DIRECTORATE OF CASHEWNUT AND COCOA DEVELOPMENT
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

Crop history - Cashew

  2. Crop history - Cashew

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) a native of Eastern Brazil introduced to India just as other commercial crops like Rubber, Coffee, Tea etc. by the Portuguese nearly five centuries back. The first introduction of cashew in India was made in Goa from where it spread to other parts of the country. In the beginning it was mainly considered as a crop for afforestation and soil binder to check erosions. The nuts, apple and other by products of this crop are of commercial importance. Though its commercial exploitation began from the early 1960’s, marginal lands and denuded forests were the areas set apart for the plantation development. Due to the absence of high yielding varieties and multiplication techniques, seeds and seedlings were used for plantation development in an unscientific manner. However, as a result of governmental interventions, coupled with sustained efforts of Research, Development organizations and farmers the development of Cashew Plantations has become re oriented in a scientific manner to great extent. Because of its adaptive ability in wide range of agro climatic conditions and excellent return per unit area, Cashew has attained the status of an export oriented crop of high commercial value.

Indian Cashew is known world-wide for its excellent quality. India being a leader in cashew production is also world’s largest producer, processor and exporter of cashew kernels. Cultivation of cashew in India confines mainly to the peninsular areas. It is grown in Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra along the west coast and Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal along the east coast. Cashew is also being cultivated in Chhattisgarh, North Eastern States (Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland) and Andaman Nicobar Islands to a limited extent.

Cashew is one of the most important horticulture crops of the country and ranks high among the Agri-Horticultural commodities getting exported from India. Cashew not only earns valuable foreign exchange to the tune of about Rs.4000 crores per annum but also provides sustainable employment opportunities to 1.5 million people in processing and agrarian sector, especially women, thereby contributing substantially to rural economy.

Nursery Technology - Cashew

Nursery Management - Cashew

Establishment of scion bank


Production of scion sticks

  • The Scion Bank should be established with the recommended varieties of the region.
  • The plants should be panted in a closer spacing of 4mx4m , in order to get continuous supply of scions.
  • It should be fertilized with recommended quantity of NPK during monsoon and tender shoots should be protected by timely sprays of insecticides.
  • The flower panicles should be cut off in order to get more number of scions.
  • The plants in the scion bank should be maintained by heading back the top to a height of 1.5 m from ground level and by pruning the dried branches.
  • Pruning of trees may be carried out annually during September –October in the scion bank.

Variety of scion and precuring

  • Choose non-flowered, 3-5 month old lateral shoots of current season’s growth.
  • The chosen shoots should be about 10-12 cm long, straight, uniformly round with pencil thickness, brown coloured having dormant plumpy terminal buds.
  • The top 4-5 leaves should be dark green in colour indicating proper maturity of the scion sticks.he chosen scion sticks should be precured by clipping off leaf blades, leaving petiole.
  • The scion sticks can be detached from the mother tree after 8-10 days, before they sprout and utilized for grafting.v

Collection of scion stick

  • The precured scion sticks should be separated early in the morning to avoid desiccation and its length should not less than 10cm.
  • Soon after separation from the mother tree, scion sticks should be dipped in water and placed in a polythene bag of 100 guage thickness and brought to the nursery shed for grafting.
  • The scion sticks wrapped in sphagnum moss cloth and placed in a polythene bag of 100 guage can be kept for 3-4 days and used for grafting, if necessary.

Raising of root stock seedlings

Choose of seednuts

  • Collect fresh seednuts during the peak period of harvest in February-April and sun dried for 2-3 days.
  • Medium sized nuts of 6-7 gm should be chose in order to get uniform and vigorously growing seedlings required for soft wood grafting.
  • The seeds should be bold and the highest specific gravity of more than 1.0. The sun dried, graded seeds should be treated with Carbaryl (5g/Kg of seeds) before storing them in gunny bags or polythene bags. The bags should be arranged on wooden planks in the store room.
  • The plants in the scion bank should be maintained by heading back the top to a height of 1.5 m from ground level and by pruning the dried branches.
  • Pruning of trees may be carried out annually during September -October in the scion bank.

