Black pepper : King of Spices - The future crop of Manipur

Ps. Mariam Anal *

Black pepper is the most important of all spices and popularly known as the ‘King of Spices’ and Black Gold in trade. Botanically it is known as Piper nigrum L. and belongs to family Piperaceae. It is a native of Western Ghats of south India (Malabar). The useful economic plant part is the fruit or berry. It is one of the most important earliest known spices produced and exported from India.

Nearly 50% of the total export earnings of spices come from black pepper. The alkaloid ‘piperine’ is considered to be the major constituent responsible for the spiciness or pungency of black pepper, which is absent in the leaves and stems. Piperine has insecticidal property which is used for as store grain insect repellent.

Black pepper is highly valued for its characteristic aroma, hot pungent and biting taste which is mainly used for flavouring and seasoning. It is used as preservative for meat packing, canning, pickling, baking confectionery and preparation of beverages and liquors. Its oil is used in cosmetic and medicine for treating dyspepsia, malaria, delirium, lowering high blood pressure, etc.

The aromatic odour of pepper is due to an essential oil, while the pungency is due to oleoresin. In India, black pepper cultivation is mainly confined to southern states like Kerala (96% area), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The cultivation of pepper is also coming up in NE region like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland.

Eastern part of Assam and adjoining areas in Arunachal Pradesh; southern part of Assam adjoining Nagaland; Karbi Anglong district of Assam; parts of Tripura in the rubber plantation area and little pocket in Nagaland are well suited for black pepper. The three major producer of pepper in north east India are Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

The cultivation of pepper in the North East started only in 2011-12 period with a total production of 1.16 per cent of India’s total production during the year. But increased interest has propelled the region to become a major producer in just five years, with the north east contributing 8.25 per cent of total production in India.

Experts say that the shift is due to climate change, which has impacted production in key growing areas, coupled with fertile land in the north east. Pepper is a perennial ever green climbing woody vine reaching to a height of 10 metre or more. It has wide spread but shallow root system with five distinct types of stems, viz. main stem, runner shoots, fruiting branches (plagiotropics), top shoots (orthotropics) and hanging shoots (geo tropics).

In Manipur, black pepper is a newly introduced crop. The growing of black pepper in the backyard of the kitchen garden and the plants bearing fruits indicated that it will be suitable for growing in the state. Planting material production of this crop have been initiated in the College of Agriculture, Central Agricultural University, Imphal.

The climatic condition of state is conducive for the cultivation of this crop and it can be grown up to an elevation of 1500 m above mean sea level. It can be grown in the foot hills or in forest using those grown up trees as a standard for support or fruit trees in the orchard.

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.

With the onset of regular rains, 2 or 3 rooted cuttings are planted around the base of the standard nearly 30 cm away. But in case of coconut and arecanut which have a thick intercoiled root net close to the trunk, pepper cuttings are to be planted 100 to 120 cm away from the tree trunk.

Initially the vines may be allowed to climb on a stick or pole about 2 m tall which is tied to the trunk in a slanting position. After one year when the vine has attained sufficient length, it may be separated from the temporary stake and the lower leaves may be nipped off.

A narrow trench of 15 cm deep and wide should be prepared from the base of the vine to the base of the tree trunk to place the vine in the trench in such a way that the growing tip is tied to the trunk while other parts of vine in the trench is covered with soil forming ridge so as not to disturb while intercultural operations are carried out to the coconut or arecanut. About 1100 - 1600 vines are required for planting one hectare.

Cultural operation

The pepper vines are tied firmly as and when they grow. The tying is done around the node, so that the nodal region is firmly attached and pressed against the standards so as to allow the roots to cling to the standards. This is an important operation which has to be attended carefully; otherwise, the vine will have no support.

The other practice is that when vine reaches a height of 75 to 100 cm without branches, all the leaves are removed except the terminal 3-4 leaves. The defoliated portions are covered with friable fine soil. This aid in establishing a well developed root system and lateral branches may arise out of them. Hand weeding in the basins and slashing in interspaces promotes growth and enhances yield in black pepper.

Training and Pruning

The pepper vines should be pruned at the top and prevent from growing too tall and the standard tree where the vine is trained should be pruned to about 6 metre for easy picking of fruit.

The vines should be trained to one main shoot and two lateral orthotropic shoots. These are pruned regularly to encourage the development of lateral fruiting branches but these lateral branches should not be tied to the standard, as this would discourage the bushy side growth.

The vines should be first prune back to 15-20cm from the ground level, when they developed 8-9 nodes length followed by second pruning when further 9-10 nodes have been produced, to a height of 3-4 nodes of the previous cut. In this way vines should be pruned 7-9 times until they reach the top of the support about 3 m high. When this is achieved, the terminal growth of vine is arrested by frequent pinching to have the desire height.

The lower portion of vine is kept clean and unbranched at least 1 m from ground level. Regulation of shade Shade is required in pepper plantation especially during hot weather to keep the soil cool, moist and allow sunlight during cool weather to encourage production of flowers and fruits.

The young vines should be protected from hot sun during the summer months by providing them with artificial shade. Regulation of shade by lopping the branches of standards is necessary for optimum light to the vines and for enabling the standards to grow straight. There should not be excessive shading during flowering and fruiting as it encourages pest infestation.

Mulching around the basins of vines with organic materials like green leaves or paddy straw @10 kg/vine to a radius of 1 m is required at the end of North-East monsoon. Manure and fertilizer About 10 kg of FYM or compost should be applied during April - May along with 100:40:140g NPK per standard for vines at 3 years and above age annually in 2 split doses during April - May and August-September.

During the first year of planting 1/3rd of the above dose and in second year 2/3rd of the above dose may be given. Manures and fertilizers should be incorporated around the vines at a distance of 30 cm.

Lime may be applied @ 500 g per standard during April in alternate years. Biofertilizers such as Phosphobacteria and Azotobactor can also be applied @ 50g/vine mixed with FYM. The requirement of potassium can be given as ash @0.5-1 kg/vine. Micronutrient @ 5g/litre water may apply as foliar application during May - June and SeptOct. for getting 15 to 25% extra yield to the fruiting plant

Harvesting and processing of black pepper

Black pepper vines start bearing usually from the 3 rd or 4th year and attain full bearing stage from 7th years after planting.

It flowers during the month of May-June and takes about 6- 8 months from flowering to ripening stage. Harvesting season is from November to March. When one or two berries on spike turn red in colour, the whole spikes have to be plucked. Each spike produces 50-60 fruits. The skin (exocarp) turns from green to red on ripening and black on drying.

A full bearing vine yields about 1 kg of dry pepper and can be increased up to 3-5 kg of dried pepper. Seventh or eighth year old pepper vines yield about 800-1000kg/ha. Yield starts decline after 20-25 years and replanting has to be done thereafter. The harvested spikes are sun dried for 7 to 10 days on cement floor or mats, until the outer skin becomes tough black, shrink and wrinkled.

Drying is carried till the moisture content gets reduced to 10-15%. Then the dried berries are separated from the spikes by beating or rubbing between hands or trampling them under the feet followed by cleaning and packing.