General Information :

• Bark is smooth dark grey in color.
• Leaves alternate deep green in color.
• A flower unisexual which has head in bud enveloped in large stipular deciduous sheath.
• Fruit a large syncarp weighing up to 10 – 30 kg
• The fruit has rind with conical protuberances containing pale brown ovoid oil seeds surrounded by a Yellow pulp.

Varieties:

• Velipala, Singapore, Hybrid jack, Panruti selection, Thanjavur jack, Burliar 1, PLR 1, PLR (J) 2 and PPI 1 are the popular varieties in jack.

Distribution :

• Native to India and Malasiya and cultivated widely in all parts of the world.

Habitat : Tropical parts of all country .

Soil : Alluvial, sandy-loam or clay loam soils .

Altitude :Up to 1600 m(MSL)

Rainfall :1000-2400 mm

Temperature : 16-22 deg. C

Terrain : Plain/hilly

Tree Characteristics :

• Light demander and Sensitive to Drought and frost.

Habit : Evergreen tree

Natural Regeneration :

• Naturally regenerated by seeds.

Artificial Regeneration :

• Direct sowing and vegetative propagation.

Seed collection and Storage :

• Ripe fruits are collected and cut open for seed extraction.
• The seeds are dried in the shade and used in the same season as being oily loses their vitality after about a month.
• About 45 to 90 seeds weigh one kg.
• Fresh seed gives germination percentage of 70 – 75 %.

Seed Treatment :

• No seed treatment is necessary

Nursery Technique :

• Seedlings can be raised in big sized polybags. 
• Sowing can directly be done in each Poly bags
• Germination starts after 10 days and is completed in a month. 

Plantation technique :

• Dig pits of 30 cm3. 
• Fill up the pits with top soil mixed with 10 Kg of FYM and 1 Kg of Neem cake per pit. 
• Plant preferably grafts during June – December at 8 x 8 m spacing.
• Planting is done in July after the commencement of rains at a spacing of 5m x 5m, 
• For fruit protection, the spacing usually resorted is 12 m x 12m for healthy growth of plants.

Care & Disease Control :

• Dead branches should be removed from the interior of the tree so that sufficient light is obtained for the developing fruit and to check the spread of pests.       

Irrigation :

• Once in a week till the plant gets established.

Recommended Harvest :

•    The yield commences from 5th year in grafts and 8th year in seedling trees.  •    Harvest is done during March-July.

Yield :

• The yield commences from 5th year in grafts and 8th year in seedling trees.  
• The crop yields about 30-40 t/ha

Agro Forestory :

• trees have been used as an intercrop in durian orchards, and in India the trees are intercropped with mango and citrus.
• Young A. heterophyllus orchards may be intercropped with annual cash crops such as banana, sweet corn and groundnut.

Major uses :

• Chief value lies in fruit only.
• The timber is used for small furniture making.
• Leaves are sometimes lopped as fodder for cattle.
• It is also used as shade trees with coffee or in conjunction with pepper

Other uses :

Medicine: 1.A root decoction is used to alleviate fever, treat diarrhoea, skin diseases and asthma. 2. it can also be mixed with vinegar to promote healing of abscesses, snakebite and glandular swellings. Gum or resin : 1.The latex yields 71.8% resin, consisting of 63.3% fluavilles (yellow) and 8.5% albanes (white). 2.These resins may be valuable in varnishes