This document provides information on advanced production technology for almond crops. It discusses the taxonomy, origin, nutritional importance, varieties, climate and soil requirements, propagation methods, planting, training, pruning, pollination management and other cultivation practices for almond. The key varieties grown are Non Pareil, California Paper Shell, IXL and Merced. Proper training, pruning, irrigation, and ensuring at least 33% of plants are pollinizer varieties is important for high yields.

2. Advanced production technology of Almond crop
Presented by,
Pawan Kumar Nagar
M. Sc (Fruit science)
Department of Horticulture,
B. A. College of Agriculture,
Anand Agricultural
University,
Anand – 388 110

3. TAXONOMICAL CLASSIFICATION
Botanical name : Prunus amygdalous Batsch
Family : Rosaceae
Origin : Persia - Afghanistan, Western Asia
Type of fruit : Drupe
Edible portion : Kernal/ Cotyledon
Chromosome number : 2n = 16

4. INTRODUCTION
 Almonds are native to Mediterranean region and are considered as one of
the oldest tree nut in the world and are closely related to peach, probably
evolved from the same ancestral species in South-Central Asia and from
there it spread along the shores of the Mediterranean in Northern Africa
and Southern Europe by Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.
 It was bought to California in the 17th century by Spanish where the
industry progressed and production increased several folds due to
cultivation of superior varieties accompanied by prudent scientific
production and protection technologies making California the world leader
in almond production.
 In India it was 1st introduced to Kashmir during 16th century by Persian
settlers but inspite of its great potential in the region, the crop could not be
developed on commercial scale as that of apple.

5. Flowering and fruiting
 Flowering: January - April depending on the cultivar.
 Bud differentiation: August-September and continues up to February.
 Trees begin to bear in 3 to 4 years and they reach the optimum
production stage in 8 to 10 years.
 There is a serious problem of pollination in almond as almost all the
varieties of almond are self-incompatible and a few are crossing-
incompatible, hence these require adequate provision for pollinizers
(varieties which will provide pollen grains).

6.  The varietal combinations recommended for almond plantations are as
follows.
1. Non-Pareil- Ne Plus Ultra -Mission
2. Ne Plus Ultra -Peerless -Non-Pareil
3. Ne Plus Ultra -Non.Pareil- Davey
4. Peerless -Non-Pareil- Mission
5. Davey -Non-Pareil –Mission
 More than 1 Varieties in Almond orchard.
 Long flowering periods are considered to be good pollinizers.
 Honey bee rearing culture in orchard.

7. NUTRITIONAL IMPORTANCE
1. Health benefits:
 Almond nuts are rich sources of vitamins, and minerals and packed with
numerous health promoting phyto-chemicals. These nuts compose of well-
balanced food principles that are essential for optimum health and
wellness.
 Almonds are one of the complete sources of energy as well as nutrients.
 The nuts, especially, are rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids like oleic,
and palmitoleic acids that help in lowering LDL(Low Density
Lipoproteins) or "bad cholesterol" and increasing HDL(High Density
Lipoproteins) or "good cholesterol" in the human body.

8.  Research studies suggest that Mediterranean diet, which is excellent in
monounsaturated fatty acids, help to prevent coronary artery disease and
strokes by favoring healthy blood lipid profile.
 The nuts are an excellent source of vitamin E; hold about 25 g per 100 g
(about 170% of RDA). Vitamin E is a powerful lipid soluble antioxidant,
required for maintaining cell membrane integrity of mucus membranes
and skin by protecting it from harmful effects of oxygen-free radicals.
 Almonds are free from gluten protein, and for the same reason, they are
one of the popular ingredients in the preparation of gluten-free food
formulas. Such formula preparations are infact, healthy alternatives in
people with wheat food allergy, and celiac disease.

