Climatic requirement
Cashew is restricted to an altitude below 700 M where temperature does not fall below 200C for prolonged period. The optimum temperature for growth is 170C to 360C. Cashew is grown in areas with annual rainfall ranging from 600 to 4500mm. Fruit set in cashew is good if rains are not excessive during flowering (November to February). Dry spell during flowering ensures better harvest.

So far National Research Centre of Cashew (NRCC) has released about 40 varieties. Out of which NRCC has recommended Jhargram-1, Ullal-3 and BPP-8 for North Eastern Region.
Jhargram-1: It has a medium compact canopy and intensive branching habit. It bears on an average 6 nuts per bunch and yields 8.5 kg/tree with small sized nuts (5g). Shelling percentage is 30 and kernel grade is W 320.
BPP-8:This variety is superior to all other released varieties from Bapatla. It yields about 14 kg/tree with better nut size (8.2 g) with 29% shelling recovery. The kernel grade is W 210.
Ullal-3:It is an early flowering variety with short duration (November to January), fruiting period is also short (50 to 60 days). The fruit occurs from January to March. It is a high yielding variety with average production of 14.7 kg raw nut/ tree. The nut size is medium with 7g per nut. Shelling percentage is 30 and kernel grade is W 210. The apples bears red colour.

Planting season: Planting of softwood grafts is usually done during monsoon (June to August).

Soil: Cashew is gown on a wide variety of soils like laterite, red soils and coastal sands of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharastra, Tamilnadu and West Bengal. Whatever the nature of top soil, free drainage and absence of brackish water are considered essential.

Land Preparation Clearing of wild growth, digging of pits for planting should be done during pre monsoon season (May to June).
Spacing
o A spacing of 7.5 m x 7.5 m (175 plants/ha) for 8 m x 8 m (156 plants/ha) is recommended for cashew in sloppy areas.
o In level plains it is advantageous to plant the graft at 10 m x 5 m spacing (hedge row system) which will accommodate about 200 plants/ha and at the same time leaving adequate interspaces for growing intercrops during the initial years.
o Under high density planting system (HDP) a spacing of 4 m x 4 m is recommended (625 plants/ha) in low fertility soils whereas spacing of 6 m x 4 m (416 plants/ ha) and 5m x 5m (400 plants/ha) are recommended in medium fertile soils. Pit size
o The pits should be opened at least 15 to 20 days before planting.
o The pit size of 1m length x 1m breadth should be opened in soils with hard laterite substratum. A pit size 60 cm x 60 cm x 60 cm is sufficient in other soils. Filling up of pits
o The pits should be filled with mixture of top soil, compost (5 kg/pit) or poultry manure (2 kg/pit) and rock phosphate 200 g/pit).
o A small drainage channel at the elevation side of pit can be made to drain the excess rain water.

Planting
While planting the grafts, the polythene bag has to be removed carefully without disturbing the ball of earth. A portion of soil is scooped out from the centre of the filled pit and grafted plant is placed in such a way that the graft joint remain above the soil level. The base of the plant should be covered with topsoil and pressed gently and a stack should be placed near the graft plant to prevent wind damage. The polythene sheet used during grafting should be removed at planting time to avoid constricted growth at the grafting point.
Soil and water conservation
Terracing is required in sloppy site where soil erosion and leaching of plant nutrients are generally common. In such case terracing with catch pits followed by mulching is done.
Terracing
o Terracing of 2m radius is prepared during May to June at the second year of planting.
o The terraces are done by removing the soil from the elevated side and spread it in the lower side of the slope.
o Terraces are generally made crescent shape to retain the washed soil from the upper side along with rain water. Catch pit
o A catch pit of 200cm length x 30cm width x 45cm depth) across the slope at upper side of peripheral end of the terraces is made to conserve rainwater. A channel is made side way to drain out excess rainwater. Mulching
o Mulching can be done at the basin of cashew plants either with green leaves or dry leaves soon after planting.
o Live mulches are also utilized to conserve moisture.

