GUAVA

Psidium guajava
Climate:
 cultivated both under tropical and subtropical
conditions
 altitude of 1,000-1,500 meters.
 Optimum temperature requirement is 23-28OC
 Rainfall- 100-250 cm

Soil:
 Well-drained, light sandy loam to clay soils
 sensitive to waterlogged conditions.
 pH from 4.5 to 8.5.
 varieties like Lucknow- 49 can be grown in
saline soils also
Varieties
• Red fleshed and white fleshed
• Seeded and seedless
1. Allahabad safeda, 2. Lucknow-49, 3. Arka Mridula 4. Red fleshed
and 5.Allahabad Surkha

1. Nagapur seedless, 2. Saharanpur seedless, 3. kohir safeda 4. Saefd

jam

Varieties in punjab
1. Punjab safeda
2. Shweta
3. Punjab apple guava
4. Punjab pink
5. Arka amulya
6. Sardar
 Propagation:
Propagation Guava is commercially propagated by improved patch (retaining 2
buds on a patch) budding.
Portugal rootstock of guava is most suitable for Sardar and Allahabad Sufeda
varieties,
• imparts vigour and wilt tolerance
Rootstock Raising:
• seeds of cv. Sardar or Purtugal are sown on raised seed beds of 2m×1m size in
August
• transplanting after six months
• budding is done when these seedlings attain a diameter of 1.0 to 1.2 cm at
about 15 cm height.
Budding : The best time for patch budding is May and June
 A rectangular patch of bark (2.5×1.0 cm) with two buds is removed from
the scion stick
 It is then fixed on the exposed portion of the rootstock and tied
immediately with the polythene strip leaving both the buds uncovered

Planting :
 Planted in February-March or August September with earthballs
 Spacing of 6m×5m
 132 plants can be accomodated in one acre.
Training and Pruning
 Modified leader system of training is generally followed.
 Flowers and fruits borne on current season’s growth, upto 10 cm tip removal encourage new
shoots after the harvest.
 Dead, diseased, intercrossing branches and suckers are removed

Rejuvenation of Senile Guava Trees

 Head back trees at 1.5 m from the ground level in the month of March leaving 2-3 primary
scaffolds and apply Bordeaux paste on the cut ends.
 In August-September, thin out the crowded and intermingled shoots and prune 50 percent
portion of the newly emerged remaining shoots from the top to develop proper frame work of
rejuvenated trees.
 Good yield during third year of rejuvenation.
 Manures and Fertilizers
Age of tree (years) Farmyard manure Dose per tree (g)
(kg/tree)
Urea SSP MOP

1-3 10-20 150-200 500-1500 100-400

4-6 25-40 300-600 1500-2000 600-1000

7-10 40-50 750-1000 2000-2500 1100-1500

Above 10 50 1000 2500 1500

Farmyard manure should be applied in May. Application of 20 kg Paddy straw manure can be
used as a subsititue of Farm Yard Manure to full grown guava plants. Half of the inorganic
fertilizers should be applied in May-June and the remaining half in September-October
Irrigation
plants need irrigation
at weekly interval during summer months and
2-3 irrigations during winter months.

Drip irrigation schedule for guava orchards

ecommended for guava planted at 6×5 m spacing 35-40%
irrigation of water can be saved

Weed Control
Light cultivation of the field
application of paddy straw @4.0 tons per acre
Crop Regulation
Guava gives two crops in a year. Winter season crop is superior in
quality than rainy season crop, as rainy crop may get infested with
fruit flies. In order to get only winter season crop, the following methods
may be adopted
a) Spray urea 10 per cent or naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) @ of 600 mg/litre
during May,
b) Pruning of terminal portions of the shoots upto 20 or 30 cm between 20th to
30th April
c) Withhold irrigation during April-May.
d) Apply fertilizers during June to encourage growth in July August for getting
maximum flowering during August September for winter season crop

