INTRODUCTION

Pear (Pyrus spp.) is one of the important pome fruits grown throughout the world. The major producers being China, the USA, Argentina, Turkey, Italy, South Africa, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Taiwan, and India (Anonymous, 2019a;Seo et al., 2020). Globally pear is cultivated over an area of 1380 thousand hectares, with an annual production of 24 million tonnes. In India, its cultivation is mainly confined to temperate regions over an area of 42 thousand hectares, with an annual production of 300 thousand metric tonnes (Anonymous, 2019b). Pear is of great economic significance in India especially in the northwestern state of Kashmir valley after apple, having good taste and flavor (Anonymous, 2019c). More specifically, in India, pear is mainly grown in the high hills of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Haryana. However, nowadays pear is also cultivated foothill of Himalayas (Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and lower part of Jammu and Kashmir), northeastern hill region and Netrahat hill of and plateau of Jharkhand and some part of south in Nilgiri hills of Tamilnadu (Jana., 2015). The selection and development of different cultivars made their cultivation possible in a subtropical region, such as low chill cultivars that have been growing in Punjab, Haryana, and other parts of India. The pear cultivars can be classified according to their chilling requirement. High chill requiring more than 1,200-hours cultivars are mainly grown at higher elevations in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, while low chill requiring cultivars like Patharnakh, Baggugosha can be grown in subtropical parts of the country. In subtropical regions mainly Punjab and Haryana, the cultivars like hard pear (Patharnakh) and semi-soft cultivars like Punjab Beauty, Punjab Nectar, and Punjab Soft are recommended for cultivation. These cultivars require low (150-200) chilling hours (Khan and Sharma, 2018). In India, pear cultivars are commercially grown belong to both Pyrus pyrifolia and Pyrus communis group.

Cultivars of Pears

The promising cultivars of pears in major producing states of India are shown in Table 1. India produces a limited volume of pears throughout Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir, which are available from late summer to early winter. India cultivates over 20 pear cultivars, including ‘Williams’, ‘Bartlett’, ‘Patharnakh’, etc. Indian pear production is cyclical, with yields varying by as much as 20 percent depending on weather conditions at the time of blossom and harvest.

In India pear for higher altitude conditions high chilling requirement varieties (like ‘Bartlett’) are mainly grown. In more recent years, red-color strains of pears ‘Max Red Bartlett’, ‘Red Bartlett’, and ‘Starking’, and Starking are replacing yellow-colored cultivars. In warmer sub-mountainous areas of Himachal Pradesh and sub-tropical Punjab oriental pear cultivars like ‘Baggugosha’, ‘Kiefferr’, and Asian pear ‘Patharnakh’ are cultivated commercially both for table and processing purposes (Table 2). However, processing remains very small at about two percent of pears domestic production in India.

Area and Production of Pear in India

India is a large country with different climatic regimes which pave the way for pear cultivation from cold dry temperate hilly conditions to warm humid subtropical conditions on the plains of northern India. Moreover, recent research and development have made available several new cultivars by breeding and selection, which can be possible to grow pear in foothills experiencing less than five hundred chilling hours. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Anonymous, 2019a) indicated that India’s pear production about 300000 tonnes from the area about 42000 ha. In India pears cultivation is most extensive in Jammu and Kashmir state around 14000 ha, followed by Uttarakhand state 13200 ha and Himachal Pradesh 6712 ha. In the plains of Punjab, pear is grown in an area of 3501 ha (Anonymous, 2021). Pear production in the year 2019-2020 was 88000 MT in Jammu and Kashmir followed by Punjab state 81000 MT and Uttarakhand state 78000 MT. The area and production of Pear in different Indian states are shown in Table 3.