Planting material
Cashew is a highly cross pollinated crop, hence seed propagation is avoided. The most common and successful method of propagation is the use of softwood graft. Soft wood grafting
1. About 45-60 days old seedlings raised in polythene bags are utilized as root stocks.
2. From the selected variety, lateral shoots of current seasons’ growth (pencil thickness, 3-5 months old) are selected and procured on the mother plant by clipping the leaf blades. After 10-15 days these shoots are collected and used as scions.
3. The terminal growth of the rootstock (soft wood portion) at a height of 15cm from ground level is decapitated and a cleft of 5-6 cm deep is made on the stem.
4. The scion stick is mended into a wedge shape of 5-6cm long by chopping of the bark and a little portion of wood from two opposite sides.
5. The wedge of the scion is inserted carefully into the cleft of the root stock.
6. Then the graft union is secured firmly with a polythene strip.
7. A white polythene cover is inserted on the graft and it is tied at the bottom to maintain humidity.

o Application of 10 to 15 kg FYM or compost per plant every year is beneficial.
o The recommended dose of fertilizer by National Research Centre for Cashew is 750g N, 125g P2O5and 125g K2O per year per plant. It is advisable to use straight fertilizer instead of complex fertilizer. The Year wise fertilizer is as follows [Dose (g/plant)]

o The fertilizer is to be applied in two splits. First split is given during pre monsoon (May/June) and second part is applied in post monsoon (August/ September).
o Fertilizers are applied in 50cm circular band in flat land at a distance of 50cm, 70cm, 100cm and 150cm away from the trunk of cashew of plant during 1st,2nd, 3rd and 4th year after planting and onwards respectively and rake the fertilizer into the soil.
o In sloppy areas the fertilizers are applied in circular trenches of 25cm width and 15cm depth at the distance mentioned earlier.

Training and pruning are essential management practices in cashew.
Training
o Training is done in the initial years.
o During 1stand 2nd years after planting flower panicles are removed to encourage vegetative growth and frame formation.
o Stacking is provided to plants to prevent lodging.
o The lower branches are gradually removed with the help of secateur during the initial 4 to 5 years of planting so that the trunk up to 60 to 75 cm remain single stemmed. This operation assists easy cultural operations like pest control and nut collection.
o Branches are evenly spaced by pruning unwanted criss-cross branches.
o The mature plants are detopped at 3 to 4m height and a semi globular canopy is maintained.

Pruning
o Water sprout, crown suckers, dead branches/twigs are removed.
o About 60 per cent of leader shoots (1 to 2 years old laterals) are to be pruned by pruning back at two third lengths.
o Pruning at least in 2 to 3 years is necessary depending on amount of dead wood and age of the plants.

Intercropping/Mixed cropping
o Intercropping or mixed cropping is recommended in cashew orchard during the initial years of formative stage of cashew.
o Intercrops help to check soil erosion apart from utilizing soil water and solar energy.
Some of the recommended intercrops are:
Pineapple: Pineapple can be grown for 7 years from planting in between cashew plants in trenches of 1m width and 0.5m depth.
Black pepper: Black peppers can be grown by allowing them to trail in the stems and branches of more than 6 years old plants. A net profit of Rs. 14,000/ ha can be achieved from black pepper. Ginger: Ginger can be raised in the initial 3 to 4 years of cashew plantations. A net profit of Rs. 40,000/ha can be obtained from ginger as a mixed crop. Turmeric: Turmeric can also be easily taken up as intercrop in the initial 7 years. Vegetables: A wide range of vegetable viz., cucurbits, cowpea annual leafy vegetables etc. can be raised.

Cashew is most commonly attacked by Tea mosquito bug. (Helopeltis antonii), cashew stem and root borer.
Tea mosquito bug (Helopeltis antonii): This insect causes maximum damage to the new flushes, flowers and young fruits by sucking cell sap. If extreme infestation occurs, the leaves show scorching effect which drastically reduces the yield of the crop. The occurrence and build up of the insect coincide with the new flushes, flowering and fruit setting after cessation of monsoon.
The insect is controlled by spraying insecticide viz., monocrotophos and carbaryl at different times. The first spray of monocrotophos @ 0.05% (1.5ml/l) is to be given at the time of new vegetative flush, which is followed by carbaryl @ 0.1% (2g/l) at flowering stage. This is followed by another third spray of carbaryl at the same rate at the time of fruit setting.
Cashew stem and root borer:The grub of this insect causes extensive damage to the old plantations. Young plantations are also not spared. The grub makes irregular tunnels inside the trunk and feed on the bark. Infested plants show falling off of fruss near the base of trunk as these are expelled out by the grub. Unattended old plants are mostly attacked. The mature roots are attacked by the grub of the insect. It is a high flier. Grubs are medium to large in size (5cm x 15cm length). Extensive feeding results in death of the plants within a period of 1 to 3 years.
To save the plants from the grub attack, the infested part is carefully chiseled out to find the grub inside the trunk hidden in tunnels and then physical removal is mostly done with prophylactic swabbing of carbaryl 1.0% solution.
Examination of exposed roots and collar region is most essential to detect insect infestation.

