thrice during the period of foliar bud differentiation, panicle emergence and mustard stage of the fruit development was found effective in reducing fruit drop and increased fruit retention resulting in higher yield.
   • Rejuvenation in mango: The heading back upto crowded branches and centre opening with standard dose of paclobutrazol application has been recommended for rejuvenation of over-crowded orchard to increase the yield (up to 177.12% more yield in comparison to control), B:C ratio (up to 1.98) with good fruit quality in mango cv. Chausa.
   • Pruning in mango: The annual pruning of mango trees (cv. Dashehari) by heading back of 10 cm terminal shoots, immediately after fruit harvest along with paclobutrazol application (@1ml a.i. per meter canopy spread) has been found very effective for higher yield (147.0 % more yield in comparison to control), B:C ratio (4.04 against 3.53 in control), good fruit quality and for having the significant dwarfing effect on tree under HDP.
   • Increase in shelf life of mango: The pre-harvest application of CaNO 3 @4.0% with mulching or CaCl 2 @2.0% with mulching proved very effective for increasing the shelf life (up to 10-12 days) of Dashehari mango fruit.
   • Use of micronutrient for higher yield with good fruit quality in mango: The treatment of RDF + foliar spray of 0.2% Zinc sulphate + 0.1% Copper sulphate + 0.1% Boric acid (2 sprays at just before flowering and marble stage) is recommended to increase the productivity with good fruit quality of mango.
   • Crop regulation in guava: The technique of crop regulation in guava by shoot pruning to one leaf pair or by spraying 800 ppm NAA twice in first fortnight of May induced winter crop (18 tons/ha) by shifting rainy season crop to winter season and improving fruit quality which fetched Rs. 30 000/- additional net profit/ha to the grower.
   • Use of plant bio-regulators in Gola pear: Soil applied paclobutrazol (0.3g/cm trunk diameter i.e. 5-6 g/tree by TSLP) controlled excessive upright growth problem and enhanced productivity and fruit quality in Gola Pear. The productivity increased from 10 tons/ha in control to 25 tons/ha in the treated orchard.
   • Management of fruit necrosis in mango: Spraying of 0.8% borax three times at mustard stage, pea stage and marvel stage checks the necrosis in mango.
   • Regulation of fruit set in mango: The spray of KH 2 PO 4 @1% + KNO 3 @1%, just before bud break was found superior for increasing the percentage of flowering shoot (90.2%), hermaphrodite flowers (45.55%), fruit set, yield (37.34% more yield) and quality of mango cv. Dashehari.
   • Standardization of inorganic source for nutrient management in guava: The treatment comprising ½ dose of recommended fertilizers + 50 kg FYM + 250g Azospirillium gave maximum yield (104.87 q/ha). The yield was increased by about 27.69 per cent over control (i.e. 500 g : 200 g : 500 g NPK/tree).
   • Use of plant bio-regulators in litchi: To get good quality fruit spray of Borex at the rate of 0.8% is recommended and to minimize the fruit drop 20 ppm NAA has been recommended.
   • Control of fruit cracking in litchi: Fruit cracking in litchi is controlled by simple water spray (4-8 times) in April-May.
   • Integrated nutrient management in litchi: Application of ½ RDF + 50 kg FYM + 5 kg Vermi - compost has been recommended to improve fruit yield (50.76% more yield compared to control (i.e. 1000:500:500 g NPK/tree) and quality in litchi cv. Rose Scented.
   • Pruning in Litchi: Harvesting of fruits with 50 cm branch and removal of new flushes in Nov. - Dec. could be used for getting higher yield (26.6% more yield) in litchi cv. Rose Scented.
   • Girdling in litchi for regular and more yield: Girdling of 50% of primary branches with 6mm wide cut performed in month of September has been found effective for increased yield (41.0% more yield as compared to non-girdled tree) with good quality fruits in litchi cv. Late Bedana.
   • Control of fruit cracking in Lemon: Fruit cracking in lemon is controlled by 4% potassium sulphate spray in April-June.
   • Post harvest Management of Litchi: Pre-cooling of fruits (12-13 0 C at RH 80-85%) within 4 hours of their harvesting destalking and grading of individual fruit followed by SO 2 fumigation and subsequent packing in perforated card board boxes and storage at the above temperature and RH was found most appropriate for long distance transportation and increased shelf-life of litchi fruits. This postharvest technology has been used on commercial scale for exporting litchi fruit to EC countries with success.
   • Training System in Litchi: Litchi plants trained by modified leader system yielded maximum with better quality fruits in comparison to other system of training.
   • Propagation Technique of fruits: All the year round propagation has become possible under protected conditions with 80% success of veneer and cleft grafting in mango, wedge grafting and patch budding in guava.
3. Technologies on Crop Protection (mango, guava and litchi):
   
   
   • The hopper population was high in the months of February, March and April which coincide with the flowering and fruiting stage of the crop (ranged from 25.0-40.0 hoppers/panicle/week). Hopper population can be effectively managed with three or two sprays of Imidacloprid (0.03%), Thiamethoxam (0.008%) and NSKE (3 ml/lit. of water) which gave significant result in reducing the hopper population as well as gave high yield. However, pesticide sprays applied on flowering stage cause harmful effect on insect pollinators with about 50 per cent reduction in the pollinator’s population.
   • The highest population (800-1200 flies/trap) of fruit fly was recorded during the rainy season in the first week of July. The methyl eugenol traps with hanging of wooden block (5x5x1 cm) in plastic bottle soaked in solution in ratio of 6:4:1 (alcohol: methyl eugenol: DDVP) used @ 10 traps/ha) were found most effective management practice for fruit flies in mango and guava.
   • Pruning of infested litchi leaves, shoots and destruction by burning after harvesting of fruits in the month of June with spraying Dicofol at the time of new flush gave best result in reducing leaf curl mite infestation (62.84%) and higher yield 34.33 Kg/tree yield over control(1.67kg/tree).
   • Two sprays with flubendiamide 39.35 SC (0.008%) or spinosad 45 SC (0.014%) at weekly interval during marble and colour break stage of litchi provide a significant results as compare to conventional pesticides in terms of low fruit borer infestation (12.10%) and higher yield (78.83 kg) over control (50.72% and 12.67 kg).