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It was around the mid 1800s that commercial
production of the fruit was undertaken in Australia and South
Africa. The fruit is now produced in several countries throughout
the world. Thailand produces about twenty five percent of the
world’s pineapples.
The fruit
A fully-grown fruit generally weighs between two and four
kilograms. The skin of a ripe fruit is a combination of orange,
green and yellow in color. The bouquet like growth of thick and
small leaves on the top of the fruit is called its crown. It is the
flesh of the fruit that is edible and it is usually yellow in color,
though at times it is white in color too. Some varieties such as
the Smooth Cayenne are seedless, while there are some varieties have
small brown seeds.
How the fruit develops
When the pineapple is about fourteen to sixteen months old, a
flower stalk with tiny flowers appears at the centre of the plant.
It is called an inflorescence and it looks like a small pinecone.
When the inflorescence is about two inches long, its bluish violet
flowers open. Each flower remains in bloom for twenty-four hours
only. Within a span of twenty to thirty days, all the flowers open.
Every flower blooms for a day and later develops into a fruitlet.
The fleshy parts of all the fruitlets unite with the stalk, forming
what is called a multiple fruit. It is this multiple fruit united
with the stalk that forms the yellow centre of the pineapple fruit.
The shell of the fruit later develops from floral bracts, which are
thick and hard leaf like structures.
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The plant
Pineapple plants grow to a height of two to three feet.
Their leaves are shaped like sword and they are bluish green
in color. The plants have underground roots; there are small
roots that grow above the ground too. They usually thrive well
in warm climates. They need well-drained soil for developing
well, since too much water is harmful to them and they require
to be irrigated regularly. Therefore, farmers who plan to
develop pineapple plants first plough the land deeply and
break it up well. They require careful cultivation.
Cultivation
A pineapple tree may be grown from a shoot of the plant
or the crown of a fruit. It may also be grown from slips that
grow on the flower stalk, just below the fruit. Suckers that
grow from underground roots are also used to grow pineapple
plants. When planting, the farmers insert the shoot, crown,
slip or sucker into the ground using plastic strips. A plant
produces a fully ripe plant, about twenty months after being
planted.
During the first harvest, a plant
usually bears one fruit. It bears one or two during the second
and third harvest. Usually, farmers replant after two or three
harvests. |
The pineapple plant |
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