9.  The nuts are packed with many important B-complex groups of vitamins
such as riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B-6, and
folates. Altogether, these vitamins work as co-factors for enzymes during
cellular substrate metabolism inside the human body.
 Furthermore, almonds are also an incredible source of minerals such as
manganese, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium.
 Almond oil, extracted from the nuts, can be employed as an emollient.
When applied regularly, it helps keep skin well protected from dryness.
Additionally, the oil is used in cooking in Iran, and Turkey. It is also used
as “carrier or base oil” in various traditional medicines, in aromatherapy,
pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.

10. 2. Culinary uses:
 Almonds can be enjoyed either on their own , salted or sweetened.
 They are nutty yet pleasantly sweet in taste. Sweetened almond
milk (Badam milk-shake) is a one of popular refreshing drink in Indian
and other south Asian countries.
 Almonds are one of the most sought after among nuts employed in
various rice dishes, savory and sweet preparations in the Middle-East
region.
 Almond splits/sliver are often sprinkled over desserts, particularly
sundaes and other ice cream based preparations.

11. VARIETIES
1. Improved varieties:
 There are number of varieties available in almond. But there are four major
varieties of export quality viz., Non Pareil, California Paper Shell, IXL and
Merced.
 In addition to these exotic cultivars, recently released indigenous cultivars
like Shalimar, Makhdoom and Waris have also shown very promising
results under Kashmir conditions.
2. Other high yielding cultivars
 Primorskij, Ne Plus Ultra, Peerless, Thompson, Carmel, Price, Butte, Ruby,
Fritz, Monterey, Sonora, Padre and Le Grand.

12. 1. Non Pareil
 It is a regular bearer, mid bloomer (bloom during 3rd week of March)
and early maturing, matures 141 days after full bloom.
 The tree is upright to spreading.
 It bears flower and nuts on both spurs as well as on long shoots
having good ability to renew fruiting wood and is relatively resistant
to frost.
 The nut has an extra light colour, papery shell that gives a high
shelling percentage (60%).
 It has a medium size kernel.
 The variety is suitable for export market as nut and kernels. The
average productivity is 2.5t/ha.

13. 2. California Paper Shell
 It is a regular bearer, bloom during 2nd week of March and ready to
harvest after 152 days from the date of full bloom.
 The tree is upright suitable for high density plantations.
 It bears flower and nuts on both spurs as well as on long shoots with
good ability to renew fruiting wood.
 The nut and kernel are longer in size with extra light colour, papery
shell that gives shelling percentage of 50%.
 This variety is also suitable for export market.
 The average productivity is 2.0t/ha.

14. 3. Merced
 It is a regular bearer, bloom during 3rd week of March and ready to
harvest after 152 days from the date of full bloom.
 The tree is upright suitable for high density plantations.
 It bears flower and nuts on both spurs as well as on long shoots with
good ability to renew fruiting wood.
 Shell colour intermediate with papery shell gives shelling percentage
(56%).
 The variety is also suitable for export of kernels. The average
productivity is 2.0t/ha

15. 4. IXL
 It is a regular bearer, bloom during 3rd week of March and ready to
harvest after 151 days from the date of full bloom. The tree is
spreading type and of intermediate vigour. It bears flower and nuts on
both spurs as well as on long shoots with good ability to renew
fruiting wood.
 The nut and kernels are medium and shell colour intensity is
intermediate.
 Shells are soft that gives a high shelling percentage (55%). The
average productivity is 2.5t/ha.

16. 5. Shalimar
 It is a regular bearer, bloom during 2nd week of March and ready to harvest
after 143 days from the date of full bloom.
 The tree growth habit is spreading/ drooping type.
 It bears flower and nuts on both long shoots and spurs with good ability to
renew fruiting wood.
 The shell colour is light, papery type that gives a high shelling percentage
(50%).
 The variety is also suitable for export.
 The average productivity is 2.0t/ha.

17. 6. Makhdoom
 It is a regular bearer, bloom during 1st week of March and ready to harvest
after 141 days from the date of full bloom.
 The tree growth habit is spreading/ drooping type.
 It bears flowers and nuts on long shoots and spurs with good ability to
renew fruiting wood.
 The shell colour is medium, soft type plump that gives a shelling
percentage of 42%.
 The average productivity is more than 2.0t/ha.

