🍒Ber

• Botanical Name: Ziziphus mauritiana (Indian Ber) — Evergreen, Spreading habit
• Chinese Ber: Ziziphus jujuba — Deciduous, Upright, Highly resistant to frost
• Family: Rhamnaceae
• Origin: China
• Also known as King of desert/Arid fruits. Ber earns this title due to its exceptional ability to thrive in hot, arid conditions where most other fruit crops cannot survive, making it the most important fruit crop of dryland horticulture in India.
• Z. jujuba can be used even for biological reclamation of saline soils.
• Can tolerate high temperature of even 40°C.
• Can be grown in extreme moisture stress.
• Ideal tree for arid and semi-arid climate.
• Can be grown in alkaline soils with pH even up to 9.5 and sodic soil.
• Non-climacteric fruit.
• Lac insect rearing helps in the production of lac on ber plant. The tree is a host plant for rearing lac insect (Tachardia Laccad).
• Tolerates salinity even to an extent of 21 m.mhos per cm.
• Seed dormancy due to hard endocarp.
• Overcoming seed dormancy: Breaking endocarp or soaking seeds at GA₃ 500 PPM for 24 hours.
• Major pest: Fruit fly (Carpomiya vesuviana) — infests at pea stage.
• Major disease: Powdery mildew.
• Type of training system: Modified leader system.

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• Ber crop is heavily/drastically pruned. Severe pruning is essential in ber because it bears fruit on the current season’s growth — drastic pruning stimulates vigorous new shoot production, leading to better flowering and higher yields.
• Best time for pruning: April - May (in Rajasthan). Pruning is done during the hot summer months when the plant is in its dormant phase, before the onset of monsoon triggers new growth.
• Pruning time for north Indian condition: Mid to End of May.
• Ber requires heavy pruning every year.
• Flowers bore at current season growth.
• Training - Ideal time is March.
• Ber is extremely drought hardy. Its deep tap root system, small leaf size, and ability to shed leaves during extreme drought make ber one of the most water-efficient fruit crops.

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• Spraying of 3% thio-urea or KNO₃ once in 2 days before pruning induces bud sprouting from maximum no. of nodes. Thio-urea acts as a dormancy-breaking agent that stimulates uniform bud break, resulting in synchronized flowering and fruiting.
• Irrigation during October causes flower shedding and that during March-April causes fruit spoilage and delays ripening. This highlights the importance of critical irrigation scheduling in ber — water must be withheld during flowering (October) and fruit maturation (March-April) to avoid physiological damage.
• Ber also shows strong self-incompatibility (Gametophytic). Gametophytic self-incompatibility means the pollen tube growth is inhibited in the style when pollen from the same variety is used. Therefore, interplanting of compatible varieties is essential for good fruit set.

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• Ziziphus nummularia — dwarfing rootstock for high density planting. This wild relative of ber restricts the scion’s growth, producing compact trees that can be planted at closer spacing, increasing the number of trees per hectare.
• Illaichi: 90% pollen sterility. Due to such high pollen sterility, Illaichi variety requires cross-pollination from other varieties for fruit production.
• Umran: Originating from Rajasthan, processed and used as ‘chhuhara’. Umran is the most popular late-season variety for producing dried ber (chhuhara), which has a long shelf life and is commercially very important.
• Goma Kirti (Ganesh Kirti): Selection from umran, early variety.
• Maturity: 150-175 Days after flowering.
• Storage temperature: 3 °C + 85-90% RH

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• Most common method of propagation of ber is I or T budding (shield). Shield budding is preferred because ber seeds show high variability and seedling trees take much longer to bear fruit. Budding ensures true-to-type plants that fruit within 2-3 years.
• Beginning of monsoon is best time for planting. Planting at the onset of monsoon ensures adequate soil moisture for root establishment during the initial critical period.
• In South India, the fruits are harvested during October-November, in North India during February-April. This difference in harvesting season is due to the variation in climatic conditions and the timing of the monsoon across regions.
• Pre harvest spray of 750 PPM Ethephon at colour turning stage induces early maturity. Ethephon releases ethylene, the natural ripening hormone, which accelerates fruit colouring and sugar accumulation, allowing earlier harvest.

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Varieties

• Sanuar 2: resistant to powdery mildew. This resistance makes it valuable for regions where powdery mildew is a recurring problem.
• Dodhia: resistant to fruit fly.
• Elaichi: Tree spreading with fruits having characteristic shape of cardamom, hence called ‘Elaichi’.
• Gola: Spreading tree, Early variety, Tolerant to saline soils.
• Kaithili: Mid season variety.
• Umran: Late variety.
• Seo (Sanaur No. 2).
• Seb: Acts as a good pollinizer for a number of varieties.
• Banarasi: Unripe fruits — Green; After ripening: Yellow.
• Chhuhara: Fruits suitable to be heated and made into dry fruits like dates.
• Sandhura Narnaul: Erect trees.

Spacing

Condition	Spacing
HDP	5m x 5m
Low rainfall	6m x 6m
High rainfall	8m x 8m

Flowering and Maturity

• Flowering time: August-September to November
• Maturity time: 150-175 days after flowering

Harvesting

• Normal harvesting season: October-November to March. In North India: December to April.
• Average yield from a 10-20 year old tree: 100-200 kg/year.
• Storage: 30°C and 85-90% RH for 30-40 days.

Medicinal Uses

• The powder of ber roots has many medicinal properties such as cure for ulcer, fever and wounds.
• The stem bark powder is a remedy for diarrhea.

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👉🏻 Early varieties (suitable for dry area)

• Gola
• Seb
• Kaithali

These early-maturing varieties complete their fruiting cycle before the onset of severe summer heat, making them well-suited for arid regions.

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👉🏻 Mid maturity

• Rashmi
• Mundia
• Banarasi
• Jogia
• Meharun: For humid area. Unlike most ber varieties that prefer dry conditions, Meharun performs well in humid environments.

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👉🏻 Late maturity

- **Umran:** Originating from Rajasthan, suitable for dry areas. - **Illaichi:** Triplets variety, Found pollen sterility, suitable for dry areas. - Katha - Pathani

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Diseases

• Powdery mildew: Odium jujube var indica. This is the most devastating disease of ber, appearing as a white powdery coating on leaves, flowers, and young fruits, causing severe flower drop and yield loss.

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Insect -Pest

• Fruit fly: Carpomia vesuviana. The fruit fly lays eggs inside the developing fruit, and the larvae feed on the pulp, making fruits unmarketable. Management includes bagging of fruits and use of methyl eugenol traps.

Summary Cheat Sheet

Concept / Topic	Key Details
Ber botanical name	Ziziphus mauritiana
Family	Rhamnaceae
Origin	India (Indo-Burmese region)
Also known as	Indian jujube, Chinese date
Climate	Arid and semi-arid; highly drought-tolerant
Propagation	Budding (T-budding, shield budding) on Z. rotundifolia rootstock
Varieties	Umran, Gola, Seb, Kaithli, Banarasi Karaka
Umran	Largest fruited variety; Rajasthan
Fruit type	Drupe
Bearing habit	Fruits on current season’s growth
Flowering season	August–September; harvesting January–March
Major pest	Fruit fly (Carpomyia vesuviana)
Major disease	Powdery mildew
Soil	Tolerates saline and alkaline soils
Special feature	Most suitable fruit for arid zones