Citrus is an important fruit crop. Lemon is one of the important category of citrus. It is mainly known for its pulp and juice throughout the world. Different citrus fruits are used throughout the world as food or juice. In central India, Nagpur santra is grown on a large scale. Mandarin Production states are Assam, Dibrugarh and Brahmaputra valley. In India Citrus cultivation is done on an area of about 923 thousand hectare with annual production of 8608 thousand metric tons.

Lemons can be grown in all types of soils. Light soils having good drainage are suitable for its cultivation. PH range of soil should be 5.5-7.5. They can also grow in slightly alkaline and acidic soils. Light loam well drained soils are best for lemon cultivation.

Eureka: Semi-vigorous tree. Lemon-yellow skin color, juice is strongly acidic having excellent flavor. Fruit ripens in the month of August.

Pant Lemon: Dwarf variety having medium size juicy fruits. It is resistant to scab, canker and gummosis.

Nepali

Other state varieties:

Rasraj: Developed by IIHR. Yellow colored fruits content 70% juice and 12 seeds. Its acidity is 6% and TSS content is about 8 brix. It is resistant to bacterial blight and canker disease.

Lisbon lemon: It is resistant to frost and high wind velocity. Fruit are of medium size, having lemon yellow color with smooth surface.

Lucknow seedless: Fruits are of medium size with yellow color.

Assam Lemon, Italian Lemon, Eureka lemon, Malta lemon.
 

Land should be ploughed, cross ploughed and leveled properly. Planting is done on terraces against slopes in hilly areas. High density planting is also possible in such areas.

TIME OF SOWING
Sowing is done in February-March month and June-July month.
 
INTERCROPPING: Intercropping with Cow peas, Vegetables, French beans can be done in initial two to three years.

SPACING
Spacing between plants should be kept between 6m X 6m.
 
SOWING DEPTH
Pits of size 60×60×60cm should be dug for planting seedlings.

METHOD OF SOWING
Propagation
Plants are propagated by budding or Air layering.
 

Fertilizer Requirement (gm/tree)

Application of Urea@50gm/tree, SSP@50gm/tree and MOP@50gm/tree should be given per year. Along with these, use of zinc sulphate should be done in April, June and September month. Half dose of nitrogen and potash is given in February-March month and rest of the dose is given in the June-July month. Complete dose of phosphorus is given in spring season before 20 days of plant growth.

SEED RATE
Minimum plant density of 111 Plants/acre should be maintained.
 

For proper growth of trunk of plant, shoots in 50-60cm near ground level should be removed. Centre of plant should remain open. Water suckers should be removed at early stages of growth.

Weed can be controlled by hand-hoeing and also controlled by chemically, use glyphosate@1.6litre per 150 litre of water. Use glyphosate only on weeds not on crop plants.

• Pest and their control:
  

Citrus Psylla: These are juice sucking pests. Damage is mainly caused by nymphs. It injects a plant toxin liquid which burns foliage and skin of fruit. Leaves curl and fall off prematurely. It can be controlled by pruning of diseased plants, burning them. Spraying of Monocrotophos-0.025% or carbaryl- 0.1% can also be helpful.

Leaf miner: Larvae inside the upper or lower surface of young and newly emerged leaves are curled and look distorted. Young trees show a reduction in growth due to leaf miner. Best management for leaf miner is to leave it alone and let the natural enemies to feed upon them and parasitize their larvae. It can also be controlled by spraying Phosphomidon @1ml or Monocrotophos @1.5ml per 3-4 times fortnightly. Pheromone traps are also available for detecting leaf miner moths.

Scale Insects: Citrus scale insects are small insects that suck sap from the citrus trees and fruits. Honeydew is produced which is feasted upon by ants. They do not have much mouth parts. Male citrus scale has a short life span. There are mainly two types of scale on citrus plants armored scale and soft scales.  Armored scale insects insert their mouth parts in the plant and never move again, eating and reproducing in the same spot. Soft scale bugs on citrus form a protective coating, which in turns cover citrus leaves and prevents photosynthesis. Once dead, soft scale will fall from tree instead of remaining stuck. They can be controlled with the introduction of indigenous parasitic wasps. Neem oil is also effective against them. Spraying of Parathion (0.03%) emulsion, dimethoate 150ml or malathion @0.1% are effective against scale control.

