Phenology of Dragon Fruit Crop Grown in Kerala
Keywords:
Dragon fruit, Hylocereus, phenology, Kerala.Abstract
Dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.), also referred to as pitaya or pitahaya in various countries is a perennial climbing vine belonging to the Cactaceae family.The fruit has its origin in the tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, but now its cultivation has spread widely in Asian countries. With the increase in health consciousness, the popularity and demand for dragon fruit is showing an increasing trend. Though it is found to be a potential future crop of Kerala, the extent of available information on its cultivation and related aspects in our state is very scarce. Hence, the present work was taken up with the objective of studying the phenology and growth pattern of dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.) genotypes grown under the humid tropical conditions of Kerala. The phenology of dragon fruit grown in ten different locations within four districts (Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, and Thrissur) of Kerala was studied. The commercially grown dragon fruits in Kerala were the dark pink and purple fleshed ones (Hylocereus costaricensis). Plants were found to bear within 1.5 to 2 years of planting when stem cuttings were used as the planting material. The duration from flower bud initiation to anthesis was 12-15 days and anthesis took place during the night time after 10 p.m. If the pollination was successful, fruit could be visible after 5 to 7 days of anthesis and the harvest was possible in 23-25 days from fruit set i.e., one month after anthesis. Flowering started in the month of March in two locations (Athikkayam and Vaniyampara) under study, whereas in all the other locations, it started in the month of April. The flowering season was observed to extend till October. The fruiting season started exactly one month after the commencement of flowering and ceased one month after the cessation of flowering i.e., April to November.References
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