Harvesting of cashew nut for its kernel starts by March to June.
Nut maturity is a varietal character from a short duration to long duration. The nuts are allowed to be matured fully along with the apples. The apple matures slower than the nuts. Mature nuts show brown colour. Ripen apples are yellow, red and yellow reddish in colour. The apples are used or various industrial use as well as in preparation of pickles and jams. If only nuts are to be used than it is better to allow the nuts to fall naturally. The mature well filled nuts sink in water easily which is used as a selection criterion of mature nuts. As soon as nuts are collected they should be washed and sun dried as a pre-conditioning measure.
Processing of cashew nuts
Processing of raw cashew nuts consists of conditioning of nuts, shelling, drying, humidifying, peeling, grading and packing of kernels.
Conditioning: Harvested mature cashew nuts are sun dried for two days soon after harvesting to bring the moisture content from 16% or above to 8 to 9%. Then the nuts are packed in gunny bags and stored for further processing.
o Conditioning is required to make the nuts hard and brittle so that the shell can be removed without damaging kernel inside.
o Conditioning is done in three ways. They are drum roasting, oil bath roasting and steam roasting. Among these, the steam roasting is most commonly followed which have the added advantage of utilizing the cashew shell nut liquid (CSNL) for further industrial use.
Steam roasting
The sun dried cashew nuts are roasted in steam under pressure of 25 to 30 lb/inch for 20 to 30 minutes. Then the nuts are allowed to cool 24 hours before shelling.
Shelling
o Shelling requires hand and foot operated mechanical devices in which the roasted nut is held by fingers between two pairs of blades of the shelling machine, in such a way that the kernel never come into contact with blades.
o Then the splitted nuts become easy to scoop out the kernel, 92 to 95% kernel recovery is possible with the hand and foot operated sheller.
Drying of kernel
o Scooped out kernels are then sent to drier in trays to be dried in hot chamber at 780 to 800C for 6 to 8 hours to bring the moisture content in the nuts to 4 to 5%.
o For uniform drying, the trays used for spreading the kernels are changed in position in the chambers.
o Dried kernels in the same trays from the hot chamber are brought to a humidifier room to facilitate easy peeling of seed coat.
Peeling
o Peeling of seed coat (testa) is done with the help of sharp knives or bamboo edges.
o 70% kernels are recovered through peeling operation. Grading
o Grading of peeled kernels is done manually.
o Kernels are graded according to size of wholesome or bits. There are many commercial grades viz., W180, W210, W240, W320, W450 and W500.
o The large size kernels are graded as W180 (309 to 410/kg) and smallest grades are W500 (1000 to 1100/kg).
o The common grades are WW (White whole), SW (Scorched whole), DW (Dessert whole), SWS (Scorched whole seconds) etc.
o Pieces are also graded as B (Bits), S (Splits), LWP (Large white pieces), BB (Baby bits), SB (Scorched bits), SS (Scorched splits), SSP (Scorched small seconds), SPS (Scorched pieces seconds), DP (Dessert pieces).
Packing:
The export trade required packing of kernels in 11.3 kg tin containers which are hermetically sealed by infusing CO2. Moulded vacuum packing (MVP) is graining popularity where in nitrogen flushing is done to avoid oxidative rancidity.

Important address for planting materials
1. The Director,
National Research Centre for Cashew,
Puttur – 574 202, Dakshina Kannada,
Phone 08251 – 221530 (O), 08251 – 224539 (R)
E-mail: nrccaju@sancharnet.in
2. Cashew Research Station,
Acharyya NG Agricultural University,
BAPATLA – 522101
Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh,
Phone No. (08643) 225304
3. Cashew Research Station,
Department of Horticulture,
Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology
Bhubenewswar – 751003, Orissa
4. Regional Research Station,
Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswa Vidyalaya
Jhargram Farm, P. O. Jhargram – 721 507,
Midnapore District West Bengal,
Phone No.(03221) 255593,
E-mail : spc@cal.vsnl.net.in