18. 7. Waris
 It is a regular bearer, bloom during 3rd week of March and ready to harvest
after 145 days from the date of full bloom.
 The tree growth habit is upright and is suitable to grow under high density
orcharding.
 It bears flower and nuts on long shoots and spurs.
 The shell colour is medium, soft shelled, nut are medium, soft shelled with,
plump kernels and gave shelling percentage of 48%.
 The average productivity is more than 2.0t/ha.

19. 8. Pranyaj
 It is a regular bearer, bloom during 3rd week of March and ready to harvest
after 144 days from the date of full bloom.
 The tree growth habit is upright and is suitable to grow under high density
orcharding.
 It bears flower and nuts on long shoots and spurs.
 The shell colour is light, very soft shelled, nut are medium, soft shelled
with, plump kernels and gave shelling percentage of 44%.
 The average productivity is more than 2.0t/ha.

20. CLIMATE REQUIREMENT
 Almond needs Mediterranean climate having slightly hot summer (30-35 ºC
temperature) with cool winters for plant growth and kernel filling.
 Unopened blossoms known to withstand cold up to -2.2 ºC, but blossoms at
petal fall stage are killed at 0.5 to -1.1 ºC.
 The blossoms can often withstand temperature from -2.2 to -3.3 ºC for a
short time but if low temperature continuous for many hours they get
damaged.
SOIL REQUIREMENT
 Deep, loamy, well drained soils are ideal for almond growing, but can be
grown in average soils supplemented with FYM and assured irrigation.
 Trees do not thrive well in heavy or poorly drained soils.

21. Qualityplanting material production for Rootstockraising
 For production of healthy and desired size of rootstocks, nuts from freshly
harvested dried bitter almonds are preferred.
 The seeds are first stratified by keeping in moist sand from November to
March at the coolest shady place.
 This treatment releases the dormancy and seeds are ready to germinate
during March.
 The germinated seeds are generally sown in the nursery beds in line at 10
cm spacing (plant to plant) and 45 cm (row to row).
 The young seedlings should be regularly irrigated and given nitrogen
fertilizers during summers for getting the desired size (pencil size
thickness) of rootstocks in the same year.

22.  These plants are ready for budding during the month of July to 1st
week of August.
 For dry areas, seedlings of almond and apricot are more suitable while
for irrigated lands peach seedlings like Lovell, Halford, Nemaguard
and Nemared are found good, which are extensively used as rootstocks
in commercial cultivation of almonds at California.
BUDDING AND GRAFTING
 Scion woods of required almonds are budded/ grafted on to seedling
rootstocks of pencil size thickness in July, when sap flow in the
rootstock and bud wood is ideal.
 The ideal method of budding is 'T' or shield budding 10 cm above the
ground. The grafting is done in the month of March following wedge
method.

23. RAISING OF ROOTSTOCKS FOR BUDDING

24. ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS
i) Suitable age of rootstock 1-1 1/2 yrs.
ii) Size of rootstock Pencil size
ii) Method of budding 'T' budding
iv) Method of grafting Wedge grafting
v) Time of budding July-August
vi) Time of grafting Feb. – March
vii) Height of budding 10-15 cm above ground

25. pLANTING
 The budded/ grafted plants should be planted in square system at a
distance of either 6 x 6 m (normal farmers planting system), 4.0 x 4.0 m
(Medium high density system) and 3.5 x 3.5-2.5 m (under high density
planting system).
 Every third row should be pollinizer row.
 Before planting, pits of 3 x 3 x 3 ft should be dug up size during the
month of September-October.
 The plants should be planted from February to March in the centre of pit,
provided by desired bamboo supports to protect the trees from winds.

