Almond is known as the king of nuts and is one of the most traded dry fruits globally. It originates from Southwest and Central Asia. The major producing countries are USA, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and India. In India, Jammu and Kashmir are the major producing states. Almonds have specific climate and soil requirements including cool winters, frost-free springs, and warm, dry summers. They are temperate fruit crops that require deep, well-drained, loamy soil with a pH between 5.5 to 6.8. Proper pruning, manuring, irrigation, and pest management are required to obtain optimum almond yields of 10-20 quintals per hectare.
2. Introduction
• Known as king of nut
• Most traded dry fruit across globe
• Origin –southwest and central asia
• Producers- USA, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, India
• Producing states- Jammu& Kashmir
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3. Taxonomy
• Order :Rosales
• Family :Rosaceae
• Genus :Prunus
• Subgenus :Amygdalus
• Species :P. communis (2n=28)
• Synonymes: • Prunus dulcis
• Amygdalus communis
• Amygdalus dulcis
• Prunus amygdalus
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4. Varieties
• Varieties for J & K :- Makhdoom, Parbat, Waris,
Shalimar, Afghanistan Seedling, IXL, Merced, Non
Pareil
• Himachal Pradesh
• High and mid hills :- Merced, Non Pareil, IXL
• Valley areas:- :- Drake, Katha, Peerless, Ne Plus
Ultra
• Dry temperate zone :- Ne Plus –Ultra, Texas, IXL
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5. Climate and soil
• Temperate fruit crops
• Site with good soil and air drainage
• Free from hailstorm and frost in spring
• require cool winter, frost free spring and warm dry
summers
• South facing slopes are best for almond growing
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6. Contd…
• Altitude- 750- 3210 m above msl
• Unopen flower withstand temperature of -2.2°C
• Blossoms at petal fall damaged by .5 to -1.1°C
• Chilling requirement- 200 to 700 hrs below 7.2°C
• Deep, well drained, loamy soil is ideal
• pH- 5.5 to 6.8
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7. Propagation
• ‘T’ budding :July- August
• Wedge grafting :February- March
• Rootstocks
• Dry areas- bitter almond, wild peach, behmi
• Irrigated area- peach seedling, Lovell, Halford,
Nemaguard, Nemared,
• Clonal rootstocks-GF 677, GF 557, Marianna 2624,
Myrobalan 2032 and Marianna GF 8/1
• Root stocks of 8- 10 month old or pencil thickness are
used
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8. Planting
• Pit of 1m3 size dig during September- October
• Planting done during February- March
• Spacing
• Normal - 6x6 m
• Medium HDP -4x4 m
• HDP -3.5x 2.5-3.5 m
• Pollinizer planted in every third row
• Pollinizers- IXL, Jordanalo, Nee-Plus-Ultra, Waris
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9. Training and pruning
• Open center system
• At time of planting- headed back plant at 70 cm
height
• First branch allowed only above 0.6m
• 3-4 scaffold branches selected (croch angle- 45-60)
• Primary branches are headed back to ½ to 1/3 of
the growth
• Summer pruning in second year to form secondary
framework scaffold
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10. Contd…
• Third year dormant pruning
• 2-3 secondary branches on each main branches are
selected
• Shoots growing inward and interfering with the
main branches are pruned off
• Almond bears fruits on spurs which remain fruitful
for about 5 years
• Pruning should be done in such a manner that one
fifth of fruiting wood is removed every year
• Unwanted water sprouts and suckers should be
removed
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12. Cont…
• It is heavy feeder, require proper nutrition
• N applied in 2-3 split dose
• Half N and full P& K applied one fort night before
expected bloom
• 1/4th N- 3 weeks after fruit set
• 1/4th N- June/July
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13. Irrigation
• Irrigation done in an interval of 10-15 days
• Critical stages
• Flowering :February - March
• Fruit development: April- June
• Drip irrigation- 4L/hr for 5 hr at an interval of 4-5
days
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14. Flowering and fruiting
• Flowering: January- April ,depending on cultivars
• Bud differentiation: August- September, continue
up to February
• Inflorescence form on shoot and spur
• Flower-perigynous, self incompatible
• Pollination: cross pollination by bees
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15. contd…
• Pollinizers in orchard -33%
• 4-6 beehives/ha placed in orchard- 12-15% higher
yield
• Fruit growth in 3 stages
• Stage 1-pericarp, seed, nucellus develops
• Stage 2 endosperm and embryo enlarge
• Stage 3-dry weight of embryo increases
• Fruit is drupe
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16. Harvest
• Bearing start from 3-4 year
• Optimum yield obtained from 8-10
years
• Harvesting time: August- September
• Indices: hull split of 95% nuts
• Harvested manually
• Yield: 10-20q/ha shelled almond
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17. Post harvest management
• Hulling- removal of hull from seeds
• Done immediately after harvest manually or
mechanically
• Drying- to reduce mould growth during storage
• Can be store more than 1 year at 0-7°C
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18. • Pest
• Chaffer beetle
• Brown mite
• Navel orange worm
• Diseases
• Shot hole
• Almond decline
• Crown gall
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