Preparation of potting mixture

  • Prepare the potting mixture in the proportion of one part red soil, one part sand and one part compost in heavy rainfall areas and one part red soil, one part compost in low rainfall areas and mixed with little quantity of rock phosphate (10g/2Kg of potting mixture).

Filling polythene bags

  • Use high density polythene bags of 25 cm x 15 cm size and 300 gauge thickness for filling potting mixture.
  • Punch about 30-40 holes of 0.5cm diameter uniformly on the polythene bags for ensuring good drainage. The bottom corners of the polythene bags should be folded inside before filling potting mixture.
  • Before filling the polythene bags place few dry leaves (leaf mould) and small pebbles at the bottom of the bag for better drainage.
  • Fill the bags properly up to the brim with the potting mixture and arrange the bags in beds of 1000(10x 100) number in each.

Sowing of seeds

  • The seednuts should be soaked in water for 12-24 hours before sowing in order to get good germination.
  • Pre-soaking of seeds results in earlier and higher percentage of germination.
  • At the time of sowing the soil should be moist and loosened in the polythene bag.
  • Sow the seeds in the centre of the bag, stalk-end upwards, with a depth of not more than 2.5 cm and cover with little soil.
  • Water the polythene bags immediately after sowing and daily during drier months. Excess irrigation should be avoided.
  • The seednuts usually germinate within 15-20 days after sowing.
  • Seed bed may be mulched with paddy straw till germination takes place and partial shade may be provided during summer months.
  • To control pests while seeds germinate, malathion 5% dust, or spraying of chloropyriphos (Durmet 20 EC:0.05% ) should be applied.

Maintenance of seedlings in the nursery

  • Daily watering is required during summer season.
  • During rainy season, to avoid water stagnation and disease occurrence seedlings may be covered by polythene sheet.
  • To get vigorous seedlings with single main stem, the side shoots arising from the leaf axils should be removed frequently.
  • In order to prevent penetration of roots into the ground when seedlings are kept in same place for three months and have to be shifted and arranged in beds of different place.
  • To control tea mosquito and other sucking insect pests, ekalux / monocrotophos @ 1.5 ml / litre of water may be sprayed.
  • Choose 45-60 days old seedlings as root stocks for grafting.

Soft wood grafting technique

Preparation of root stock

  • Disinfect the grafting knives by dipping them in fungicide solution.
  • Root stock seedling brought from the nursery beds should be kept in the nursery shed under shade for grafting.
  • Remove the leaves by a sharp grafting knife leaving two pairs bottom leaves.
  • At a height of 15-20 cm from ground level a transverse cut is made on the root stock and the terminal shoot is removed.
  • A cleft of 6-7 cm deep is made in the middle of the decapitated stem by giving a longitudinal cut.
  • A little portion of wood is removed from the inner sides of the cleft at the top, so that after grafting the joint will be perfect.

Preparation of scion

  • Choose a matching scion stick of the same thickness as that of the root stock of 10-12cm long by cutting off the excess portion at the bottom.
  • Shape the cut end of the scion in to a wedge of 6-7 cm long by chopping off the bark and little portion of wood from two opposite sides.
  • While preparing the wedge, the gum on the cut surface should not be disturbed and the cut surfaces should not be soiled by touching with fingers.

Grafting

  • The wedge of the scion is put into the cleft of the root stock to see that the cambial layers of both the root stock and the scion come in perfect contact with each other.
  • The graft joint is secured firmly with 2.5cm wide and 30cm long polythene strip of 100 gauge thickness.
  • A long and narrow HD polythene bag of 15cm x 12.5cm size and 100 gauge thickness is added on the grafted plant, tied at the bottom with a single knot in order to protect the scion stick from drying up.
  • In places with high humidity the polythene cap need not be used.
  • The freshly grafted plants are left in the nursery shed for about two weeks to encourage sprouting of the terminal buds.
  • After two weeks the polythene caps are removed gently and the grafts are shifted to open condition in the nursery.
  • Within 3-4 weeks, 70-80% of the grafts will sprout.
  • Graft ready for planting within 5-6 months.

