Production Technology of

Guava
 GUAVA

Botanical Name : Psidium guajava L.

Family : Myrtaceae
Pollination : Self pollinated
Chromosome No. : 2n=22, 33
Centre of Origin : Tropical America.
Type of fruit : Berry

It was introduced in India in the seventeen century

 Importance of Guava
Rich source of vitamin C, A, B2 and minerals.
Ideal fruit for the nutritional security.
Its cost of production is also low.
Used for making juice, jam, jellies etc.
Leaves used for curing diarrhoea.
Controls systolic blood pressure.
Type of fruit in guava is

a) Pome

b)Berry

c) hesperidium
  Climatic and Soil requirement
 Guava is grown successfully in tropical and subtropical regions up to 1, 500 m
above mean sea-level.
 Best quality guavas are obtained where low night temperatures (10˚C) prevail
during winter season.
 It tolerates high temperatures and drought conditions in North India.
 It is susceptible to severe frost as it can kill the young plants.
 An annual rainfall of about 100 cm is sufficient during the rainy season (July-
September). The rains during harvesting period, however, deteriorate the quality of
fruits.
 Light sandy loam to clay soils are best suited for cultivation.
 Commercial varieties
L-49 (Sardar Guava)
Also known as Sardar, its fruits are large, roundish ovate in shape, skin primrose yellow
and pulp white, very sweet and tasty. The TSS and vitamin C contents are high. The trees
are vigorous.

Allahabad Safeda
The most famous variety of Allahabad, it has acquired large variations due to seed
propagation.

Chittidar:
The variety is very popular in western Uttar Pradesh. The fruits are characterized by
numerous red dots on the skin, high sweetness, and small and soft seeds.

Harijha:
Harijha is more popular in Bihar because of profuse bearing. The trees are of medium
vigour due to sparse branching.

 Hafshi:
It is a red- fleshed guava having good taste. It is mainly grown in Bihar.

Apple guava:
Its fruits are medium sized and pink colored. They are sweet in taste with good keeping
quality.
Arka Mridula: Selection from Allahabad Safeda
Allahabad Surkha
Seedless
Punjab Pink
Shweta
Pear shaped
Important hybrids
H1: Red Fleshed x Saharanpur Seedless
H2: Smooth Green x Nagpur Seedless
Safed Jam: Allahabad Safeda x Kohir
Kohir Safed: Kohir x Allahabad Safeda
Hissar Safeda: Allahabad Safeda x Seedless)
Hissar Surkha: Apple Colour x Banarasi Surkha
Arka Amulya: Seedless x Allahabad Safeda
Propagation
Guava is propagated both by seeds and by vegetative means. But vegetative
propagation is followed commercially

Seed propagation
Rootstocks (Grafting or budding).
Extraction from the ripe fruits.
Soaking of seeds in water for 12 hours or in hydrochloric acid (90%
germination)
About
1 year old seedlings become ready for grafting or budding.
Vegetative propagation

Layering (Air layering)

Grafting (Wedge grafting)
Planting
 Normally, Guava is commercially planted at a distance of 5-8 m.
 HDP at a spacing of 2 x 2 m, 1.5 x 3 m, 3 x 6 m
 Meadow orcharding @ 1.5 x 1.5 m.
 Rainy season best for planting.
 The pits of 1m x1m x 1m size are dug and filled with a mixture of farmyard
manure and soil.

Training/ pruning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QISvYXF4sG8)

 Traditionally, no pruning is done in guava.
 Training of plants in young stage to build strong framework and to avoid weak
crotches.
 The open centre system may be adopted.
 The scaffold branches in young plants are to be tipped back to encourage
secondary branching the root sucker, water sprouts and criss-cross branches are
to be removed altogether.
Manuring and fertilization
For guava growing regions of the country, different fertilizer schedule- 600 g N, 400 g K in
northern region; 260 g N, and 260 g K in eastern region; 900 g N, 600 g P and 600 g K in
southern region and 600 g N, 300 g P and 300 g K/plant/year in western region, have been
recommended.

