Sex expression

• low temperature favors production of perfect flowers on the male tree.
• Seedless fruits are developed from the pure female flowers which are not cross pollinated.
• After flowering the fruits mature within 5 months.
• Under adverse climatic condition flowers & fruit drop is very common, to avoid this problem spraying of planofix @ 1ml/liter.
• Fruit thinning is suggested to get good size and quality.

Factors influencing sex expression

a) Environment:

• Low temperature tends to produce perfect flowers on the male tree and female flower production is increased in cool weather and short days.
• Season of planting also affects the sex expression.
• Planting during February shows more male plants while planting in March/April produces an equal number of staminate and pistillate plants.

b) Growth regulators:

• Such as GA (50 ppm), ethrel (200ppm) SADH (250ppm) and phosphon – D (2500ppm) increase the femaleness in dioecious types.

Maturity/Harvesting Indices

• The first crop of fruits becomes available in 12-14 months from the time of planting.
• Harvesting starts in about 9-10 months after planting. The economic life is only 3-4 years.
• The maturity is well indicated by color change and the consistency of latex. The latex of mature fruits becomes watery.
• Fruits for local consumption should be picked when the green color is half way changed into yellow;
• for export it is necessary to pick sooner, after the blossom end has turned color.

Harvesting and yield

• Manual harvesting is commonly practiced.
• Individual fruits should be harvested by twisting by hand without damage.
• Fruits are harvested when the fruit turn slight yellow in colour.
• While harvesting, fruit should not be damaged to prevent rotting.
• Wash the fruits with water or fungicide i.e., Benlate at 0.05per cent and pack in boxes with cushioning materials.
• After harvesting in about 5-6 days fruit ripens depending upon room temperature.
• Fruits could be stored for more than 4-5 weeks at 00C; also individual fruits are wrapped in the newspaper for ripening.
• The average yield is 30-80 tons/ha.

Post-harvest handling and storage

• After harvesting the fruits are graded on the basis of their weight, size and color.
• Fruits are highly perishable in nature.
• They can be stored for a period of 1-3 weeks at a temperature of 10-13 o C and 85-90% RH.