Fruit farming

Fruit farming, growing of fruit crops, including nuts, primarily for use as human food.

The subject of fruit and nut production deals with intensive culture of perennial plants, the fruits of which have economic significance (a nut is a fruit, botanically). It is one part of the broad subject of horticulture, which also encompasses vegetable growing and production of ornamentals and flowers. This article places further arbitrary limitations in that it does not encompass a number of very important perennial fruit crops covered elsewhere, including vanilla, coffee, and the oil-producing tung tree and oil palm (see coffee, fat and oil processing, wine, and articles on individual plants [e.g., vanilla; tung tree; and oil palm]).

Botanists define a fruit in broad terms as the fleshy or dry ripened ovary surrounding the seed of a plant. A pomologist, or specialist in the science and practice of fruit growing, defines it somewhat more narrowly as the fleshy edible part of a perennial plant associated with development of the flower. A nut is any seed or fruit consisting of a kernel, usually oily, surrounded by a hard or brittle shell. Most edible nuts—e.g., almond, walnut, cashew, pecan, pistachio, etc.—are well known as dessert nuts. Not all nuts are edible. Some, used as sources of oil or fat, may be regarded as oil seeds; others are used for ornament. The botanical definition of a nut, based on features of form and structure (morphology), is more restrictive: a hard, dry, one-celled, one-seeded fruit that does not split open at maturity. Among the nuts that fit both the botanical and popular conception are the acorn, chestnut, and filbert; other so-called nuts may be botanically a seed (Brazil nut), a legume (peanut [groundnut]), or a drupe (almond and coconut). In this article the term nut is used in its broadest sense unless otherwise indicated.

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This article treats the principles and practices of fruit cultivation. For a discussion of the processing of fruits, see the article food preservation; for information on their nutritive value, see nutrition, human.

Improvements in technology and consolidation of the fruit and nut industries in the most favoured climates of the world have been responsible for a steady increase in yield. Thus, the total acreage or number of plants devoted to various fruit and nut crops has dropped, remained about the same, or not risen in proportion to the increase in the respective crop production.

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Although fruit- and nut-growing enterprises cover great ranges of climates and plant materials, their technologies have many common problems and practices. The most significant of these are discussed below.

The variety: its propagation and improvement

The first step in establishing a fruit- or nut-growing industry is the selection of individual plants with high productivity and a superior product. Such an individual is a horticultural variety. If it is multiplied vegetatively from rooted cuttings, from root pieces that throw shoots, or by graftage, each plant in the group (called a clone) that results is identical with the others. Nearly all commercially important perennial fruit and nut crops are clonally propagated; i.e., their varieties are multiplied vegetatively by one means or another. Some nut crops, such as the wild pecan, cashew, black walnut, hickory, and chestnut still come from trees that grow at random from seed; hence, character and quality tend to vary.

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Many important varieties of fruit plants were selected generations ago. The Sultanina (Thompson Seedless) grape, the Lob Injir (Calimyrna) fig, and the Gros Michel banana have obscure origins; planted by the millions since selection, each specimen is actually a vegetative continuation of the selected individual growing on an independent root system. But regardless of the age of a fruit-growing industry, or the perfection of some of the selected varieties, a continuing search for new varieties is essential. There is always room for improvement in climatic adaptability, in insect and disease resistance, and in the solution of special horticultural or marketing problems. In fact, government experiment stations over the world now stress scientific breeding for improvement of market quality and yield of key fruit and nut crops.

Not only are varietal selection and improvement a continuing need but so also is the maintenance of existing varieties. Although an improved vegetative mutation of a variety is exceptional, the opportunities for accidental multiplication of degenerate (low-quality) mutants increase in proportion to the number of specimens of the variety. As a result, care is taken to propagate a clone only from superior individuals, and in the case of citrus, where mutation is especially common, further precautions are necessary. There are, of course, occasional mutations that may greatly improve a variety and these are sought, selected, and propagated.

Vegetative propagation technique varies with the individual fruit plant. Date, banana, and pineapple are multiplied by use of offshoots or suckers. Grape, fig, olive, currant, and blueberry are usually propagated from cuttings. Strawberry and black raspberry reproduce vegetatively by special organs—the former by stolons or runners, the latter by cane tip rooting or layering. Many kinds of fruit trees must be grafted or budded on especially grown rootstocks because the species to be multiplied does not root itself easily; apple, pear, peach, mango, and citrus are examples of this group. Many nut trees have a single taproot with but few branching roots, necessitating a deep hole and special care in transplanting.

Today’s trend is toward a smaller tree in most fruit crops, particularly the apple and pear, and toward closer planting in hedgerow style, with carefully regulated fertilization and irrigation. This increases production per acre, lowers labour cost, increases early yields, and facilitates access in maintenance and harvesting. This approach, in fact, has been used for decades in Europe. Labour is the largest element of cost in fruit and nut production. Every means is exploited to reduce, facilitate, or eliminate hand labour.

With most fruit species a period of one to two years intervenes between the time a cutting is rooted and the time the plant is ready for setting in the field, or between graftage or budding and field planting. During this interval the plants remain in a nursery where they can be given intensive culture in rows. Pineapple and banana planting materials, however, do not require nursery care before field planting.

In choosing fruit varieties, the grower must (1) recognize the relative adaptabilities of available varieties to the climatic and soil conditions of his farm and (2) select a group that satisfies both his management needs and the market demands from those best adapted to his conditions. For instance, an apple producer in the northeastern U.S. may raise four varieties: Milton, McIntosh Red, Red Delicious, and Rome Beauty. The main harvest seasons for these succeed each other at two-week intervals; this helps him extend the harvest period and make efficient use of his labour. The first two varieties cross-fertilize satisfactorily, as do the last two. The first of these varieties is usually marketed without storage, while the storage seasons of the others are of increasing length. This helps the grower to extend his marketing period.