Black pepper : King of Spices - The future crop of Manipur
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Ps. Mariam Anal
Contd from previous issue
Trees like tree bean, mango, jack fruit, etc. can be used as standard where both benefits can be availed from standard and black pepper.
Thus, it is a future crop with great potential scope for cultivation and for further enhancing the economy in the state. Varieties More than 75 cultivars of black pepper are being available in India. Majority of the cultivated types of black pepper are monoecious. In the North East region, varieties such as Panniyur-1, Kulluvalli, Ballankotta, Karimumda, Kotlananda, etc. are grown as subsidiary crop along with arecanut, coconut, orange and coffee plantation. It is grown in the tea garden by climbing on the shade tree which gives additional income to the farmers and also grown as monocrop. Climate and Soil Black pepper is a tropical plant, requires warm humid climate.
It grows successfully between 20oN and South latitude and from sea level up to 1500 m above MSL. The crop tolerates temperature between 10oC to 40oC. The optimum temperature required by the crop ranges from 25 to 35oC. A well distributed annual rainfall of 125 to 200 cm is considered ideal for pepper. Prolonged droughts stop the vegetative growth of the vines. Pepper can be grown in a wide range of soils such as clay loam, red loam, sandy loam and lateritic soils with a pH of 4.5 to 6.0. It thrives better in virgin soils rich in organic matters. Production technology In view of suitable climatic condition and topography of the north eastern region, there is a large scope for area expansion, production and productivity with improved production technology for higher return thereby increasing the farmers’ income. Propagation It can be propagated by seeds and stem cutting.
The seedling progenies show a lot of variation, since pepper is a cross-pollinated crop. Therefore, it is mostly propagated by vegetative means. There are different methods of vegetative propagation. They are traditional method, rapid multiplication by bamboo method, trench method, serpentine method, vertical column method and micropropagation method. Serpentine and one node cutting are more convenient and faster for multiplication in Manipur state. Planting of Black pepper Well drained levelled land and hill slopes are suitable for growing black pepper. When grown on a sloppy land, the lower half of north and north eastern slopes are preferred for planting as black pepper is shade loving vine. The slopes facing south should be avoided so that the vines will not be affected by the scorching of sun during summer.
The crop can be grown as homestead, mono-cropping in the valley, mixed crop in tea, coffee, cardamom and forest trees or fruit trees at higher elevation, mixed with coconut and arecanut plantations at lower altitudes and plains. Black pepper cuttings are generally planted with the onset of south west monsoon i.e. May-June. When pepper is grown as pure crop, pits of 0.5 m3 are dug at a spacing of 3 x 3m or 3x2m for sloppy land. Stem cuttings of 2 m length of 2 years old seedlings standard trees like Erythrina, silver oak, Ailanthus excelsa and Garuga pinnata are planted at the onset of early monsoon showers as support to climb on it.
(To be contd)
Contd from previous issue
Trees like tree bean, mango, jack fruit, etc. can be used as standard where both benefits can be availed from standard and black pepper.
Thus, it is a future crop with great potential scope for cultivation and for further enhancing the economy in the state. Varieties More than 75 cultivars of black pepper are being available in India. Majority of the cultivated types of black pepper are monoecious. In the North East region, varieties such as Panniyur-1, Kulluvalli, Ballankotta, Karimumda, Kotlananda, etc. are grown as subsidiary crop along with arecanut, coconut, orange and coffee plantation. It is grown in the tea garden by climbing on the shade tree which gives additional income to the farmers and also grown as monocrop. Climate and Soil Black pepper is a tropical plant, requires warm humid climate.
It grows successfully between 20oN and South latitude and from sea level up to 1500 m above MSL. The crop tolerates temperature between 10oC to 40oC. The optimum temperature required by the crop ranges from 25 to 35oC. A well distributed annual rainfall of 125 to 200 cm is considered ideal for pepper. Prolonged droughts stop the vegetative growth of the vines. Pepper can be grown in a wide range of soils such as clay loam, red loam, sandy loam and lateritic soils with a pH of 4.5 to 6.0. It thrives better in virgin soils rich in organic matters. Production technology In view of suitable climatic condition and topography of the north eastern region, there is a large scope for area expansion, production and productivity with improved production technology for higher return thereby increasing the farmers’ income. Propagation It can be propagated by seeds and stem cutting.
The seedling progenies show a lot of variation, since pepper is a cross-pollinated crop. Therefore, it is mostly propagated by vegetative means. There are different methods of vegetative propagation. They are traditional method, rapid multiplication by bamboo method, trench method, serpentine method, vertical column method and micropropagation method. Serpentine and one node cutting are more convenient and faster for multiplication in Manipur state. Planting of Black pepper Well drained levelled land and hill slopes are suitable for growing black pepper. When grown on a sloppy land, the lower half of north and north eastern slopes are preferred for planting as black pepper is shade loving vine. The slopes facing south should be avoided so that the vines will not be affected by the scorching of sun during summer.
The crop can be grown as homestead, mono-cropping in the valley, mixed crop in tea, coffee, cardamom and forest trees or fruit trees at higher elevation, mixed with coconut and arecanut plantations at lower altitudes and plains. Black pepper cuttings are generally planted with the onset of south west monsoon i.e. May-June. When pepper is grown as pure crop, pits of 0.5 m3 are dug at a spacing of 3 x 3m or 3x2m for sloppy land. Stem cuttings of 2 m length of 2 years old seedlings standard trees like Erythrina, silver oak, Ailanthus excelsa and Garuga pinnata are planted at the onset of early monsoon showers as support to climb on it.
(To be contd)