Fruit and Soil

Classification of tropical, sub-tropical and acid zone fruit – area and production – scope and importance. Climate is of fundamental importance in the development of fruit cluster. Fruit has been a major food for mankind from time immemorial. Primitive man, the food habit was based mainly on fruits and also tubers which were found wild in the forests. In fact Adam who is considered to be the progenitor of man was said to have temptingly given the apple. In Ramanaya and Mahabaratha the cultivation and consumption of fruits were described. Tamil literature - Mukkanigal The importance of anola the nellikani Tropical region refers to region between the tropic of cancer and capricorn. The average temperature is about 27°C subtropic region summer-hotter and the winter cooler than tropics. Humidity is generally lower. Based on temperature requirement the fruits crops can be classified as temperate, sub-tropical and tropical fruits. Tropical fruits – mango, banana, sapota, guava, papaya Sub tropical fruits – Mangosteen, litchi, acid lime Temperate fruits – Apple, pear, plum. Based on the toleance to the relative humidity of the atmosphere the fruit crops can be again classified as arid, semiarid zone crops eg., Ber, anona, datepalm, phalsa. Arid zone are characterized by sparse and highly variable precipitation, extreme variation of diurnal and on annual temperature and high evaporation. The mean annual rural rainfall varies from 100 mm – 500 mm. Temperature will be as low as 4.4° C and high as 50°C. Although rainfall is low but atmospheric humidity is fairly high. Area and production of fruits in India during 1999-2000
|S1.No. |Crop |Area (000 ha) |Production (000 MT) |
|1. |Apple |238.3 |1047.4 |
|2. |Banana |490.7 |16813.5 |
|3.