जामुन की व्यावसायिक खेती की संभावना

In India many tropical fruit tree species, most of which are not commercially cultivated, are highly popular as they not only provide a significant source of livelihood support to the rural people but also has a cultural and social value. Such underutilized fruits have been long sustained due to their importance for their nutritional value andas a source of rural and tribal household income. Jamun (Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels) is one of such underutilized fruit species of great importance in India.

Because of its hardy nature and multifarious uses, it has great potential for commercial exploitation in wastelands and dry-land horticulture.

The fruits have a significant commercial and medicinal value owing to its variety of uses. The ripe jamun fruits are consumed fresh and can also be processed into many value added products like jam, jellies, squash, cider, nectar, wine, vinegar, RTS, pickles etc.

The vinegar prepared from juice extracted from slightly unripe fruits is carminative, diuretic and cures stomachache. Fruit syrup is a remedy for diarrhoea. The seed powder is used to control diabetes.Jamun fruits are rich in minerals, fiber, carbohydrates, vitamin A, Vitamin C, phenols and tannins. Mature fruit contains80 I.U. Vitamin A, 5.7- 18mg Ascorbic Acid, 8.3- 15mg Calcium, 1.2- 1.62mg Iron, 15- 16.2mg Phosphorus, 0.7g protein, 0.1 -0.3g fat, 0.3-0.9g fibre and 14-19.7g carbohydrates in 100g pulp.

Organised orcharding of jamun is still lacking in India. It is generally grown as avenue tree or as wind break. The fruits are collected from the forest, roadside avenue plantation and from the few orchards and sold as fresh fruit for table purpose.

Climate and soil

It is a hardy crop and can be cultivated throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of India and on wide range of soils (calcareous, saline, sodic, poorly drained, marshy, wasteland etc.) without any manuring and irrigation. But for commercial cultivation well drained, fertile, deep loam are the most ideal. Young plants must be protected from frost because they are susceptible to frost.

Varieties of Jamun

This native fruit has not been given the due attention since the time immemorial to be grown as commercial crop in organised way in orchard. Therefore, well established varieties are not available. At present we have several area-specific local selections identified by farmers or local people based on fruit size, shape, and taste, fruiting and fruit maturity time. Some such selections grown in North India are given below-

Some improved varieties developed by the State agricultural universities, KVKs and ICAR institution are given below-

Propagation of Jamun

Though, jamun can be propagated by seeds as well as by vegetative means (grafting and budding), large variation is found in the orchard raised from the seeds.Moreover,seedling trees start bearing only after 9-10 years.

Therefore, to avoid late bearing and to maintain and preserve the genetic uniformity vegetative propagation should be preferred over seed propagation.

Seed propagation is employed to raise rootstocks for grafting and budding. Due to lack of dormancy fresh seeds can be sown within 10-15 days of harvesting. Seeds remain viable upto 3 months after extraction from the fruit. The seedlings become ready for transplanting after one year. 

Planting of Jamun

a)      Field preparation and pit digging

• Prepare field during summer season by deep ploughing, harrowing leveling and removing weeds.
• Pit size: 1m x 1m x1m size
• Spacing: 10m x 10m (for seedling trees) and 8m x 8m apart (for budded and grafted plants). While digging the pit, the top soil up to the depth of about 45cm should be placed one side and sub soil below this should be heaped other side. Lower level of soil is not used for refilling of the pits.
• After 25-30 days of pit digging the pits are filled with a mixture of 25-30kg of well decomposed FYM mixed with top soil and 100g of chlorpyriphos. This may be followed by irrigation to settle down the soil in pits. If depression takes place due to irrigation, add pit filling mixture to the pit.

b)     Selection of plant material

Following points should be kept in mind while selecting the plant material-

• Procure plant material from reliable source.
• It should be true to the type and prepared from high yielding mother plants
• It should have plantable age.
• The point of budding and grafting should not be higher than 20-30cm from the ground level.
• It should have balance in growth with respect to root and shoot growth
• Root system should be fully developed with more fibrous roots and no root knots.
• Planting material should be free from any insect pest and diseases.
• It is better to use certified planting material.

c)      Planting season and planting method

Monsoon season is the best for planting. In areas where rains are low, planting should be done with the onset of monsoon. However, in areas of heavy rainfall planting in done in post monsoon season. Planting in the afternoon or cloudy weather is advisable for higher and quick establishment. Following points should be considered during planting

• Plant the sapling with the earth ball in the centre of the pit to the depth as it was in the nursery bed.
• Keep the grafting/ budding joint above the ground level.
• While planting put the soil at the plant base as per need and press the plant around its base gently.
• Give support to the plant, if necessary.
• Apply water soon after planting
• Give protection to the plant from browsing animals
• Do mulching with dry leaves to conserve moisture.

Training and pruning:

Training of young plants is essential to provide better frame work. Keep the main stem or trunk clean up to a height of 60-90cm from the ground level by removing the basal branches and sprouts.  Sprouts emerging from the rootstock portion should be periodically removed. Jamun branches are brittle therefore it is required to develop wider crotch angles in scaffold branches to provide better frame work to the plant. During later part of plant growth jamun plants do not require any pruning except removing diseased, weak, dry and crisscross branches/ twigs.

Nutrient management:

Jamun is a very hardy crop and can stand good deal of neglect and thrive well without manuring and fertilizer application. However, for commercial orcharding Jamun must be manured and fertilized properly. In general, 5kg FYM, 125g N, 50g P₂O₅, 50g K₂O per year may be applied to one year old plant. This dose should be increased every year in the same proportion up to 10^th year, after which the fixed dose should be applied each year as per the table given below:

Table: General recommendation for manuring and fertilizer application

Source: Sanjay Singh, Singh, A.K., Singh, H.P., Bagle, B.C. and More, T.A. 2011. Jamun. ICAR, New Delhi. p. 30.

Irrigation in Jamun crop:

The well developed deep tap root system of jamun is able to extract water from the deeper layers of soil that allows the plant to thrive well under rain-fed condition. However, commercial jamun orchardist is advised to give 8-10 irrigation per year during pre-bearing stage of plant for better plant establishment and growth, and 4-5 irrigation per year to bearing tree during fruit development to get more yield.

Plant protection:

The important insect pests, diseases and physiological disorders and their control are given in the following table.

Table 2. Major plant protection measures

Harvesting and yield

A seedling jamun plants start bearing after 8 to 10 years of planting whereas, grafted plants bear after 5 to 6 years. However, commercial bearing starts after 8 to 10 years of planting and continues till the tree becomes 50 to 60 years old. The fruit ripens in the month of June –July. It takes about 3-5 months to ripen after full bloom.  During ripening fruits change their colour from green to deep red or bluish black.  Being a non climacteric fruit jamun does not ripen after harvesting.  All fruits on a tree do not ripen at a time. Therefore, fully ripe fruits are harvested daily by hand picking or by shaking the branches and collecting the fruits on a polythene sheet. A fully grown seedling tree can yield 80-100kg fruits/year whereas; a yield of 60-70kg fruits/tree could be obtained from a fully grown budded or grafted plant.

Authors:

Deepa Samant, H.S. Singh and P. Srinivas

Central Horticultural Experiment Station (IIHR),

Aiginia, Bhubaneswar-751 019

 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.