PEAR

Important fruit crop of temperate region. It belongs to the family Rosaceae. It can grow at 1,700-2,400m above mean sea-level. Pear fruit is rich source of protein and vitamins. Due to its wider adaptability of climate and soil pear can be grown in subtropical to temperate regions in India. Pear is cultivated in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and U.P and low chilling varieties do well in subtropical regions.
 

It can grow on variety of soil ranging from sandy loam to clay loam. It gives best results when grown in deep, well drained, fertile soil without having any hard pan upto 2 meter depth. pH of soil should not be more than 8.7.

Baggugosha: Semi soft variety of pear. Fruits are of greenish yellow color with flesh is sweet and of cream or white color. Fruits get mature in August week. It is suitable for transportation. Its farming is done in Morni hills of Haryana.

Patharnakh: It is a Hard Pear and spreading variety. Fruits are of medium size, round and green with prominent dot on it. Flesh is juicy and crisp. Because of its good keeping quality it is useful for long distance transport. It mature is end-July.

Le conte: Semi soft variety of pear. Fruits are of small to medium size. Fruits are of greenish yellow color with white juicy, sweet flesh. It gets mature in end-July. Gives average yield of 60-80 kg per tree.

Other state varieties:

Red Bartlett: It has good shelf life. The variety is mainly grown in mid-season in Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It has brighter fruits which are grainy in texture. The fruits become sweeter in taste as it matures.

Winter Nellis: The variety is grown in late season in Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh regions. It has sweet and juicy fruits with good aroma. Fruits are yellowish green in color at maturity.

Starking Delicious: The variety is grown in mid-season in Himachal Pradesh region. It has sweet and juicy fruits. The variety is resistant to blight.

Flemish Beauty: The variety is grown in late season in high hilly areas of Himachal Pradesh. It has green color fruits which become yellow at maturity. It has buttery flesh.

Seckel: This variety is grown in early season in Himachal Pradesh. Harvesting of fruits is mainly done when a fruit attains deep blush color.

Comice: It has creamy texture fruit which is sweet in taste and is aromatic.

Conference: It is a tall necked and late maturing variety. The fruits are crispy but become buttery smooth at maturity.  

Star Crimson, Kiffer, Moti Dandi and Max Red are also the varieties which are cultivated in Himachal Pradesh.

Punjab Nakh: It is a hard pear variety. It is selection from Patharnakh. It is also spreading variety. Fruits are oval shape, light yellowish green with prominent dots. Flesh is crisp and juicy. Fruits get ready to harvest in fourth week of July. It gives average yield of 190 kg per tree.

Punjab Gold: It is semi soft variety of pear. Fruits are large with golden yellow color with white flesh. Fruits get mature at July end. This variety is suitable for processing. Gives average yield of 80 kg per tree.

Punjab Nectar: Semi soft variety of pear. Tree is of medium height. Fruits are of medium to large size. Fruits are of yellow green color with white flesh. On ripening fruits become juicy. It get mature in July fourth week. Gives average yield of 80 kg per tree. 

Punjab Beauty: Semi soft variety of pear. Trees are of medium size, upright and bear regularly. Fruits are of medium size with yellow and red blush. Flesh is of white color and more juicy and sweet. Fruits mature in July third week. It gives average yield of 80 kg per plant.

Nigisiki: Soft pear variety, fruits is juicy having white flesh and TSS of 12.9%. Fruits are ready for harvesting in June end to first week of July.

Punjab soft: Soft Pear variety. Fruits are of medium size with white flesh with TSS of 11.3%.

Keiffer: Early maturing variety. Fruits are large, golden yellow colored.
 

The seedling rootstocks used for pear is Kainth. Collect fully mature seeds of Kainth from September end to October first week crops. Extract seeds and place them in wooden box containing alternate layer of moist sand in December month for 30 days. In January month sow them in nursery. In 10 days seeds get germinate. Seedlings are ready for grafting in January of next year.

Place seeds in wooden box containing moist sand layer for germinate. They get germinated with 10-12 days. After then, place seedling in field at distance of 10 cm. Keep 60 cm distance after every four lines. Seedlings are ready for grafting in December-January.

Pear is T-budded or tongue grafted on kainth seedling. Grafting is done in December-January or T-budded in May-June.

Time of sowing
Planting is completed in January Month. One year old plants are used for planting.

Spacing
Plants are planted at distance of 8 x 4m. Before planting, clear land and remove remains of earlier plants. Then leveled land properly and give gentle slope for water drainage.