26. Medium density plantation
(4m × 4m)
Medium high density plantation
(3.5m × 3.5m)
High density plantation
(3.0m × 3.0m)
High density plantation
(2.50m × 2.50m)

27. trAINING AND PRUNING
• At planting time - Head back the tree to 1m above ground level.
• 1st dormant pruning - Three primary scaffold branches retained along with
few temporary branches below trunk, removing only those which compete
strongly with primary scaffolds and the tree is trained to a shape of
modified leader system. One year old wood is pruned each year in
December/January when tree is completely dormant.
• Almond produces most of their fruit on short spurs which remain fruitful
for about 5 years.
• Therefore, pruning should be done in such a manner that 1/5th of fruiting
wood is replaced each year.
• Prune in such a way that new wood with new spur growth is constantly
replacing spur that are no longer fruitful.

28. • To achieve this, only prune or remove older branches that are 1.2 to 3.7 cm
in diameter.
• Thin out very little of the smaller wood, except to remove unwanted water
sprouts or suckers.
• The success of pruning program can be judged, in part by the length of new
shoots over the entire tree each year, if other factors are not limiting the
growth.
WATER MANAGEMENT
 For fresh plantings, apply sufficient water to settle the soil around the roots
and give subsequent at an interval of 10-15 days and keep the optimum
moisture level for achieving better yields and plump kernels.

29.  The critical stages of almond which are most sensitive to water shortages
are flowering (Feb to March) and fruit development (April, May and June).
 Therefore, irrigations must be provided during these stages for getting
higher yield of quality nuts. The drip irrigation particularly in Karewas
found very efficient. Four drippers with a discharge of 4 L/ hour for 5 hours
at an interval of 4-5 days require about 1600 L. per tree per season resulting
in saving of about 40-50 percent water over conventional.
 Mulching of tree basins with straw or black polythene further conserve
moisture and reduces irrigation intervals. In dry rainfed areas where there is
no source of irrigation water, rain water harvesting methods depending
upon the topography combined with straw or polythene mulching can be
very useful for conservation of moisture, enhancing water availability and
increasing plant growth, fruit set and nut yield

30. POLLINATION MANAGEMENT
 Almond trees in general are not self pollinating. Therefore it is necessary to
provide every third row in each orchard with pollinizer variety (33%
pollinizer) so that their bloom should coincide with each other.
 The varieties which are generally used for commercial almond cultivation
as pollinizer like IXL, Jordanalo, Ne-Plus-Ultra and Waris.
 In addition, to this, placement of 4-6 beehives is found highly beneficial
and can for increase fruit set and yield of almond by 12-15 percent.

31. REARING HONEYBEES IN ALMOND ORCHARDS IN ARTIFICIAL BEE
HIVES
POLLINATION IN ALMOND THROUGH
HONEYBEES

32. INTER-CROPPING
 During the pre-bearing stage of almond orchard, intercropping with several
suitable crops are recommended for realizing some farm income through
sustainable utilization of interspaces and available resources.
 The following crops are recommended as intercrops in almond orchard like
pea, saffron, pulses, seed production of turnip, knoll khol, carrot, mustard
and bulb production of onion and garlic, and medicinal and aromatic plants
like laveder, lavendine etc.
 Besides realizing some income, the growing of legumes like pea and pulses
increasing soil fertility, seed production of turnips and mustard augmenting
to pollination by attracting bees, and growing of medicinal and aromatic
plants like garlic, lavender, lavendine etc are acting as repellant to insect
ant pests and diseases.

33. INTERCROPPING WITH VEGETABLE CROPS FOR SEED PRODUCTION

34. Nutrient management
 Almond is a heavy feeder. Therefore, it requires substantial amount of
manures and fertilizers. They should be provided timely and in appropriate
quantity at right growing stages.
 Urea may be applied in 2-3 split doses. 1st half dose should be applied along
with DAP (full) and MOP (full) at fortnight before expected bloom, 2nd dose
(1/4th) of Urea may be applied about 3 weeks after fruit set and third dose of
Urea (1/4th) should be applied in May-June.
 Foliar spray of urea about 1.5-2 percent may also be given for promoting
fruiting bud formation and subsequent growth in the next season.