Management of cashew grafts in the nursery

  • Cashew grafts should be watered daily during dry periods.
  • During rainy season, excess water should be removed.
  • Plants in the nursery should be shifted at least once in a months to avoid penetration of roots in the ground.
  • During summer months (January-May) grafted plants should be protected by providing partial shade by erecting pandal of dry coconut fronds or nylon nets.
  • Bordeaux mixture spray (1%) may be given at 10 days interval during rainy season to control fungal infection of tender seedlings and grafted plants.
  • Ekalux / monocrotophos (1.5ml/litre of water) may be sprayed to control sucking insects and leaf eating caterpillars as and when the damage is seen.
  • The flower panicles produced by the graft should be removed as and when observed in the nursery.
  • The polythene strip should be removed from the graft joint after four months of grafting.
  • The bottom leaves on the root stock should be removed after three months of grafting when scion leaves turn bronze colour to green.

Seasonal influence on graft success

  • The success of soft wood grafting is higher during the monsoon season- June-November.
  • During other season graft success is slightly reduced due to non availability of proper scion sticks and unfavorable weather conditions.
  • The average graft success throughout the year is 65-70%.

Production Technologies - Cashew

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) belong to the family Anacardiacea. It was originally introduced into India by the Portuguese during the 16th century. The cashew kernels are used in confectionery and desserts. The shells contain a high quality oil known as cashewnut shell liquid (CNSL) which has got wide industrial uses. Cashew apple is eaten fresh or mixed in fruit salads and a drink is prepared from the juice. Cashew can be distilled to produce alcoholic drink (Fenny).

CLIMATE

Cashew is essentially a tropical crop, grows best in the warm, moist and typically tropical climate. The distribution of cashew is restricted to altitudes below 700 m where the temperature does not fall below 20˚C for prolonged periods, although it may be found growing at elevation up to 1200 m. It is best adopted to the coastal regions. The cashew is hardy and drought resistant, but it is damaged by frost.

RAINFALL

Cashew is grown in areas with rainfall ranging from 600 – 4500 mm per annum. Fruit setting in cashew will be good if rains are not abundant during flowering and nuts mature in a dry period.

TEMPERATURE

Cashew is a sun loving tree and does not tolerate excessive shade. It can tolerate temperature of more than 36˚ C for a shorter period but the most favourable temperature lies between 24˚ C to 28˚ C.

The climatic factors influence the cashew growth and production as follows:-

  • Dry spell during flowering and fruit setting ensures better harvest.
  • Cloudy weather during flowering enhances scorching of flowers due to tea mosquito infestation.
  • Heavy rains during flowering and fruit set damages production.
  • High temperature (39˚-42˚ C) during stage of fruit set development causes fruit drive.

SOIL

Cashew is an hardy crop. It can be grown on a wide range of soils except heavy clay, water logged and saline soils. Well drained red, sandy and laterite soils are ideal for good growth and yield of cashew.

VARIETIES

Choice of suitable cashew varieties for the specific region and appropriate package of practices determines the final yield. More than 30 varieties which are having exportable grade of cashew kernels are released from different research institutes in India and details are furnished separately.

PLANTING MATERIAL

Choose of planting material is most important in cashew cultivation. Cashew is highly cross pollinated and vegetative propagation is mainly recommended on commercial scale to produce true to type planting materials. Softwood grafting is the only method which is commercially feasible and practically highly successful in cashew.

PLANTING MATERIAL

The normal recommended spacing is 7.5 x 7.5 m to 8 x 8 m and spacing may be reduced up to 4m x 4m depends on type of soil and managerial capacity. The high density planting consisting of up to 625 plants/ha can also be adopted for better utilization of space during early years. Initial planting can be done at a spacing of 4mts x 4mts or 5mts x 5mts or 6mts x 4mts and maintained up to a period of 7 to 9 years with proper pruning and training. Later the excess plants can be thinned out to provide a final spacing of 8mts x 8mts or 10mts x 10mts or 6mts x 8mts.

METHOD AND SEASON OF PLANTING

The square system of planting can be followed. The ideal time for planting is usually during monsoon season when the moisture is air surcharged (June-August) both in the west coast and east coast. If irrigation facilities are available, planting can be done throughout the year except winter months.

