Scientific name: Punica granatum
Family: Lythraceae
The name pomegranate derives from medieval Latin pōmum "apple" and grānātum "seeded".
Pomegranate is one of the commercially important fruit crops of India. It is native to Iran.
🌲Plant Characters:
A shrub or small tree growing 5 to 10 m high, the pomegranate has multiple spiny branches and is extremely long-lived, with some specimens in France surviving for 200 years.
🍀Leaves:
Leaves are opposite or subopposite, glossy, narrow oblong, entire, 3–7 cm long and 2 cm broad.
🌹Flowers:
The flowers are bright red and 3 cm in diameter, with three to seven petals.
Some fruitless varieties are grown for the flowers alone.
🍊Fruits:
They are Red-purple in color
The pomegranate fruit husk has two parts: 1. An outer, hard Pericarp
2. An inner, spongy mesocarp which comprises the fruit inner wall where seeds attach. Membranes of the mesocarp are organized as nonsymmetrical chambers that contain seeds inside sarcotestas, which are embedded without attachment to the mesocarp.
In mature fruits, the juice obtained by compressing the seeds yields a sour flavor due to low pH 4.4 and high contents of polyphenols, which may cause a red indelible stain on fabrics. Primarily, the pigmentation of pomegranate juice results from the presence of anthocyanins and ellagitannins.
🥜Seeds:
Number of seeds in a pomegranate can vary from 200 to about 1,400.
🥛Nutritional facts: Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 346 kJ (83 kcal)
Carbohydrates 18.7 g
Sugars 13.67 g
Dietary fiber 4 g
Fat 1.17 g
Protein 1.67 g
Vitamins Quantity% DV†
Thiamine (B1) 6% 0.067 mg
Riboflavin (B2) 4% 0.053 mg
Niacin (B3) 2% 0.293 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5) 8% 0.377 mg
Vitamin B6 6% 0.075 mg
Folate (B9) 10% 38 μg
Choline 2% 7.6 mg
Vitamin C 12% 10.2 mg
Vitamin E 4% 0.6 mg
Vitamin K 16% 16.4 μg
Minerals Quantity% DV†
Calcium 1% 10 mg
Iron 2% 0.3 mg
Magnesium 3% 12 mg
Manganese 6% 0.119 mg
Phosphorus 5% 36 mg
Potassium 5% 236 mg
Sodium 0% 3 mg
Zinc 4% 0.35 mg
🌐Agro-climatic requirements:
Pomegranate grows well under semi-arid conditions and can be grown upto an altitude of 500 m. above m.s.l.
It thrives well under hot, dry summer and cold winter provided irrigation facilities are available.
The tree requires hot and dry climate during fruit development and ripening.
🌡️Temperature:
Pomegranate tree is deciduous in areas of low winter temperature and an evergreen or partially deciduous in tropical and sub-tropical conditions.
It can tolerate frost to a considerable extent in dormant stage, but is injured at temperature below - 11degree C.
🍀Soil:
Well drained, sandy loan to deep loamy or alluvial soils is suitable for cultivation.
🍀Varieties Cultivated:
Important pomegranate varieties cultivated in India are Alandi or Vadki, Dholka, Kandhari, Kabul, Muskati Red, Paper Shelled, Spanish Ruby, Ganesh (GB I), G 137, P 23, P 26, Mridula, Aarakta, Jyoti, Ruby, IIHR Selection, Yercaud 1 and Co 1.
📌Land preparation:
Land is prepared by ploughing, harrowing, leveling and removing weeds.
📌Planting Material:
Pomegranate is propagated vegetatively by cuttings, air layering or gootee.
⛅Planting season
Air layering is usually done during the rainy season and also in November-December.
🌴Planting:
Planting is usually done in spring (February-March) and July-August in sub-tropical and tropical regions respectively.
📌Spacing:
5m x 5m
Closer spacing increases disease and pest incidence.
📌Pit size:
Pits of 60 X 60 X 60 cm. size are dug
The pits are filled with top soil mixed with 20 kg. farmyard manure and 1 kg. super phosphate.
Cuttings/air layers are then planted and staked. Irrigation is provided immediately after planting.
📌Fertilizer recommendation:
The recommended fertilizer dose is 600-700 g. N, 200-250 g. P2O5 and 200-250 g. K2O /tree/year.
🌦️Irrigation:
Regular irrigation till the monsoon sets in. Weekly irrigation in summers and that during winters at fortnightly intervals is recommended. The check basin system of irrigation is usually followed.
✂️Training:
Plants are trained on a single stem or in multi-stem system.
✂️Pruning:
Pruning is not much required except for removal of ground suckers , water shoots, cross branches , dead and diseased twigs and also to give shape to the tree. A little thinning and pruning of old spurs is done to encourage growth of new ones.
🐞Insect Pests:
Insect pests mostly observed are fruit borer, mealy bugs, aphids, white fly and fruit sucking moths. Spraying with dimethoate , deltamethrin or malathion etc. depending upon the type of pest infestation has been found to be effective in most cases.
🍂 Diseases:
The main diseases reported are leaf spot and fruit rot. Application of Mancozeb (2g./l.) during rainy season in case of the former and application of Kavach (2g./l) and Carbendazim/Thiophanate methyl/Baycor/Benomyl (1g./l.) during September/October in case of the latter has been found to be effective in most cases.
🍁Disorders:
Fruit cracking is a serious physiological disorder observed in young fruits is due to boron deficiency and that in fully grown fruits is mainly due to moisture imbalances. Tolerant varieties viz. Bedana Bose and Khog may be cultivated and in other cases spraying with calcium hydroxide soon after fruit set has been found to be beneficial.
🏺Medicinal Properties:
📌Pomegranate is a potent antioxidant.
📌This is rich in flavonoids, anthocyanins, punicic acid, ellagitannins, alkaloids, fructose, sucrose, glucose, simple organic acids, and other components and has antiatherogenic, antihypertensive, and anti-inflammatory properties.
📌Pomegranate can be used in the prevention and treatment of several types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other diseases.
📌It improves wound healing and is beneficial to the reproductive system.
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