Requirement and market of Pear in India

Although India is a large pear producer, its domestic pear season (July to early October) complements the U.S. pear season (market availability from middle to late October). India imports a different variety of pears from 14 countries around the world (Table 4). India primarily imports green and red-skinned ‘Anjou’ pears varieties from the United States (arriving in November and sold through late March), with Green Anjou the favored variety. Indian demand for red pears and nascent U.S. varieties like green ‘Bartlett’ and ‘Packham’ is also increasing with the potential to drive future growth. Since the ‘Chinese pear’ import ban in June 2017, South Africa has remained as the top pear exporter to India, with 12,593 metric tons import in MY 2019/20; followed by the United States with an import of 2,345 metric tons, and Spain with 903 metric tons (Table 4). South African Packham pears are at a competitive advantage as they can be stored longer than other imported varieties, thereby extending their availability. However, India's pear exports are negligible as compared to import.

Important Pear Pests

Since the last two-decade, the damage due to the major pests and the cost of their control have risen substantially. Pear grower spends a huge amount of money annually on insecticide to improve the productivity. In addition to that, increased pest resistance and reduced pest management options have made pear production more challenging. The important insect and mite pests of Indian pear orchards are the codling moth, pear psylla, mites, and borer (Verma et al, 2010;Husain et al., 2018). Here we will see the important pest causes a huge burden on pear growers in India.

Codling moth

Codling moth (Cydia pomonella) is a very important orchard pest worldwide, mainly for fruit crops such as apples and pears. In India, this pest causes serious damage to pear growers. Bartlett is most susceptible to this pest may be due to the alkyl ethyl and methyl esters of (2E,4Z)- 2,4-decadienoic acid, a highly potent attractant to the codling moth found in head-space samples of Bartlett pear (Light et al., 2001). However, control of the codling moth can be achieved by applying pesticide and biocontrol agents.

Mites

Mites one of the most important pests cause a serious problem to temperate fruit crops such as apples and pears (Verma et al, 2010). Mites deteriorate the quality of fruits, however, due to low quality, it does not qualify for international quality standards. Epitrimerus pyri (Nalepa) (Pear bud mite) and Phytoptus pyri (Pagenstecher) (Pear leaf blister mite) are the dominant mites found in pear orchards (Singh et al., 2016). For chemical control, calcium polysulfide and sulfur are applied with oil products, and abamectin is selected as one of the miticides.

Pear psylla

The Pear psylla (Psylla pyricola Foerster), is an important pest of pear that occurs in the pear growing region of India. It is one of the most serious insect pests of pears because of its ability to develop resistance to insecticides and to vector the pathogen that causes pear decline. Control of pear psylla in orchards causes a huge economic burden on pear growers. To control Pear psylla biological agents such as predacious plant bugs can be effective.

San Jose scale

San Jose scale (Quadraspidiotus perniciosus), is a sucking insect of temperate fruit tree crop in the northern states of India. Its distribution throughout the temperate regions of the world and its expansion to additional host species make this insect a serious pest (Buhroo, 2014). However, many natural enemies can be exploited to control this insect (Thakur et al., 1989). A range of fungi and bacteria is also available that can infect, kill and control scale insects (Buhroo, 2014). In the case of using chemical control, almost all pesticides negatively affect beneficial insect populations while trying to control the San Jose scale therefore, the use of biological agents is recommended to control the San Jose scale.

Thrips

The pear thrips (Taeniothrips inconsequens), is a tiny insect feed on plants, attacking flowers, leaves, buds and, fruits cause serious damage in pear orchards.

Conclusion

At present, although the large area of production and increased demand from consumers, production of pears in India is limited. Hence, pear growers cannot fulfill the domestic demand of India. In addition to that, Indian pear growers face the challenge of pests and other diseases which cause low productivity of pears due to a lack in their proper management. Indian consumers primarily consume fresh pears, and processing remains small at about two percent of domestic production. Few studies have been conducted in pear production concerning increased productivity and disease management. Recent trends in the research and development and increased demand for pear in India will help the development of bilateral agricultural agreements between India and Korea, especially through continuous academic research exchange between pear-related agricultural organizations and agricultural universities.

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