Normally cashew grafts are planted in the pits of 60 cm. cube. It is preferable to dig the pits at least 15-20 days before planting and expose to sunlight so that termites and ants, if any, which damage the roots of the grafts will migrate elsewhere. The pits should be completely filled with a mixture of top soil and organic manure to ¾ of the pit capacity. The grafts are planted after carefully removing the polythene bag. Care should be taken to see that the graft joint remains at least 5 cm above the ground level at the time of planting. The polythene tape around the graft union need to be removed carefully. Staking should be done immediately after planting to protect the grafts from wind damage. Mulch the basins of plants with organic waste materials during early years.

APPLICATION OF MANURES AND FERTILIZERS

Manures and fertilizers promote growth of the plants and advance the onset of flowering in young trees. Application of 10-15 kg of farm yard manure or compost per plant is beneficial. The current fertilizer recommendations for cashew is 500 g N (1.1 kg urea), 125 g P205 (625 g rock phosphate) and 125 g K2O (208 g Muriate of potash) per plant per year. The ideal period for fertilizer application is immediately after the cessation of heavy rains and with available soil moisture. During the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of planting 1/3rd, 2/3rd and full doze of fertilizers should be applied and 3rd year onwards full quantity is to be applied.

WEEDING

Clearing the area by manually within 2mtr radius of the trunk and slashing the remainder is essential until the trees shade out most of the trees. Weeding can be done by chemically also. Glyphosate (post emergent) application at 6 to 7 ml per litre of water (0.8 kg a.i./ha) during June – July also effectively controls weeds.

MULCHING

Mulching the tree basins will help in conservation of soil moisture and prevents soil erosion. Mulching with organic matter or residues inhibits weed growth and reduces surface evaporation during summer and also regulates the soil temperature.

Under sloppy areas, soil and water conservation practices can be done by making trenches of 30 cm width, 60 cm depth. And convenient length may be taken in between rows along the contour. This will mot only conserve soil and moisture but will also enable to enhance the growth of cashew.

TRAINING AND PRUNING

Training and pruning is the important horticulture practice to be employed to make better frame work of cashew plant. It helps to control growth and make easy for cultural practices. The sprouts arising from the root stock portion of the cashew graft should be removed frequently during the first year of planting. As an orchard management technique to improve the sanitation, removal of water shoots, lower branches, crisscross branches and dry branches are found to be beneficial to enhance flowering and the yield.

IRRIGATION

In India cashew is grown mainly under rain fed condition. However protective irrigation especially summer months during January-march at fortnightly intervals at 200 liters/plant improves fruit set, fruit retention, thereby increasing nut yield.

INTERCROPPING

Intercropping received little attention in the cashew. However, depending on soil and climatic conditions and local situations annual vegetables like tapioca, pulses, turmeric, ginger etc, can be grown as inter crops. When once the plants become sufficiently big pepper can be taken as mixed crop.

PLANT PROTECTION

Tea mosquito, stem borer, thrips, leaf minor and leaf blossom webber are important pests of cashew. Of these, tea mosquito and stem borer causes economical damage in cashew.

Tea mosquito: Tea mosquito bug (Helopeltis antonii s.) can cause yield reduction to the tune of 30-40 per cent damaging tender shoots, inflorescence and immature nuts at various stages of development. It attacks the tree in all the seasons during flushing, flowering and fruit setting period but the peak period of infestation is from October to March. To control the pest, spray schedule involving three sprays synchronizing new flushing (October-November), flowering (November-December) and fruit setting (January - February) may be given with the following chemicals:-

  • Quinalphos (25% EC) - 0.05%
  • Carbaryl (50% WP) - 0.01%
  • Phosphamidon (85% WSC) - 0.03%

The number of sprays should be limited to three and the same insecticide should be used for the subsequent sprays.

Stem and root borer - Stem and root borer (Placaederus ferrugineus L.) is also a dangerous pest and kill the entire plant. It is mostly seen in neglected gardens. The larvae of a beetle tunnel into the tree trunk and eats the bark all around the trunk. Manual removing of grubs and pasting the damaged portion with mixture of Carbaryl 50 gm (50%) and copper Oxychloride (25 gm) in one liter of water give effective control.

