Red Pitaya; Dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.); Value addition and niche markets
INTRODUCTION
Dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.), a herbaceous
perennial climbing cactus, widely known as Red Pitaya,
has recently drawn much attention among the Indian
growers, not only because of its attractive red or
pink color and economic value as fruit, but also valued
for its high antioxidant potential, vitamins and
minerals content. Being a native of Southern Mexico,
Guatemala and Costa Rica, dragon fruit was
introduced in India during the late `90s and still the
area under its cultivation is gradually increasing.
Farmers in the Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil
Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Orissa, West
Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman & Nicobar Islands
have already taken up its cultivation, and the
estimated total area under Dragon fruit cultivation in
these regions may be less than 400 ha. Majority of
the dragon fruits presently available in Indian markets
are imported from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia
and Sri Lanka. Being a cactus family and requires long
day for flowering, dragon fruit cultivation is
well suited in the agro-climatic regions of Southern,
Western and North Eastern India that are dry and
frost-free. Due to high demand both in domestic and
international markets, dragon fruit production
could be an economical avocation to both backyard growers
as well as entrepreneurs of medium and
large scale plantations. Cultivation of dragon fruit
already started in different parts of India with many
success stories of farmer from different regions. Many
nursery men started propagation for raising
planting material of dragon fruit. One of the widely
grown cultivars and most commonly available
dragon fruit is the red color epicarp with white and pink
pulped sub-sweet juicy pulp matrix. It is a fast
return perennial fruit crop with economic production in
the first year after planting, and full production
within three to five years. It was also noted to
initially produce in its first years on wards provided
desirable cultural management practices are applied.
Although the initial investment is relatively high,
profit is substantial within 4-5 years. The red flesh
species i.e H. costaricensis are additionally rich in
betalains, meeting the increasing trade interest
for antioxidant products and natural food colorant.
Fruits are easy to keep fresh under room condition. The
crop is hardy and can survive in any type of
climatic condition favorable for flowering and fruiting
and soil condition provided with good drainage.
Biochemical
constituents of dragon fruit
Dragon fruit is considered to be one of the tropical
super foods due to its nutrient richness. It is rich in
various nutrients and low in calories. Reports suggest
that it is believed to help in the control of chronic
illnesses, improves the health of alimentary canal and
boosting the body’s immunity. It is also rich in
various vitamins, minerals and dietary fibres. All these
beneficial factors make dragon fruit as the best
option for weight loss treatment, control of diabetes,
lowering the cholesterol level, etc.
Propagation
Dragon fruit plants can easily multiply through stem
cutting. Generally 20-25cm long stem cuttings are
used for planting. The cutting should be prepared one–two
days prior to planting and the latex oozing
out of cut is allowed to dry. The cutting should be taken
from elite mother plants after the fruiting
season. The cutting should be treated with fungicides to
prevent diseases. These cuttings are planted in
12 x 30 cm size polyethylene bags, filled with 1:1:1
ratio of soil, farmyard manure and sand. The bags
are kept at a shady place for rooting. Excess moisture
should be avoided for prevention of rotting of
cutting. These cutting roots profusely and become ready
for planting with 5-6 months (Tripathi, et.al.,
2014)
The seed propagation studies carried out that seedlings
remain smaller with thin stem even after
one year of planting. Further the plants produced from
seeds are not true to type and there is there lot of variability among the
plants. Thus seed are generally not used for commercial multiplication of
dragon fruit (Tripathi, et.al., 2014).
Planting
Dragon fruit cultivation prefers full sunlight open area
is very suitable for planting. The shady areas are
not suitable for dragon fruit planting. Generally in
single post system planting is done at 3x3 m distance.