35. Age of the tree
(years)
Fertilizers/trees (g)
UREA Nitrogen DAP Phosphorus MOP Potassium
1 55 30 25 5 50 30
2 110 60 50 10 130 65
3 170 90 75 15 200 100
4 225 120 100 20 260 130
5 280 150 125 25 330 165
6 400 210 150 30 580 290
7 515 270 200 40 750 375
8 635 330 225 45 910 455
9 740 390 300 60 1080 540
10th year
and onwards 860 450 325 65 1240 600
RECOMMENDED DOSE OF FERTILIZERS

36. Maturity Indices
 The first symptom of nut ripening is the bursting of the hull (pericarp) and
the reduction of the removal force.
 Usually growers start to harvest one and a half month after the first sign of
hull bursting.
 Nuts growing at the periphery of the tree usually mature earlier than those
located in the centre.

37. HARVESTING
 After the bloom the petal drops. The leaves grow and give fuzzy gray-green
"fruit". The nuts are covered with green hull that continues to harden and
grow.
 Around end of July it begins to split open. Between mid to late August the
splits widens which exposes the shell and this allows the nut to dry.
Therefore, more than 50% split stage; the nuts are generally harvested by
manual plucking.
 Sometimes during the harvest period if rain generally occurs it deteriorates
the nut quality and nuts get black to dark brown in colour.

38.  The harvesting is done manually or by knocking the branches with sticks but
care be taken to save the fruiting wood and branches particularly while
knocking the branches with sticks. Later on hull is removed manually.
 However, in California, nuts generally separates from hull on tree itself
which are being harvested mechanically through "Shakers" and are being
dried and then transported to the huller.
ALMONDS READY FOR
HARVEST
HARVEST INDICES

39. HARVESTING
MANUALLY
HEEP OF FRESHLY
HARVESTED ALMONDS

40. Yield
 Varies from 10-20 q/ha of shelled almonds depending on cultural practices
including irrigation and cultivar.
Problems
1. Problems of spring and frost causes great damage to this crop.
2. Problems of the almond tree are prone to attack of disease.
3. Non-availability of late-blooming varieties for cultivation.
4. Poor marketing practices.

41. POST-HARVEST HANDLING AND STORAGE
 Just after harvestings, fruits needs hulling otherwise they attracts fungal
infection very quickly.
 Nuts are sun dried or dried by forced hot air until their moisture content
reaches 57%. Poly tunnels with fan can also be used for best and hygienic
drying.
 Nuts are then dehulled and shelled.
 Almonds packed in air tight container or sealed bags can be stored in cool
dark place for months either in shell or shelled if dry.
 For very long periods when frozen but should not be exposed to humidity.
Commercially, nuts for long storage are fumigated for naval orange worm
and kept at below 10C.

42. Insect-pest
 White grub/ chaffer beetle
Symptoms:
 Fruitlets are eaten away and leaves are perforated by adult beetles after
sunset during night. Grubs feed on roots and may cause wilting of the plant.
If uncontrolled, the adult beetles defoliate the whole tree during June-July.
Control:
 Apply Phorate 10g or Aldicarb 10g @2.0kg ai per hectare in the soil
against chaffer beetles. Spray 0.02% ai. Chloropyriphos after sunset results
in complete knock down adult beetles in Karewa conditions of Kashmir.
Biological control with Beauveria bassiana 108 spores/ml has also been
found effective when integrated with chemical fungicides.

43.  Shot hole (Leaf spot)
Symptoms:
 Caused by Stigmina, Cladosporium. The leaves, twigs and fruits develop
small, round to irregular, light brown to dark brown lesions. The necrotic
spots on leaves form shot holes
Control:
 The tree may be sprayed with 0.2% Captan 50 WP or 0.3% Copper
Oxychlo-ride or 0.3% Mancozeb 75% WP. Extract of botanicals such as
garlic and Artemisia have also been found effective when integrated with
chemical fungicides.
disease