Aphids & Mealy Bugs: They are small sap sucking pests. Bugs are present on the underside of leaves. Synthetic pyritheriods or pest oil can be used to control aphids and bugs.

Citrus Canker: Plants have lesions on stems, leaves and fruits with brown, water-soaked margins. Citrus canker bacteria can enter through plant’s stomata into the leaves. Younger leaves are highly susceptible. Lesions oozes bacterial cells which can be dispersed by blowing wind to healthy plants in area.

Contaminated equipment tends to spread disease to healthy plants. Bacteria can stay viable in old lesions for several months. It can be detected by appearance of lesions. It can be controlled by cutting of effected branches, twigs. Spraying of Bordeaux mixture @1%. Aqueous solution of 550ppm, Streptomycin Sulphate is also helpful in controlling citrus canker.

Gummosis: Exudation of gum from bark of tree is the characteristic symptom of gummosis disease. Affected plant leaves turns to pale yellow in color. Hardness masses of gum are common on stem and leaf surfaces. In severe cases, bark may be destroyed by rotting and tree may dies. Plant dies before the fruit matures. This disease is also called foot rot. This disease can be managed through proper selection of site with proper drainage, use of resistant varieties etc. Plant injuries should be avoided. Drench the soil with 0.2% metalaxyl MZ-72 + 0.5% trichodermaviride, which helps to control this disease. Bordeaux mixture should be applied to plant upto 50-75 cm height from ground level at least once in a year.

 

Powdery mildew: White cottony powdery growth is noticed on all aerial plant parts. Leaves tend to become pale yellow and crinkle. Distorted margins are also seen. Upper surface of leaves are more affected. Young fruits drop off prematurely. Yield is reduced significantly.  To control powdery mildew, affected plant parts should be removed and destroyed completely. Carbendazim, three times at 20-22 days of interval helps to control this disease.

Black Spot: Black spot is a fungal disease. Circular, dark spots on fruits are seen. Copper spray in early spring should be sprayed on foliage helps to cure plants from black spots. It should be repeated in 6 weeks again.

Lemon Scab: It affects some of the mandarin varieties and lemon fruits. Raised grey corky scabs on tree branches, fruits and leaves are seen causing distortions of the fruit. Fruits fall of at very early stages of growth. It is caused due to fungus. Copper spray mixed with white oil should be sprayed on the foliage to prevent lemon scab. 2 Table spoons of white oil to two liter of water should be added into 5 litre or copper spray mixture.

Collar Rot: Collar rot is also caused due to fungus. This disease mainly affects the bark on tree trunk. Bark begins to rot and forms a band just above ground surface, this band decay gradually and covers the whole trunk. It is very severe in some cases that even the trees may die. This is caused due to incorrect mulching, injury due to weeding, mowing etc. Tree may lose its vigor. To protect trees from collar rot, cut and scrape away the soft, infected bark to clean the trunk of tree. Mixture of copper spray or Bordeaux mixture should be painted on the affected part of the tree. Remove all the weak, diseased and congested tree branches to ensure proper air circulation.

Iron deficiency: Color of new leaves changes to yellowish green. Iron chelates should be provided to the plants. Cow or Sheep manure is also helpful to cure plants from iron deficiency. This deficiency mostly occurs in case of alkaline soils.

On attaining proper size, shape along with attractive color having TSS to Acid ratio of 12:1, kinnow fruits is ready for harvest. Depending upon variety fruits are generally ready for harvesting in Mid- January to Mid- February. Do harvesting at proper time as too early or too late harvesting will give poor quality.v

After harvesting, wash fruits with clean water then dip fruits in Chlorinated water@2.5ml per Liter water and then partially dried them. To improve appearance along with to maintain good quality, do Citrashine wax coating along with foam. Then these fruits are dried under shade and then packing is done. Fruits are packed in boxes