Climate and soil of Persimmon

Persimmon

         Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) is considered as the national fruit of Japan. In India, persimmon was introduced by the European settlers somewhere in 1921. At present it is being grown on a limited scale in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, hilly areas of Uttar Pradesh and parts of eastern India. No organized cultivation of this fruit has yet been undertaken in India but with the diversification in fruit culture, its cultivation is gaining importance and more areas are being opened for its cultivation.

           There are several problems which have limited the commercial cultivation of persimmon. While there is limited but loyal public buying persimmon, there are those who have tried the fruit for the first time and found it hard, astringent and puckery. Also, the growers have planted small acreages of numerous cultivars, which are not suited for marketing. The growers also face the problem of poor setting or heavy dropping of young fruits due to inadequate cultural knowledge resulting in poor returns. The growers or consumers also do not have sufficient knowledge regarding the fruit maturity, i.e. when to harvest and consume the fruit. If the above difficulties could be overcome, growing demand for this fruit undoubtedly could be fulfilled.

Climate and soil

          Persimmon can be grown in a wide range of subtropical and warm temperate climate. It is a monoecious tree and grows up to a height of about 15m. The trees are deciduous and enter a rest period and complete their dormancy in the middle of February in India. Temperature 8°–11°C for 888 hr is enough to complete dormancy. The trees, when dormant, can tolerate fairly low minimum temperature with some cultivars surviving temperature as low as –15°C. However, freezing damage may occur in some seasons with alternating warm-cold cycles. Non-astringent cultivars require warmer conditions for fruit maturation than the astringent types. The best fruit quality in the non-astringent cultivars is produced in the regions where an average temperature during autumn season is between 16° and 22°C and the amount of sunshine recorded during the growing season exceeds 1,400hr.

        During the maturation period, temperature is the most important factor for obtaining quality fruits. If non-astringent cultivars are grown under cooler conditions, the fruits may not loose their astringency completely by the time they reach maturity, fail to mature properly and have low sugar content. The percentage of reducing sugars decreases at high temperature and increases at lower one. Fruit production in the warmer area has better colour and sweetness. In general, non-astringent varieties are more suitable for warmer areas and astringent varieties for cooler areas. The main sugars present in the flesh of mature fruit are fructose and glucose, the total amount being more than 90% of the total sugars. At the harvest, a minimum Brix between 14° and 16°C is required.

Although persimmon can grow on a wide range of soil types, it performs best on well-drained, lighter soils, which have a good subsoil containing some clay. Yield is reduced on heavy alluvial soils due to increased fruit drop. The soil pH for optimum growth is 6.0–6.8.