Bagging technique for rainy season fruits

Good quality mature green hard fruits of rainy season guava can be produced by covering with white
non-woven bags at the end of June to middle of July.
Harvesting and Post-Harvest
Handling
 Guava fruit is climacteric in nature and should be
picked when it is mature but firm. When picked
at this stage, it ripens to give excellent taste and
flavour.
 Guava is highly perishable fruit and should be
marketed immediately after harvest. Harvested
fruits are cleaned, graded and packed preferably
in CFB cartons of sizes ranging from 4-10 kg.
 Fruits can be stored for three weeks in CFB
cartons in commercial cold storage at 0-3.3oC
and RH of 85-90%.
 Processing of
guava
 A high-quality natural jelly is obtained from guava.
 Processed guava pulp is an excellent raw material for preparation of
various other guava products.
 Guava juice, blended beverages, guava wine, guava powder, jam,
toffee are some important products of guava.
 Guava bar is developed by ciphet. The guava bar is a unique
preparation of CIPHET and it is not commercially done so far. The
fruits, which are rich in nutrients but are not accepted due to high
acidity or poor taste and flavour was blended to improve its
acceptability and make use of available nutrients. Processing of this
fruit into blended fruit bar or fruit leather added value to this fruit
by 3 – 4 times. The texture and overall acceptability of blended
guava bar were highly proffered than its plain guava bar. The
compositional details of guava bar are: Moisture: 15%, Vitamin C:
120 mg/100g, Acidity: 1.08%, Reducing sugar: 14%, Non-reducing
sugar: 46%, Total sugar: 60%, Weight of each bar: 5-10 gm,
Preservative: KSM (Potassium Meta bisulphide: 0.2%). Per kg of
guava 250 to 300 gm bar.
 Insect
Pests
1. Fruit flies (Bactrocera dorsalis and Bactrocera zonata): 2. Guava shoot borer (Microcolona technographa): It is
lay the eggs at colour break stage of fruits in the soft epicarp. serious under nursery conditions. It damages the tender
the maggots bore further into fruits and feed on soft pulp shoots of nursery plants of guava.
infested fruits show depressions with dark green punctures • Side sprouting of the vegetative buds just below the
infested fruits rot and fall down.
larval gallery produce lateral shoots and plants give
Protection measures:
• Covering of green fruits in bushy look.
rainy season.
• Avoid taking rainy season crop
• do not allow the ripe fruits on the tree • Secondly, infested shoots dry up which can be located
• Fix PAU fruit fly traps @16 traps/acre in the first week of July
from a distance by the presence of fine black frass on
the leaves/shoot parts beneath the site of infestation.
 Insect pests
3. Mealybugs : Ferrisia virgata, Planococcus lilacinus and
Nipaecoccus Ferrisia virgata is the major species as compared
to other mealybugs.
The nymphs of these mealybugs suck cell sap from the
different parts of the plant like leaves, tender shoots, twigs,
branches and fruits.
Heavy infestation encourages the growth of sooty mould due
to which the trees become black in colour. All these
mealybugs hibernate on the twigs, branches and shoots of
trees.
 Diseases
1. Wilt (Fusarium sp., Cephalosporium sp. Rhizoctonia sp.): Symptoms
appear on the infected trees many months after their roots are attacked by
the fungi. Sparse foliage, denuded branches, yellowing of leaves and wilting
are the important symptoms.
(i)Use Sardar or Purtugal seedlings as a rootstock for budding plants. (ii) Plant
guava in a well drained field. Avoid too heavy soils. (iii) Uproot and burn the
wilted trees alongwith all the roots. (iv) Drench the soil in the pit with 2 per cent
Formalin solution and cover with Sarkanda

2. Fruit rot/Anthracnose or Die- back (Gloeosporium psidii and Phytophthora

parasitica; Rhizopus sp., Aspergillus sp.) : Fully mature fruits are more prone. Circular,
slightly sunken, brown spots with definite margins appear on the fruits. The centre of a lesion
has a pink sticky spore-mass, characteristic of the anthracnose disease. Fruits rot completely
within 2 to 3 days.
Protection measures
(i) Rain or irrigation water should not be allowed to stand in the basin around the tree. (ii) After
pruning, spray the trees with Bordeaux mixture (2:2::250) or 300 gm Blitox in 100 litres of
water. (iii) The rotten and mumified fruits which fall on the ground should be burried deep into
the soil. (iv) Avoid bruising of the fruits.
Thank You

Karamvir Kaur Bajwa

Adm. No. L-2020-H-037-BIV
Bsc. (hons) Horticulture