Sowing Depth
Dig a pit of 1x1x1m size and filled pit one month before planting during November with top soil and well rotten farm yard manure and then allow it to settle. Finally pit should be filled with sub soil mixed with 10-15 kg of well decomposed cow dung, 500 kg SSP and drench the pit with Chlorpyiphos@50ml/10litre of water per pit. After planting, irrigation should be done.

Method of sowing
For planting, square or rectangular planting can be adopted.

 

Training is done for the development of strong framework of scaffold branches to get higher yield and quality fruit. The pear trees are trained according to modified central leader system.

Pruning: Remove all diseased, dead, broken weak branches, head back 1/4th during dormant season to induce spreading of branches.
 

Fertilizer Requirement (gm/tree)

When crop is 1-3 year, apply 10-20 kg of well decomposed cow dung, 100-300 gm of Urea, SSP@200-600 gm, MOP@150-450 gm per Tree. For 4-6 year old crop, apply 25-35 kg of cowdung, Urea@400-600 gm, SSP@800-1200 gm and MOP@600-900 gm per Tree. For 7-9 year old crop, apply Cowdung@40-60 kg, Urea@700-900 gm, SSP@1400-1800 gm and MOP@1050-1350 gm per tree. For 10 year and above, apply 60 kg of Cowdung, Urea@1000 gm, SSP@2000 gm, MOP@1500 gm per tree.

Apply whole amount of cowdung, SSP and MOP in December Month. Apply half dose of Urea before flowering i.e. in early February and remaining half dose after fruit set i.e in April Month.
 

Spray with Diuron@1.6kg/acre as pre-emergence after completing ploughing. The weeds can be controlled as post emergence by Glyphosate@1.2Ltr/acre or Paraquat@1.2Ltr/acre in 200 ltr of water when weeds are 15-20 cm in height.

A well distributed average rainfall of 75–100 cm is required throughout the year for pear cultivation. It needs regular irrigation after transplantation. In summer irrigate crop with 5-7 days interval whereas increased irrigation interval to 15 days in winter months. In January month stop irrigating. Give flood irrigation to bearing tree in summer month it will help to increased fruit quality and size.

• Pest and their control:
  

Spider Mite: They feed on leaves and suck sap thus causes yellowing of leaves.

If infestation is observed, take spray of wettable Sulphur @ 1.5 gm per Ltr of water or Propergite @ 1 ml or Fenazaquin @ 1 ml or Dicofol @ 1.5 ml per Ltr of water.

Hopper: They suck sap from leaves. On infection flower get sticky and sooty mould a black color fungus is developed on affected parts.

If infestation is observed take Spray Carbaryl @ 1kg or Dimethoate @ 200ml in 200Ltr of water.

Aphid and Thrips: They suck sap from leaves and causing yellowing of leaves. They secret honey dew like subtance and black sooty mould is developed on affected areas.

Take spray of  Imidacloprid@60ml or Thiamethoxam@80gm/150 ltr water when crop is at initiation of foliage in last week of Feb. take second spray in full boom in march month, and third on fruit set stage.

• Disease and their control:
  

Pear Scab: Dark mouldy spots are observed underside of leaves. Later they turn into gray color. Affected portion get fall off. Later on spot are observed on fruits.

Give Captan spray@2gm/ltr starting from when crop is in dormant stage and continue spray with 10 days interval till petal falls. Remove infected fruits, Plant parts and destroyed them away from field.

Root Rot: Bark and wood get turn brown with white powdery growth on it. Infected tree get wilted and give early leaves fall.

Take spray of Copper Oxychloride@400gm/200 ltr of water in March Month. Repeat the spray in June month. Mix Carbendazim@10gm + Carboxin (Vitavax)@5gm in 10 ltr water, and apply this solution around fully grown tree for two times, first at before monsoon (april-may) and second application after monsoon(Sept-Oct). Give light irrigation to tree after this treatment.

For local markets fruits are harvested at fully mature stage and in case of distant markets firm and green fruits are picked .Delayed picking reduces storage life, unattractive color, insipid flavor. Hard peach variety required near about 145 days to mature whereas semi soft peach varieties required near about 135-140 days for harvesting.

After harvesting, do sorting and grading of fruits. Then pack these fruits in Corrugated Fibre Board cartons for ripening, storage and marketing purpose. Treat fruits with 1000ppm Ethephon for three to four minutes or exposed them to 100ppm ethylene gas for 24hrs and then stored at 20°C. Fruits can be stored for 60days when they are stored at 0-1°C temperature with relative humidity 90-95%.