KOROMCHA FRUIT AND ITS FEATURE

 KOROMCHA FRUIT an evergreen shrub or short stature tree. It grows naturally in the Himalayas and Western Ghats at elevations of 300 to 1800 meters. It is found grown in wild in India, Malaysia, South Africa. In India, it grows in Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other states. It is cultivated in Rajasthan, Gujarat , Uttar Pradesh states of India. It is a well suited to arid climate and grown well at higher temperature. It is commonly uses for making ledge for orchards .karonda fruit is a rich source of iron and contains a fair amount of Vitamin C. Mature fruit contains high amount of pectin The fruits are used for pickle making,. It is also used for Jam. Jelly, Squash, Syrup, Chatney etc. There are good demand Karonda products in market.

Karonda has good nutrition value. It is rich in Iron, The fruits also contains vitamin C and It is antiscorbutic and very useful for cure of anaemia. (Table 1). Karonda fruits are used in many ayurvedic formulations and us to their nutritional values. The extract of root is used for Chest pain. The extract of leaves is used for fever. The study conducted at Indian Horticultural Research Institute, Bangalore revealed that the fruit are rich in Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin

Koromcha Fruits

(B2),Pantothenic acid (B5),Pyridoxine ( B6),Biotin ( B7),Folic acid (B9).

Table 1: Nutritional value of Koromcha fruits

Nutrients Nutritional value (100 gram)

Fresh Dried

Energy (Calorie) 42 364

Moisture (%) 91 18.2

Protein (%) 1.1 2.3

Carbohydrate (%) 2.9 67.1

Fat (%) 2.9 9.6

Mineral (%) - 2.8

Calcium (mg) 2.1 160

Phosphorus (mg) 28 60

Iron (mg) - 39

Vitamin –C (mg) 200-500 1

Karonda(Carissa carandas ) belongs to Apocynaceae family. It produces berry-sized fruits that are commonly used as a condiment or additive to pickles and spices. It is a very hardy, drought-tolerant plant that thrives well in a wide range of soils. There are more than 25 species in genus CarrissaOut of these , 5 species are indigenous to India. Karonda is a mediumsized, thorny shrub It has a greenish white bark on young shoots and greyish brown on mature stems. The spines are straight and 1-3 cm long. At times, these are also forked. Its leaves are opposite, generally 2-3 cm x 1-1.5 cm, and ovate. They are green with shine above and a dull green shade below. Old leaves keep shedding throughout the year. New buds also keep sprouting through the year, though more during spring. Karonda flowers from February to June. The flower of these are white, scented and produced in clusters of 2 to 5 flowers. The corymbose cymes appear at the ends of twigs. The fruit is a globose berry. It appears from March to August and ripens between May and December. Immature fruits are green in colour and turn to white to reddish purple at maturity. These are round to oblong , sweet, though slightly acidic, juice when fully ripe. Karonda wood is hard, straight-grained and use for firewood purpose. The green plant serves as a protective hedge around agricultural holdings.. Apart from Karonda, Natal plum (Carissa grandiflora), Carissa bispinosa, Carissaedulis, Carissa ovata and Carissa are other cultivated species.

Deshi Koromcha Fruits

Fig 1: Plant and Flowers of Karonda

Climate:

Karonda is a handy fruit. It can be grown successfully is tropical and subtropical climate plant growth is affected in high rain fall and waterlogged areas. High temperature and arid climate is suitable for karonda cultivation. Temperature climate with high frost and snowfall areas are not suitable for this fruit. As the plants are sensitive for low temperature and front injury. The water logged areas of tropical and subtropical regions are not suitable f for it cultivation.

Soil:

Karonda is grown successfully on a wide range of soil types, viz. sandy loams, laterite, alluvial sand, and calcareous soil even it is found growing well in in stony , rocky and less fertile soils. but the better growth and higher yield is obtained in alluvial sandy loam soils with good drainage. The performance of orchards is very poor on clay soil with poor drainage. The can be grown in wide ranges of soil pH ranging from 5.0to 8.0.