Single post vertical height of pole 1.5 m to 2 m at which
point they are allowed to branch and hang
down. The Dragon fruit may be planted near the poles to
enable them to climb easily. Number of plants
per pole may be 2 to 4 plants depending on the climatic
condition. Lateral shoots must be limited and
2-3 main stems are allowed to grow. Because lateral
shoots bust be removed time to time. It is
important to arrange round metal/concrete frame to
maintain balanced shrub. Because it spread the
hanging shoots balance way. The addition of dolomite and
organic fertiliser at planting is beneficial.
The media consisted of the soil enriched with organic
inputs like farmyard manure, coir compost and
vermin-compost along with biofertilizers. The growth of
dragon fruit vines was so fast that an average
growth rate of 8.2 cm was observed per week. In about 8
months after planting the dragon fruit forms a
thick dense mass of vines on top of the trellis which
lies drooping to the ground.
Study carried out Orissa, India about phenological stages
of dragon fruit according to the extended
BBCH (Biologische Bundesantalt, Bundessortenamt und
Chemische Industrie) scale using three-digit
numerical system which contributes to the standardization
of its phenological stages. Seven principal
growth stages, viz., bud development (0),shoot
development (1), vegetatively propagated organ
development (4), reproductive development (5),flowering
(6), fruit development (7) and fruit
maturation (8) have been described. A total of 40
secondary growth stages have been described and
defined. The extended BBCH scale for dragon fruit is
broadly applicable because it describes all the
phenophases pertaining to vegetative and reproductive
stages and their relative importance in crop
management and improvement. The developed scale will act
as a useful tool for adoption of effective
crop management practices like nutrient management,
pollination, plant propagation, timely harvest of
fruits and pest management. (Kundan Kishore, 2016)
Training
systems
The Dragon fruit plants are fast growing vines and
produce more thick dense of branches during the
initial stage. The lateral buds and branches should be
pruned to grow towards stands. Once vines reach
up to the top of the stands the branches are then allowed
to grow. The removal of tip of main stem is
done to allow growth of new shoots to grow laterally and
climb at the ring to form an umbrella like
structure of vines where flowers will emanate and develop
into fruits which would induce lateral
branching. This pruning referred as structural pruning or
making a structure on the trellis. The well
grown vine may produce 30 to 50 branches in one year and
may be more than 100 branches in-four
years
Flowering
The flowers starts with on small spiral button type
attract structures at the stem margins. These develop
to flower buds in 10-15 days. The beautiful hermaphrodite
nature flowers length (25-30cm), white
inside and greenish yellow with purple dyes on the
outside (Fig.3.) They are scented and only
blooming at night and last one only night. Flower
production generally takes place during May -
August and fruit harvest 30-40 days after fruits set.
Quality of the fruit does vary between varieties, but
harvest time has a much greater effect on quality than
varietal differences. There are self-compatible
and self-incompatible varieties. There is considerable
variation in fruit size and shape between the
varieties. At present, very little knowledge available on
varietal and production aspects ((Karunakaran
and M. Arivalagan,2019).
Harvesting
The plant start yielding after 12-15 months from the date
of planting and the fruit maturity could be
optimized with the change of fruit epicarp color from
green to red. Proper time of harvesting was found
after seven days of color transition. The plants yield
the fruits in the months between June to September,
and harvest could be done three to four times in a month,
The fruit weight ranged between 300-800g,
and the average yield from the single post is realized
about 30 to 35 kgs from the three years old
planting. Present farm gate price ranged between INR.
80.00 to 120.00 per kg.
Processing
Dragon fruit pulp and juice with solution containing 1.5
per cent pectin, 55% sugar and 0.9 per cent
citric acid solution improved the colour as well as other
organoleptic characteristics of dragon fruit jam
and jelly. In case of dragon fruit RTS beverage 14 per
cent pulp, 12 per cent sugar and 0.9% was found
to be most suitable. The prepared product was found to be
organoleptically acceptable. Prepared
products can be stored for the period of more than three
months at ambient storage condition without
microbial spoilage or any considerable loss in quality
(Sharma, 2016)
