Demo Unit 9

Dragon Fruit Demo Unit

Dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus L.) plant is a cactus, belonging to the family Cactaceae. Recently, dragon fruit introduced as super fruit in India, is considered to be a promising and remunerative fruit crop. Fruit has very attractive colour and mellow mouth melting pulp with black colour edible seed embeded in the pulp along with tremendous nutritive property which attract the growers from different part of India to cultivate this fruit crop which is originated in Mexico and Central and South America.

Annamayya district is the leading production area with 140 ac. whereas in Andhra Pradesh 1171 acres. Every year area has been increasing in Annamayya district.

Demo unit in KVK, Kalikiri
Crop	Dragon fruit
Variety	Hylocereus undatus - white flesh with pink skin; Hylocereus costaricensis -red flesh with pink skin
Source	CHES-IIHR, Hirehalli, Tumakuru District, Karnataka
Soil	Red loamy soil, pH-6.8
Date of planting	12-12-2023
Area	250 sq mts
Staking method	Single pole system (4 nos of plants per pole)
Spacing	4 x 3 m
Training and pruning	Training plants without side branches up to reach pole and pruning required up to 4 yrs old
Weed managemnt	Manual and mulching (with black polythene weed mat – 200 microns Gauge)
Irrigation	Drip irrigation
Fertilizer management	FYM and Vermicompost @ 200 g per plant per a month
Summer management	Providing shade with 50 % shade net and spraying with kaolinite @ 50 g per lite water + neem soap @ 4 g/lit + sea weed extract / humic acid 4 ml/lit

Cost of cultivation to establish one acre dragon fruit orchard
Staking method	Single pole system (4 nos of plants per pole)
Spacing	4 x 3 m
Number of poles and rings per acre	400 nos (400 x 700 = 2,80,000/-)
Number of plants per acre	1600 nos ( 1600 x 50 = 80,000/-)
Labor and others	80,000/-
Total	4,40,000/-
Yield (5^th year onwards)	10 t/ac.

Demo Unit 9 Dragon Fruit Unit

Indian Council Of Agricultural Research

ACHARYA N.G.RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

KRISHI VIGYAN KENDRA

KALIKIRI-517 234