Fruit Cracking in Pomegranate: Extent, Cause, and Management - A Review

Pomegranate (Punica granatumL.) is an economically important fruit crop of tropical and subtropical regions of the world. There has been enormous increase in area, production, and export worldwide over the past decades. But cracking of mature fruit is an important physiological disorder which causes great economic loss to pomegranate. As high losses as 65% have been reported in pomegranate. It is a general problem throughout its growing areas and among all varieties worldwide. Causes associated with fruit cracking may be improper irrigation, environmental factors, and nutritional deficiency, especially boron, calcium, and potash. Besides, it is also reported to be associated with high evapo-transpiration, low humidity, water imbalance, and sharp temperature fluctuation in day and night during fruit growth and development. The cracking is more evident when the fruits are at maturity stage. No single factor can be advocated as efficient enough in controlling fruit cracking. The behavior of fruit cracking in relation to internal fruit composition and quality characteristics, dynamics of water uptake, understanding on how water, gibberellins, abscisic acid, boron, calcium, and the cell wall biosynthesis interacts with fruit cracking, will offer a clearer insights in devising developmental strategies to reduce fruit cracking.