Lecture 27

Production Technology of Rambutan

Botanical Name : Nephelium lappaceum
Family : Sapindaceae
Origin : Malayan Archipelago (which includes Indonesia, Malaysia and
Southern Thailand)
Chromosome No : 2n=22
Introduction
Rambutan is widely cultivated throughout Southeast Asia. It is also grown in India and Sri
Lanka. The name rambutan, derived from the Malay word rambut which means hairs. It is an
evergreen tree growing to a height of 12–20 m. Rambutan trees are male, female, or
hermaphroditic. The fruit resembles a litchi fruit in appearance and fruit texture but fruit skin
carries numerous long, thick yellow or pink and red colored hairy growths. The flesh (aril) is
white or rose-tinted, translucent, juicy, acid, sub-acid or sweet flesh, 0.4-0.8 cm thick,
adhering to seed. The seed is oblong and flattened, glossy brown, 2–3 cm long. Fruits are
sweet, juicy and delicious with a pleasant flavor and aroma. Fruit is a good source of sugars,
vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals. Fruits can be used as a fresh dessert fruit or can
be processed into different items like dried fruit pulp, jams, jelly, fruit concentrates etc. The
seed is soft, crunchy and mildly poisonous. Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are the world’s
largest producers of rambutan. Thailand and Malaysia are the main exporters of fresh
rambutan while Thailand also exports considerable amount of canned rambutan to Asian and
European countries. In India Rambutan is cultivated in home gardens of Thrissur,
Pathanamthitta, Kottayayam and Ernakulum districts of Kerala, Nagerkoil, Courtralam, The
Nilgiris districts of Tamil Nadu, Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts of Karnataka. There
is good potential of expression of this crop in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Climate
Rambutan is adapted to warm tropical climate. The tree grows well up to 700 metre above
sea-level. It requires around 22–30°C temperature for optimum growth. It is very sensitive to
low temperature and growth of plant is severely affected at temperature less than 10oC. The
lower temperature caused defoliation and affect panicle emergence and fruiting. The higher
temperature (>40oC) also affected the growth and development of plants. The lower humidity
affects the development of fruits. The plant requires good rainfall of 200-500 cm well
distributed throughout the year but a short spell of the day period is essential for initiation of
floral bud function. The heavy rainfall during maturity period causes cracking of fruits.

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Soil
Rambutan is grown successfully in wide range of soils. Well drained sandy loam to clay loam
soils with organic matter are most suitable for optimum growth and yield. It is can be grown
successfully in red laterite soil if adequate organic and inorganic fertilizers are applied. The
optimum soil pH is 4.5 to 6.5. Rambutan is sensitive to water logging. The orchard in slight
sloppy land has been found performing better. The soil should be rich in Zinc and Iron
otherwise yellowing of leaf as a result the nutrient deficiency is commonly observed.
Varieties
Arka Coorg Arun : This is a promising selection and an early maturing variety. The tree are
medium in size and semi spreading in nature. Fruit are dark red in colour. Average fruit
weight is 40 to 45 g. Fruits are free stone an aril can be usually removed from the seed
without attachment to the testa. The aril is white in colour, thick, firm and dry and sweet
(TSS- 200 B) with recovery of about 42 per cent.
Arka Coorg Peetabh: This is a high yielding promising selection. The trees are semi
spreading type and regular bearer.. This is a mid season variety. Fruit are yellow in colour.
Average fruit weight is 25-30 g. The aril is white in colour, juicy, sweet (TSS -210B) and aril
recovery of 41 per cent.
CHES-26: This is a high yielding promising selection. The trees are medium size and semi
spreading in nature. This is an early maturing variety. Fruit are dark red in colour. Average
fruit weight is 35 to 40 g. Fruits are cling stone and aril is attached to the testa. The aril is
white in colour and juicy and sweet (TSS-190 B) with recovery of about 40 per cent.
CHES-14: It is a high yielding promising types. The trees are semi spreading type and
regular bearer. This is a late variety. A six year tree yields around 500-100 plant. The
average fruits weight is 30g. Fruit are yellow in colour. Average fruit weight is 45 to 50 g.
Fruits are free stone an aril can be usually removed from the seed without attachment to the
testa. The aril is white in colour and sweet (TSS -19.50B) with recovery of about 44 per cent.
Seematjan
Fruits deep red with soft curved spines.
BR.1 (Boting Rambutan No.7)
Fruits are big (30g), ovate, red etc. spines are fine and dense. Aril is juicy, crisp and
sweet. New cv. developed in China.
Popular varieties seen in different growing regions are Rongrien and Chompu (Thailand),
Bingjai, Lebak Bulus and Rapiah (Indonesia) and Azimal, Kelip and Singapura (Malaysia).
Propagation

