Floral Phenology and Maturity Indicesin Avocado

Abstract

Large numbers of Indian farmers are unaware of the flowering behaviour and stage of optimum maturity to harvest. Basically, under favourable conditions, each flower of avocado opens twice over a 24 hour period, firstly as functional female and later as functional male. This favours the cross pollination in avocado crop. In a large number of avocado cultivars, identification of the optimum harvesting stage is very difficult due to its peak climacteric nature and absence of visible phenotypic changes at matured stage. However, in some cultivars, optimum maturity is indicated by changes in fruit surface colour and dropping of few fruits naturally from the trees. However, these are not considered scientific methods to harvest avocado fruits. Hence, knowing the flowering behaviour and stage of optimum maturity is most important for avocado farmers to harvest fruits at the right stage of maturity and to get more profit.