Time of fertilizer application depends on the crop taken and the region. In north India,
fertilizer is given in the first week of May for rainy season crop and in first week of July for
winter season crop.
Intercropping
The inter-space can be economically utilised by growing suitable intercrops in the early
stages till the bearing. A crop combination of several plantation crops, vegetables and
leguminous crops like papaya, pineapple, beans,cucumber, cabbage, cauliflower, peas,
cowpea, etc., are considered safe intercrops.
IRRIGATION
 Irrigation enhances plant vigour and increases the fruit set.
 Irrigation is especially desirable for 2-3 year.
 Normally, winter season cropping pattern is adopted in north India which requires
fortnightly irrigation during October-November.
 The fruit quality of guava is adversely affected by high soil moisture content during
harvesting
FLOWERING AND FRUIT SET
 Two important seasons of blooming are observed, one in April-May (Monsoon Crop) and
the other in September - October (Winter Crop).
 Growth regulators like NAA, NAD, and 2,4-D are very effective in thinning of flowers and
manipulating the cropping season.
 Fruit drop in guava is as severe as 45-65% due to different physiological and
environmental factors. Spraying of GA is highly effective in reducing the drop
HARVESTING
 Grafted, budded or layered guava trees start bearing at the age of 2 to 3 years.
 Seedling trees require 4 to 5 years to bear.
 Climacteric in nature.
 Guava is ready for harvest as soon as the deep green colour turns light and a yellowish green
patch appears. Individual hand picking at regular intervals will avoid all possible damage.

YIELD : 100-150 kg

CROP REGULATION
 Compared to monsoon crop, winter crop is much superior in quality and fetch premium price.
Monsoon deblossoming is done to get a higher price.
 Maleic Hydrazide (100000 ppm) spray on spring flush of flowers causes deblosomming.
 NAA 100 ppm , NAD 50ppm, or 2,4-D 30 ppm are also reported to be effective.
 Root exposure and root pruning are done to bring flowers at a desired time.
 Bending of twigs is done to force new sprouts which come up with flowers. Hand thinning of
flowers is also very effective. Defoliation is also recommended sometimes for forcing new
growth with flowers
POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT

Guava is highly perishable in nature. Shelf life under ambient conditions is 2 to 3 days on

an average. Therefore. it should be marketed immediately after harvest. However, it may be

stored for a few days to adjust the market demand. After careful harvest, the fruits should be

brought to packhouse. For packing, corrugated fibre board with adequate perforation may be

used. However, fruits are reported to keep 3 to 5 weeks in cold store at a temperature of 8 to

10 degree Celsus with 85 -90 % RH.

PEST MANAGEMENT
Fruit fly, mealy bug, scale insects, etc. are the major pests in guava. The following measures
are adopted to control the damage done by these pests
Fruit fly :
(a) Spraying of chemicals like malathion 2 ml, phosphamidon 0.5 ml per l of water .
(b) Destruction of infected fruits and clean cultivation

Mealybug
(a) Soil treatment with aldrin, malathion, thimet, ete
(b) Banding the base of the plant with polythene film to prevent the nymph from climbing
up from the soil.
(c) Spraying of methyl parathion , monocrotophos or dimethoate.

Scale insect
•Spraying of fish oil rosin soap with water or crude oil emulsion,dimetholate, methyl
demiton, etc.
DISEASE MANAGEMENT
The most damaging diseases in guava are wilt and anthracnose. Cancker, cercospora leaf spot,
seedling blight etc., are some other important diseases. Control measures of the major
diseases are briefed below:
Wilt disease:
Wilt is the most serious fungal disease . Bearing trees , once affected, slowly die away.
Drenching the soil at trunk bases with brasicol and spraying the plant with bavistin at early
stage of infection minimise the damage. Injecting 8- Quinolonol sulphate is also effective.

Anthracnose:
Spraying of Cu-oxychloride, cuprous oxide, difolatan, dithane Z- 78, etc., control this disease.