Varieties:

The Karonda cultivars may be categories as per their colour of fruits viz., pink-white, greenish pink and reddish purple or on the basis of utilization. The fruits of pink varieties are white in colour at stage and turn to pink at maturity. The colour of reddish , purple varieties are green at immature stage and turn to Reddish purple at maturity. The karonda varieties may be also classified in two categories i.e. pickle type varieties and table purpose varieties. Some varieties of Karonda varieties have been developed during last two decades . Pant Manohar, Pant Sudarshan, Pant Suvarna are pickle type varieties develop at GB Pant university of agriculture and technology. The varieties have smaller fruits (3.5 g weight) and acidic in taste while Konkan bold, CHES K-II-7 and CHESK-35 are bold size and suitable table purpose.

Pant manohar

This variety is developed from GB PUA&T Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) in 2007. The plants of this varieties are medium– sized dense bushes ,fruits are dark pink blush on white background , weighing 3.49g. seeds 3.94 / fruit , flesh 88.27%, dry weight 12.77% , TSS 3.92%, total titrable acidity 1.82% and yield 27 kg / plant.

Pant Sudarshan

This variety is developed from GB PUA&T Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) in 2007. The plants of this varieties are medium– sized dense bushes. Fruits are pink blush on white background. On ripening fruits become dark brown. Average fruit weigh 3.46 g, seeds 4.68 / fruit , flesh 88.47% , dry weight 11.83% , TSS 3.45%. total titrable acidity 1.89% and yield 29 kg / plant.

Pant Suvarna

This variety is developed from GB PUA&T Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) in 2007. Plants are upright growing and sparse. Fruitsare colour dark brown blush on green background. Average fruit weight 3.62 g, seeds 5.89 /fruit, flesh 88.27% , dry weight 12.39%, TSS 3.836, total titrable acidity 2.30% and yield 22 kg / plant. On ripening, fruit colour changes to dark brown.

Konkanbold

This variety is developed from KonkanKrishi VidyaPeeth, Dapoli (Maharashtra) in 2004. The plants are medium in size and vigourous. It flower in the month of Feb.-March and fruit ripe in the month of May-June under Coorg conditions. Fruits are oblong in shape and 12-154g in weight. The colour of fruits is dark purple . The fruits are sweet with 10-12 O Brix Total soluble solid. The tree are prolific bearing and produced 2000-2500 fruit per year. This variety is suitable for table purpose.

Koromcha Fruits

CHES- K-II-7: This is promising line indentified from the seedling population at CHES

Chettalli .The plants are medium size and flower in the month of Feb.-March and fruit ripe in

the month of May-June. Fruits are oblong in shape and 12 -13 g in weight. The colour of fruits is

dark blackish violet in colour and Thin fruit skin. The fruits are seedless (0.3 seeds/fruit) Afour

year old trees yield around 1800-2100 fruits per plants per year. Fruits are sweet with TSS 150

Brix and acidity - 1.08% (Table 2& 3). This is suitable for table purpose and processing.

CHES- K- V-6:

This is promising line indentified from the seedling population at CHES Chettalli.The plants are

medium size and it flowers in the month of January-Februaryand fruits in May-June. The

average fruit weight around 13-15 g,dark blackish redin colour with red pulp and very less seeds.

The Total soluble solids of fruit is around 16

O Brix with 1.18perecent acidity and 21 mg

vitamin-C/100g pulp. A four year old tree yield 1200-1500 fruits per year(Table 2& 3).Fruit are

alsorich in Vitamin –B. This variety is suitable for table purpose.

Table 2: Characteristics of elite lines of KarondaCHES K-V-6 and CHES K-II-7

Characters CHES K-V-6 CHES K-II-7

Tree Spreading Spreading

Maturity Mid and regular Mid and regular

Size Medium Medium

Flowering January- February January- February

Fruit colour Dark blackish red Dark blackish red

Harvesting May-June May-June

Fruit weight (g) 13-15 12-13

Pulp Thick, firm, Juicy and

sweet, Table purposes

Thin, firm, Juicy and sweet

Table and processing purposes

TSS (0 Brix) 16 15

Acidity (%) 1.18 1.07

Vitamin C(mg/100 g pulp) 21 27

Pulp recovery (%) 90.0 91.0

Yield ( fruits/tree) 850-1350 1800-2100

Yield ( kg/tree) 15.27 21.8

Table 3: Water soluble Vitamins content in elite lines of Karonda

Vitamin B

(μg/100 gm fwt.)

