CULTIVATION ASPECTS OF WOOD APPLE

Introduction

Botanical name : Feronia limonia L.

Family : Rutaceae

Origin : India and Ceylon

Chromosome no. : 2n=18

• Besides woodapple, it may be called elephant apple, monkey fruit, curd fruit, kath bel
and other dialectal names in India. In Malaya, it is gelinggai or belinggai; in Thailand,
makhwit; in Cambodia, kramsang; in Laos, mafit.

• In French, it is pomme d' elephant, pomme de bois, or citron des mois. In German
language is called Holzapfel.

• The slow growing tree is erect, with a few upward reaching branches bending outward
near the summit where they are subdivided into slender branchlets drooping at the
tips.

• The bark is ridged, fissured and scaly and there are sharp spines on some of the zigzag
twigs.

• The deciduous, alternate leaves, dark-green, leathery, often minutely toothed, notched
at the apex, are dotted with oil glands and slightly lemon scented when crushed.

• Dull red or greenish flowers are borne in small, loose, terminal or lateral panicles and
they are usually bisexual.

• The fruit is round to oval, with a hard, woody, grayish white, scurfy rind.

• The pulp is brown (melanin pigment), mealy, odorous, resinous, astringent, acid or
sweetish, with numerous small, white seeds scattered through it.

Nutritional Value of Wood Apple

• According to the National Institute of Nutrition’s book, “Nutritive Value of Indian

Foods,” wood apples contain the following values per 100g:
Uses

• Pectin: The pectin has potential for multiple uses in pectin in India, but it is reddish
and requires purification.

• Rind: The fruit shell is fashioned into snuffboxes and other small containers.

• Gum: The trunk and branches exude a white, transparent gum especially following the
rainy season. It is utilized as a substitute for adulterant of and is also used in making
artists' watercolors, ink, dyes and varnish. It consists of 35.5% arabinose and xylose,
42.7% d-galactose, and traces of rhamnose and glucuronic acid.

• Wood: The wood is yellow gray or whitish, hard, heavy, durable, and valued for
construction, pattern making, agricultural implements, rollers for mills, carving,
rulers, and other products. It also serves as fuel.
Medicinal Uses

• The fruit is much used in India as a liver and cardiac tonic, when unripe, as an
astringent means of halting diarrhea and dysentery and effective treatment for cough,
sore throat and diseases of the gums.

• The pulp is poultice onto bites and stings of venomous insects, as is the powdered
rind.

Climate

• The tree grows up to an elevation of 1,500 ft (450 m) in the western Himalayas. It is

said to require a monsoon climate with a distinct dry season.

Soil

• Throughout its range there is a diversity of soil types, but it is best adapted to light
soils.

Varieties

• There are no named varieties forms are reported:

1) one with large, sweetish fruits.

2) one with small, acid fruits.

• HB-10 have larger fruits which is released from Maharashtra.

Propagation

• The most common and simplest method of raising the wood apple plants is from
seeds. Since the seedlings do not carry true-to-type characters which leads to immense
variation in yield and fruit characters, hence there are very few standard varieties in
wood apple.

• The wood apple is generally grown from seeds though seedlings will not bear fruit
until at least 15 years old. Multiplication may also be by root cuttings, air layers, or by
budding onto self seedlings to induce dwarfing and precociousness.

• Air layering and budding are the most successful method of propagation in moderate
climate of south India.
Field preparation and planting

• Normally wood apple is not planted in fertile or rich soils. In wasteland, if mass
planting is to be done, then pit lines are drawn across the slope and pits can be dug at
a spacing of 8m x 8m each pit with a size of 1 m x 1m x 1m.

• Planting should be done at the onset of monsoon after filling the pit with 20 kg FYM,
sand and top soil. The basins should be formed immediately after planting in such a
way that water harvesting is facilitated.

Training and Pruning

• Wood apple trees are allowed to grow along a central leader with well spaced
branches in all direction.

• The trees require no pruning except removal of criss-cross branches. At initial stage,
pruning of plants to provide a desired shape is essential.

• When planted as windbreak and shelter belt, the trees are allowed to grow tall.

Fruiting

• Period of flowering and fruiting is governed by climate and the period of moisture
availability. It flowers from February to May and fruits are available in winter. A
grown up tree can bear 200 to 250 fruit per annum.

Nutrient Management

• Manuring is not practiced but it will be benefited if manures at the rate of about 25kg
FYM or compost per tree in the beginning of monsoon. It will help in increasing fruit
size and quality.

Irrigation

• It is a crop of dry region and once the plants had established, they hardly need any
irrigation.

• Nevertheless, conservation of runoff rain water in rhizosphere will enhance the

productivity of this crop.
Season

• In Malaya, the leaves are shed in January, flowering occurs in February and March,
and the fruit matures in October and November. In India, the fruit ripens from early
October through March.

Pest

• Fruit borer : Deudorix isocrates

• Citrus butterfly: Papilio demolious

1.Fruit borer: Deudorix isocrates

Symptoms of damage

• Caterpillar bores into young fruits and feeds on internal contents (pulp and seeds).

• Fruit rotting and dropping.

Identification of pest

• Larvae: Dark brown, short and stout, covered with short hairs.

• Adult: Bluish brown butterfly, female has V shaped patch on forewing.

Management

• ETL: 5 eggs/plant

• Collect and destroy damaged fruits.

• Clean cultivation as weed plants serve as alternate hosts.

• Endemic areas grow less susceptible varieties.

• Cover the fruit with polythene bags when the fruits are up to 5 cm.

• Use light trap @ 1/ ha to monitor the activity of adults.

• Malathion 50 EC 0.1% or two rounds, one at flower formation and next at fruit set.

• Flowering stage spray

 • NSKE 5% or neem formulations 2 ml/l.

• Apply dimethoate 30 EC 1.5 ml/l.

2. Citrus butterfly: Papilio demolious

Symptoms of damage:

• Caterpillar feed on the leaves

• Defoliation

Identification of pest:

• Larvae: Early stage larva resembles bird dropping. Grown up larva – cylindrical,
stout, green and brown lateral bond.

• Adult: Dark brown swallowtail butterfly with numerous yellow marking.

Management:

• Hand pick the larvae and destroy

• Early stage spray

• 2 ml of methyl parathion per litre of water

Harvesting

• The fruit is tested for maturity by dropping onto a hard surface from a height of 1 ft.
Immature fruits bounce, while mature fruits do not.

• After harvest, the fruit is kept in the sun for 2 weeks to fully ripen. Budded plants
come to bearing 3-4 years after planting. But to reach optimum productivity it will
take about 10 years.

• The crop flowers in February to May depending on the climatic conditions of a

locality and fruits will be available from July to December depending on the
flowering month. A well grown tree will give 200-250 fruits/year.

According to analyses made in India

• The pulp represents 36% of the whole fruit. The pectin content of the pulp is 3 to 5%
(16% yield on dry-weight basis).

• The seeds contain a bland, non-bitter, oil high in unsaturated fatty acids.