Avacado

All about avocado scientific classification, management practices, varieties

1. AVOCADO Persea americana

2. Int roduction Family - Lauraceous Species - Persea americana Avocado is a perennial plant It is a hardy plant.

3. Avocado is medium to large ever green plant Known as a 'poor man’s butter’ to the King of Fruits Most varieties of avocado are oval or round shaped with thick, rough green skin. The  avocado  is native to Mexico and Central America Avocado  or  alligator pear  also refers to the fruit, botanically a large berry that contains a single seed.

4. Major Growing Areas Kandy Matale Nuwara Eliya Badulla Kegalle

5. Soil Condition Need well-aerated and loose soil Limestone, sandy loam and decomposed granite are the main soil types Avocado trees tolerate both acidic and alkaline soils pH range should be 6- 6.5  Compacted soils will affect root spread Refers slightly dry condition

6. Climatic Condition Grown only in subtropical or tropical climates Temperatures need 26-30 C Minimum survival temperature is about - 4 °C Hot, dry conditions could result in low yields because of fruit and flower drop A high humidity is desirable, because it decreases stress conditions Rainfall exceeding 1 000 mm is desirable

7. Morphology Trees to 30m tall Leaves Narrowly to broadly elliptic Leaf blades 10-30cm long 3-19cm width Flowers 3-6mm long Yellowish green color Determinate and indeterminate type

8. Root system Shallow root system Fruit pear-shaped, often more or less necked oval or nearly round yellow-green, deep-green or very dark-green, reddish-purple, or so dark a purple as to appear almost black, and is sometimes speckled with tiny yellow dots, lossy or leathery skin

9. Varieties Pollock Purple varieties Fuerte Booth - 7 Simmonds Tower 11

10. Pollock Simmods

11. Purple variety Fuerte

12. GROWTH STAGES

13. Bud Development

14. Flowering Avocado flowers carry both male and female reproductive organs Each flower opens twice over a two-day period The first day as a female and the second day as a male. Air temperature regulates the opening and closing of flowers

15. Three requirements for a successful fruit set 1 . An overlapping of the flowering stages 2. Significant insect activity, including bees 3. Temperature is somewhat low

16.   PRODUCTION OF PLANTING MATERIAL Nursery management Poly bag nurseries are prominent Need proper drainage Seed should be treated with hot water for 30 min Apply fungicides and gypsum

17. Propagation Sexual Asexual or vegetative

18. Vegetative propagation Grafting is prominent Stem or branch may not be thicker than 2 cm diameter Remove the top and bottom part of the branch Two types of rootstock can be used the cultivar and the seedling rootstock cultivar rootstock is produced by vegetative methods, Seedling rootstocks grow from seed

19. Crop Establishment Site selection Surface and subsoil drainage must be excellent. Sloping ground with a porous top soil structure may be unsuitable

20. Land preparation Dig holes large enough to take the root system comfortably Do not place fertilizers in the planting hole Half fill the hole with soil and Fill the hole with water

21. Planting Planting space varies among varieties common planting space was about 20’x 15’ with 145 trees per acre

22. Management practices Mulching This should be loose, 10 to 15cm deep Oats, sorghum, mixtures of these with a legume Mulch provides organic matter, a valuable source of tree nutrients and food for beneficial soil microorganisms

23. Tree training and pruning Little pruning is required regulate tree canopy size tree removal When yield decline immediately follows the removal of productive trees

24. Selective limb removal Limbs that are low, overlapping or growing up the centre of the tree exposed limbs with white plastic paint Stag horning pruning a tree above the graft

25. Fertilizing small amounts of fertilizers applicable on sandy soils Every 8 weeks apply a nitrogenous fertilizer Organic fertilizers are ideal, applied on top of the mulch layer. Use 10 liters of matured poultry manure per tree From the third year apply an NPK mixture

26. Irrigation 1800 mm per year rainfall Avocados are very sensitive to moisture stress, especially during flowering fruit set fruit development Irrigation systems should be designed depends on number of trees per hectare soil texture and depth weather conditions trees’ growth cycle

27. In orchard's basically drip irrigation techniques Required ammount 3 to 5ML per hectare Water stress can cause symptoms including; fruit drop ring-necking skin cracking salt burn In young trees, vegetative growth is reduced

28. Pest and Disease Management Common pests avocado leaf roller Avocado thrips Persea mites

29. Thrips attack Persea mites

30. Pests Avocado thrips - Scirtothrips perseae Symptoms leathery patches and spread across fruit adult insect is orange-yellow in color with distinct brown bands Management organic mulch about 6 inches if insecticides are to be applied

31. Diseases Anthracnose Scab Stem-end rot Phytophthora root rot Black streak Bacterial soft rot Sun blotch  leaf spot

32. Anthracnose Scab

33. Diseases Scab - Sphaceloma perseae Symptoms Oval or irregular brown or purple spots on fruit with rough texture Management Plant tolerant varieties; spray with copper containing fungicides

34. Harvesting   Handle fruit carefully during harvesting   Fruit should be cut off Healthy fruit should be carried in canvas picking bags Harvested fruit should be removed as soon as possible place it in cold storage

35. Uses of Avocado Health benefits  lower cholesterol levels  seeds, leaves, and bark are used for dysentery and diarrhea. promote hair growth  relieve toothache. Use for skin care Use as food item Beverages

36. Value added products

37. Research Ideas  I nvestigate the relationship between fresh avocado consumption and risk factors for cardiovascular disease emerging research suggests that fresh avocados may play a positive role in many emerging areas including skin, eye, joint and cellular health .

38. References http://www.fao.org http://ucanr.edu/sites/Farm_Management/files/156255.pdf https://www.plantvillage.com/en/topics/avocado/infos/diseases_and_pests_description_uses_propagation

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