Karonda Accessions

CHES-K-II-7 CHES-K-V- 6

Thiamine (B1) 2.499±0.704 2.255±0.168

Riboflavin (B2) 19.151±1.850 42.239±0.873

Niacin (B3) N.D N.D

Pantothenic acid (B5) 129.370±0.765 297.984±2.036

Pyridoxine ( B6) 20.600±1.710 43.224±0.946

Biotin ( B7) 26.512±1.608 44.033±0.100

Folic acid (B9) 0.030±0.008 0.182±0.011

Cyanocobalamin(B12) ND 0.573±0.153

Source: Shaminaet al (2014)

Propagation

karonda is propagated through seed propagation and vegetable propagation methods such

ascutting, layering and budding .

Seed Propagation

Karonda plants can be multiplied through seed very easily. Seed propagation is mostly

commonly used methods in Karonda. The seed should be collected immediately after

harvesting. The seeds sown immediately after extraction give higher germinated. Seedsare shown

in trays and these seedlings are transplanted in poly ethylene bags at 3-4 leaf stage. The plants

because ready for planting in 8-10 months. The germination in seedless or less seeded varieties is

low. The plants produced from seeds have lot of variability with respect to fruit size, colour, taste

etc. Thus it is not preferred for multiplication of varieties and elite lines.

Vegetative propagation:

Stem cutting, air layering and budding are used for multiplication ofvarieties / eliteslinesto

produce true type planting material.

Cuttings: The semi hard wood cuttings are suitable for multiplication of plants. Generally, 25-30

cm long and 1’ diameter cuttings may be used for propagating plants. The best time for planting

cutting is June –July. The trial conducted at CHES, Chettalli found that success was higher in

semi hard wood cutting than softwood ,semi hard wood and hard wood cutting. The semi hard

wood cutting planted during July - August gave 30 -40 % success as compared to hard wood

cutting and soft wood cuttings. The treatment of IBA failed to enhance the success in both

hardwood and soft wood cutting. The success in table purpose ,bold fruit varieties is lower than

pickle type varieties.

Air layering:

The air layering of Karonda plants was found successful well performing during June –July. The

success rate was variable from 30-60% in different years. The air layers were removed the

plants in the month of September and planting in polythene bags and they become ready for

planting after 6-7 months.

Planting:

The soil should be leveled before planting and all the old plants need to be removed. These pits

filled with FYM and soil mixture to one by one different time of planting of these June-July. The

table purpose variety of Karonda should be planted at 3X3 meter distances in square. The

method of planting the pits of 3X3 ft. size should be prepared at least one month before planting.

These pits should be filled with equal amount of FYM and soil mixture. The proposed time of

planting of this is June-July. The land should be cleaned and leveled with a mild slope in the

opposite direction of the water source. The hedge plating of karonda is done at 2 fit

distances. The hedge planting trench of 1X 1 feet size is done. The pits of 1x1 feet can be also

made instead of trench. For planting of orchards, the planting is done at 3x 3 m distance with

square system. The pits of 2x2 feet size should dug before rainy season. The rocky soil pits of

3x3 feet size to

Fig.2. Fruits of Karonda promising lines CHES K-V-6 and CHES K-II-2

should be opened. Pit opening is normally recommended in April-May. These pits are filled

with topsoil mixed with about 510 kg decomposed compost, 1 kg neem cake, 50 gsingle super

phosphate and 50g muriate of potash before the onset of monsoon. Then the soil is allowed to

settle with the first few rains and leveled properly. Planting is done during June to July. At the

time of planting a hole the size of ball of earth is made in the centre of the pit at the marked point

where the plant is fixed and the soil is pressed

remove air. Watering is done immediately after planting for proper establishment.

Subsequently the plant is regularly irrigated till it is properly established.