The botanical name of Ber is Zizyphus mauritiana Lam; it belongs to the family Rhamnaceae
Varieties: Kaithali, Umran, Gola and Banarasi.
Soil and climate: The ber plant comes under arid and semi-arid situation. Tolerates salinity and alkalinity.
Planting material: Budded plants.
Planting: Plant during July-August with a spacing of 7 x 7 m in pits of 60 cm x 60 cm x 60 cm. 8 x 3 m for Kaithali and 8 x 4 m for Banarasi.
Irrigation: Irrigate the plants initially for establishment. Provide 5 % slope towards the base of the tree for in situ water harvesting.
Manures and fertilizers (per plant/year)
Manuring to be given immediately after pruning.
Spray 2% KNO3 thrice at monthly intervals in Jan., Feb. and March.
Training and pruning: Remove the root stock sprouts and have a straight stem upto 75 cm from the ground level. It is very important in the early years to build up a strong framework and in later years to maintain vigour to improve fruit size and quality.
During February - March prune and thin the crowded branches to provide maximum fruit bearing area in the tree.
Plant protection against Pests
Fruit fly: Destroy infested fruits. Dig the soil under tree canopy to destroy pupae and incorporate Lindane 1.3% dust @ 30 g /tree. Spray malathion 50 EC or endosulfan 35 EC or quinalphos 25 EC at 2 ml/lit. Use polythene bags fish meal trap with 5 gm of wet fish meal + 1 ml. dichlorvos in cotton. 50 traps are required/ha, fish meal + dichlorvos soaked cotton are to be renewed once in 20 and 7 days respectively.
Scale insects: During pruning all the affected materials should be collected and burnt. The trees should be sprayed with phosphamidon 40 SL or methyl demeton 25 EC at the rate of 2 ml/lit.
Protection against Diseases
Black leaf spot: Spray Carbendazim 1 g/lit. or Chlorothalonil 2 g/lit. at 15 days interval from the initial appearance of the symptom.
Powdery mildew: Spray Dinocap 1 ml/ litre
Yield: 70-80 Kg of fruits/tree/year
Seed Production Technology: Seeds of Ber attain physiological maturity 13 weeks after anthesis. It is indicated by yellowish red colour of fruit pericarp. Stones can be size graded using 22/64" round perforated metal sieve. Ber stones can be stored upto 30 months without any treatment under ambient conditions.
