🍈Guava & Aonla

Guava

• Botanical Name: Psidium guajava
• Family: Myrtaceae
• Origin: Peru
• Also known as apple of poor or poor man’s apple. Guava earns this title because it is affordable, highly nutritious, and widely available, providing excellent nutrition to economically weaker sections of society.
• Guava improvement work was started in 1907 at Pune. This early research laid the foundation for developing improved varieties that dominate Indian guava cultivation today.

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Guava-Bahar season

- **Fruit bearing** takes place **3 times** in **South India**. The three bearing seasons are **ambe bahar** (January-February flowering, fruits in rainy season), **mrig bahar** (June-July flowering, fruits in winter), and **hasta bahar** (October flowering, fruits in spring). This makes guava a nearly **year-round fruiting** crop in tropical conditions. - Two type of fruits, completely seedless and partly seeded are borne on the plant of seedless variety. - Guava harvested **throughout year** except **May** and **June**.

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• Chinese guava — P. fridrichsthalianum — dwarfing rootstock and resistant to guava wilt and nematodes. This wild relative of guava serves dual purposes as a dwarfing rootstock (for high density planting) and provides disease resistance against the devastating guava wilt.
• High density planting reduces TSS, sugars and ascorbic acid but increases titrable acidity.
• L-49 is more susceptible to Bronzing than Allahabad safeda.

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• Fruit quality of winter crop is best, it escapes the attack of fruit flies. Winter season fruits have higher TSS, better colour, more vitamin C, and are pest-free because fruit flies are inactive during cool weather.
• Practice of taking winter crop instead of rainy season crop is known as crop regulation (to escapes the attack of fruit flies). Crop regulation is a deliberate management strategy where the rainy season (inferior quality) crop is sacrificed to direct the tree’s energy towards producing a superior quality winter crop.
• Rainy season crop can be removed by spraying of urea (10%) on Allahabad safeda and 20% on Lucknow-49 at the time of peak flowering period. The high concentration of urea spray causes flower burn and abscission, effectively removing the rainy season crop.

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• Uttar Pradesh produce-best quality Guava. Allahabad region of UP is known for best quality guava production. The alluvial soils and favorable climate of the Allahabad (Prayagraj) region produce guavas with the highest TSS and best flavour.
• Vitamin-C content highest in fruit peel at mature stage. The peel contains up to 5 times more vitamin C than the pulp, so consuming the whole fruit (with peel) maximizes nutritional benefit.
• Most useful in human diet for avoiding scury disease. Scurvy is caused by vitamin C deficiency, and guava, being one of the richest natural sources of ascorbic acid (200-300 mg/100g), is an excellent preventive food.
• Guava wilt is most common in Alkali soil. Alkaline soils with high pH favour the growth of the wilt-causing fungus Fusarium oxysporum, making soil pH management critical for wilt prevention.
• Guava can tolerate salinity but is susceptible to soil acidity.

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• Dwarfing rootstock: Anueploid-82.
• Stooling is the most common & cheapest method of guava propagation. Air layering is also done. In stooling (mound layering), the base of the mother plant is covered with soil to induce root formation on stems, which are then separated as independent plants. This is a low-cost, simple technique requiring no special skills.
• Bending in Guava — practiced in Maharashtra. Branch bending involves physically bending shoots downward and tying them, which disrupts apical dominance and promotes flower bud formation on the bent portion.
• Pruning: Above 90 cm, lateral shoots are not allowed to grow.
• Rich source of pectin. The high pectin content of guava makes it excellent for preparing jelly, jam, and cheese (a thick, sliceable preserve).
• Meadow orcharding technique was developed in guava for horizontal utilization of space [2.0 m (row to row) x 1.0 m (plant to plant)]. In meadow orcharding, guava plants are maintained as hedgerows through regular pruning, maximizing light interception and enabling mechanical harvesting. This revolutionary technique dramatically increases plant density and yield per hectare.

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Varieties

• Behat coconut: Seedless Guava
• Lucknow-49 (Sardar): Chance seedling selection from Allahabad Safeda in 1927 in Pune by Dr. Cheema. L-49 is the most widely cultivated guava variety in India, known for its large fruit size, white flesh, and excellent flavour.
• Allahabad Safeda: famous variety of Allahabad. Renowned for its smooth, white flesh and high vitamin C content, it is the benchmark for guava quality.
• Lalit: 24% higher yield than Allahabad Safeda. Pink flesh. Suitable for Jelly making. The attractive pink flesh and high pectin content make Lalit especially suitable for processing.
• Chittidar: Fruits are characterized by numerous red dots on skin.
• Harijha: Most popular in Bihar.
• Hafsi: Red fleshed guava.
• Apple colour
• Arka mridula: Seedling selection from Allahabad safeda, soft seeded variety. Soft-seeded varieties are preferred by consumers because the seeds do not cause discomfort during eating.
• Allahabad round: Parthenocarpic variety
• Allahabad Surkha: Uniform pink fruit with deep pink flesh.
• Saharanpur seedless
• Nagpur seedless