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Rambutan is propagated by seed, budding, grafting and layering.
Seed
Seed propagation is easy but is not recommended for commercial multiplication as more than
50 percent produced only male flowers. The seedlings are used for rootstocks purpose.
Rambutan seeds, after removal from the fruit and thorough washing, should be planted
horizontally with the flattened side downward in order that the seedling will grow straight and
have a normal, strong root system. Seeds were sown in the nursery bags and it took around
25-28 days for germination. The seeds lose their viability very soon. Thus it should be sown
immediately after removing the aril. The storage of fresh seed can be done moist sawdust,
sphagnum moss or charcoal for 3-4 weeks. The seedlings become ready for grafting in 9-10
months.
Vegetative propagation
Vegetative propagation is essential as rambutan seedlings take long time for fruiting and
female to male trees is 4 or 5 to 7. Rambutan can be vegetatively propagated by grafting
(Inarching), air layering and budding
Grafting: Approach grafting is most successful but is more labor intensive. Generally 8 to 12
month old seedlings are used as rootstocks.
Air layering: Upright branches (1.0 – 1.5 cm) stem diameter and 30-60 cm long) from well
developed trees were selected for air layering. IBA at 5,000 ppm was used in rooting media
(coir pith). About 25% success rate has been recorded.
Budding: Among various budding methods, Patch-budding is preferred as having a higher
rate of success. The budding is done in the on well-grown rootstocks of 8 to 12 month old in
month of May or July. The success rate is reported to be as high as 83.6%. T - budding was
also found successful. The selected shoot should be obtained from (3-4 month of harvesting).
A one year old budwood of 1.5 to 2 cm diameter is found more suitable. The removal of
leaves one weak prior to budding provide better success.
Spacing and Planting
The seedling trees of rambutan are vigourous and spreading type and require more space
for growth. These need to be planted as more distance to avoid overlapping of trees after 10
- 15 years. Generally these are planted at 10 x 10 to 12 x 12 meter distance. If the trees are
set too close to each other, they will become overcrowded in few years and production will
be seriously affected. The vegetatively propagated trees are smaller in size and they should
planted at a spacing is 8 x 8 or 8 x 6 m, The close planting 6 x 6 m may need pruning to
control the tree size. For orchards with mechanization, row spacing should be wide enough

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for machinery. The most appropriate spacing is 200-250 plants/ ha. The planting is done in
pits of 1 x 1 x 1 m size which are done 2 to 3 week ahead of planting and filled with a mixture
containing three parts of top soil and one part of compost. Planting is done preferably during
June-July after the onset of monsoon so that the plants are well established at the end of the
monsoon
Training and Pruning
Rambutan trees exhibit strong apical dominance and have a tendency to produce long,
upright growth. Early pruning and training to form an open center tree is recommended. After
harvesting, fruited twigs are pruned back to stimulate new growth. Fruited twigs are pruned
back to stimulate new growth of up to four new side shoots, of which 22 per cent of the shoots
will bear fruits in the following season. Dead branches and water suckers should be removed
regularly.
Nutrition
A fertilizer dose of 200 g nitrogen, 25 g of phosphate and 100 g potassium per tree per year
of age is recommended for rambutan. For the first four years, the fertilizers should be applied
in four equal dressings, every three months. For fruiting trees, 200 g N, 25 g P and 130 g K
per tree per year of age are recommended. For fruiting trees, one-fourth of the yearly fertilizer
should be applied four weeks after fruit sets, half the amount should be applied immediately
after harvest and the remaining one-fourth at nine weeks after harvest. Additionally, 0.4kg of
dolomite per tree per year of age, maximum at ten years and constant thereafter, is applied
during slow growing months. For nursery beds for raising rootstocks/seedlings, 20g N, 2g
P2O5 and 20g K2O and + micronutrients should be applied.
Irrigation
Irrigation is given as needed in dry seasons. Rambutan trees should be sheltered from strong
winds, which can do damage the flowering and fruiting period. In order to induce flowering of
full-grown plants, there is a need to allow the rambutan plant to pass through a period of
drought for about 21-30 days. Then irrigation is done to induce floral bud initiation. The
rambutan plant so treated will start to bloom within 10-15 days after water manipulation.
Inter-culture
Mulching is essential during establishment and dry periods. No mulching should be applied
prior to flowering. At any stage, glyphosate should not be used near irrigation lines or near
the tree basin as it could cause a severe yellowing and abscission of the lower leaves. In
some countries, intercropping of pineapple or vegetables is done in the rambutan orchards.

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Flowering
Most of the varieties are monoecious. Inflorescence develop from terminal buds of past
season growth. Each panicle contains male, female & bisexual flowers. It produces flowers
that near the periphery of the crown. Rambutan is a cross pollinated crop.
Harvesting
Rambutan grafted trees start bearing fruits from fourth year onwards. It may take up to five
months for the fruits to develop into ripe fruits after fruit set. In South Eastern Asian Countries,
rambutan produces fruits twice a year, the first and the main crop is in June and a lesser one
is in December. But in India it gives only one crop per year. The fruits are usually ripe in
month of July to October. Harvesting is done by shears or sharp knives by cut the
inflorescence stalk. All the fruits in a cluster come to harvest at a time. Thereafter, the fruits
are individually cut off and packed for sale. It is recommended that the fruits should not be
allowed to fall directly to the ground as this will cause injury and cannot be kept for a long
time. The fresh fruit are easily bruised and have a limited shelf life.
Yield
An average tree may produce 5,000-6,000 fruits (60–70 kg) per tree. However, yield may
vary from year to year because rambutan exhibits alternate bearing.
Post-harvest Management
It is a non-climacteric fruit. After harvest fruits are kept under shade. Graded based on size
& degree of ripeness. Good fruits are packed in ventilated box. Fruits can be kept for 4 days
at 25-30°C. Desiccation, loss of red colour, browning and drying of spin tern fleshy pliable
spines) are the principal causes of deterioration. Storage of fruit in sealed polyethylene bags
at 12°C retarded skin colour loss and extended shelf life (18 days).
Pest and diseases
Many of the pest control satisfactorily by developing good management practices. Rambutan
is a new crop for our country and limited research work has been carried out on the insect
pest and diseases. So far very less insect pest damage has been noticed. Mealy bugs,
beetles, bugs are major pests while twig blight, stem cankers, powdery mildew are noticed.
Although their infestation/ infection is very low. The other important yield reducing factor in
Rambutan plantations are birds and bats.

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