HARVESTING AND YIELD

The flower panicles emerging from the graft during 1st and 2nd year should be removed in order to allow the plant to put good vegetative growth and better framework. Economic bearing in cashew commences after 3rd year of planting. The ripened will fall down and nuts from fallen fruits have to be collected. Nuts can be dried in sun for 2 to 3 days on cement floor and can be stored in gunny bags. The yield starting from 1 kg in 3rd-4th year, yield goes on increasing as the canopy develops and one can expect more that 10 kgs. of nuts in 8 to 10 years old plant depending on management.

MARKETING OF RAW CASHEW NUTS

Marketing of raw cashewnut in India has not yet been organized in systematic manner except in Goa where co-operative marketing society is procuring raw nuts to the little desired extent. A major portion of the produce is brought by itinerant merchants and the agents of the processing units. A number of wholesale merchants and the processing factories open their collecting centres in important cashew producing areas during the harvesting period. The petty dealers who buy the nuts from the growers also dispose the nuts in these collecting centres. Cashewnut are brought for sale to the assembling markets largely by the itinerant merchants. In certain areas, the most resourceful processors contact the producers thus avoiding the commission agents role and enjoy good bargaining power by providing credit facilities to the producers. As there are a number of intermediaries operating the field between the primary producer and the processing unit. The different costs and margins in the total spread between the producer and the processing unit are quite significant and the producers share in the price paid by the processing units generally low.

Varital Wealth


Varieties of Cashew

Madakkathara- 1

Hybrid/Type: Tree No.39 of Bapatla

Canopy type : Compact

Flowering : November

Fruiting: January-March

Apple Colour :Yellow

Juice% : 72

Nut Weight: 6.g

Kernal Weight: 1.64g

Shelling%: 26.8

Export Grade%: W280

Mean nut yield/tree: 13.8 Kg

Area recommended

Kerala : Kasaragod, Kannur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Palakkad

Kanaka (H-1598)

>Hybrid/Type: Hybrid

BLA-139-1 X h3-13

Canopy type : Open

Flowering : November- December

Fruiting: December -March

Apple Colour :Yellow

Juice% : 70

Nut Weight: 6.8g

Kernal Weight: 2.08g

Shelling%: 30.58

Export Grade%: W280

Mean nut yield/tree: 12.8 Kg

Area recommended

Kerala : Kasaragod, Kannur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Palakkad

Dhana (H-1608)

Hybrid/Type: Hybrid

Parentage : ALGD-1 X K-30-1

Canopy type : Compact

Flowering : December- January

Fruiting: January-March

Apple Colour :Yellow

Juice% : 72

Nut Weight: 8.2g

Kernal Weight: 2.44g

Shelling%: 29.8

Export Grade%: W210

Mean nut yield/tree: 10.66 Kg

Area recommended

Kerala : Kasaragod, Kannur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Palakkad

Karnataka : Kolar

Orissa : Dhenkanal

Amrutha (H-1597)

Hybrid/Type: Hybrid

Parentage : BLA-139-1 x H-3-13

Canopy type : Spreading

Flowering : December- January

Fruiting: January-March

Apple Colour :Yellow

Juice% : 72

Nut Weight: 7.18 g

Kernal Weight: 2.24g

Shelling%: 31.58

Export Grade%: W210

Mean nut yield/tree: 18.36 Kg

Area recommended

Kerala : Kasaragod, Kannur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Palakkad

Priyanka (H-1591)

Hybrid/Type: Hybrid

Parentage : BLA-139-1 x H-30-1

Canopy type : Open

Flowering : December- January

Fruiting: February-May

Apple Colour :Yellowish red

Juice% : 67

Nut Weight: 2.87 g

Kernal Weight: 2.24g

Shelling%: 26.57

Export Grade%: W180

Mean nut yield/tree: 17.03 Kg

Area recommended

Kerala : Kasaragod, Kannur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Palakkad

Madakkathara -2 (NDR-2-1)

Hybrid/Type: Neduvellur

Canopy type : Open

Flowering : January-March

Fruiting: February-May

Apple Colour :Red

Juice% : 68

Nut Weight: 7.25 g

Kernal Weight: 1.88g

Shelling%: 26

Export Grade%: W210

Mean nut yield/tree: 17 Kg

Area recommended

Kerala : Kasaragod, Kannur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Palakkad

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