- **Arka Amulya:** Arka Safeda x Seedless - Hissar Surekha - **Shweta:** High TSS (140° Brix)

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Hybrid

• Kohir Safed: Kohir X AS (Allahabad Safed)
• Safed Jam: AS X Kohli
• Hybrid-45: AS x L-49 (Sardar)

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Disease

• Guava wilt
  • Fusariunt oxysporium p.v. Psidii
  • Wilting appearance of plants and leaves of young plants is dries up. The fungus enters through the roots and blocks the vascular system (xylem), preventing water transport and causing the plant to wilt and eventually die.
  • Wilt is serious problem in guava (common in Alkali soil)
• Management
  • Soil drench with Carbendazim/Bavistin @ 2g/liter water.
  • Grow resistant varieties i.e. Allahabad Safeda. Using wilt-resistant varieties is the most sustainable and cost-effective long-term management strategy.

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Insect pest

• Striped mealy bug: Ferrisa virgata, serious pest in South India. Mealy bugs are sucking insects covered with a white waxy coating that feed on plant sap, causing leaf curling, sooty mould growth, and significant yield reduction.

• Guava tea mosquito bug: Helopeltis antonh. This bug causes necrotic spots on fruits and shoots by injecting toxic saliva while feeding, severely damaging fruit appearance and marketability.

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Physiological disorder

• Bronzing: Due to Zn deficiency. Zinc deficiency causes a characteristic bronze-coloured discolouration of leaves, affecting photosynthesis and ultimately reducing fruit yield and quality.

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Aonla

• Emblica officinalis (Euphorbiaceae)
• It is also known as Indian gooseberry is an indigenous fruit. Aonla is one of the richest natural sources of vitamin C and has been a cornerstone of Ayurvedic medicine for centuries, valued for its antioxidant and rejuvenating properties.
• Propagation by patch budding in North India. Patch budding is preferred because aonla seeds show high variability, and budded plants start bearing 3-4 years earlier than seedling trees.
• Aonla fruits is contains vitamin C 600 mg/100g. This exceptionally high vitamin C content (nearly 20 times that of orange) makes aonla one of the most potent natural sources of this vital nutrient.
• Large sized, sound fruits are mostly utilized for preservation and candy. Aonla murabba (preserve) and candy are popular value-added products that retain most of the nutritional benefits while having a long shelf life.
• Bearing life of anona is 65 to 70 years. This extraordinarily long productive life makes aonla a very economical investment, providing returns for multiple generations.

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Varieties

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Disease

• Ring rust: Ravenelia emblica, it is serious disease in aonla. Ring rust appears as circular, reddish-brown pustules on leaves, causing premature defoliation and reduced fruit quality.

• Fruit necrosis: B-deficiency. Francis variety highly suffered. Boron deficiency causes death of tissue (necrosis) in developing fruits, resulting in dark, hard, and unmarketable fruits. The Francis variety is particularly susceptible.

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Insect

• Bark eating caterpillar: Indarbella quadrinotata. This pest bores into the bark and creates silken galleries covered with frass (excreta), weakening the tree structure and making it susceptible to secondary infections.

Summary Cheat Sheet

Concept / Topic	Key Details
Guava botanical name	Psidium guajava
Family	Myrtaceae
Origin	Tropical America (Mexico, Central America)
Also known as	”Apple of the tropics”; “Poor man’s apple”
Leading state	Uttar Pradesh (Allahabad region famous)
Propagation	Air layering (most common); inarching, stooling
Varieties	Allahabad Safeda, Lucknow-49 (Sardar), Lalit, Apple Guava
Allahabad Safeda	White flesh; best quality; most popular
Lucknow-49	Pink flesh; high yielding
Fruit type	Berry
Rich in	Vitamin C (highest among common fruits; 200–300 mg/100g)
Major disease	Guava wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. psidii)
Major pest	Fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis)
Bearing habit	Bears on current season’s growth
Spacing	6 x 6 m (normal); 3 x 6 m (meadow orcharding)
Aonla (Emblica officinalis)	Family Euphorbiaceae; richest source of Vitamin C
Aonla varieties	NA-7, Banarasi, Chakaiya, Krishna, Kanchan