Breadfruit Description
The breadfruit tree is handsome and fast growing, reaching 85 ft (26 m) in height, often with a clear trunk to 20 ft (6 m) becoming 2 to 6 ft (0.6-1.8 m) in width and often buttressed at the base, though some varieties may never exceed 1/4 or 1/2 of these dimensions. There are many spreading branches, some thick with lateral foliage-bearing branchlets, others long and slender with foliage clustered only at their tips.
The leaves, evergreen or deciduous depending on climatic conditions, on thick, yellow petioles to 1 1/2 in (3.8 cm) long, are ovate, 9 to 36 in (22.8-90 cm) long, 8 to 20 in (20-50 cm) wide, entire at the base, then more or less deeply cut into 5 to 11 pointed lobes. They are bright-green and glossy on the upper surface, with conspicuous yellow veins; dull, yellowish and coated with minute, stiff hairs on the underside.
The tree bears a multitude of tiny flowers, the male densely set on a drooping, cylindrical or club-shaped spike 5 to 12 in (12.5-30 cm) long and 1 to 1 1/2 in (2.5-3.75 cm) thick, yellowish at first and becoming brown. The female are massed in a somewhat rounded or elliptic, green, prickly head, 2 1/2 in (6.35 cm) long and 1 1/2 in (3.8 cm) across, which develops into the compound fruit (or syncarp), oblong, cylindrical, ovoid, rounded or pearshaped, 3 1/2 to 18 in (9-45 cm) in length and 2 to 12 in (5-30 cm) in diameter.
The thin rind is patterned with irregular, 4- to 6-sided faces, in some "smooth" fruits level with the surface, in others conical; in some, there may rise from the center of each face a sharp, black point, or a green, pliable spine to 1/8 in (3 mm) long or longer. Some fruits may have a harsh, sandpaper-like rind. Generally the rind is green at first, turning yellowish-green, yellow or yellow-brown when ripe, though one variety is lavender.
In the green stage, the fruit is hard and the interior is white, starchy and somewhat fibrous. When fully ripe, the fruit is somewhat soft, the interior is cream colored or yellow and pasty, also sweetly fragrant. The seeds are irregularly oval, rounded at one end, pointed at the other, about 3/4 in (2 cm) long, dull-brown with darker stripes. In the center of seedless fruits there is a cylindrical or oblong core, in some types covered with hairs bearing flat, brown, abortive seeds about 1/8 in (3 mm) long. The fruit is borne singly or in clusters of 2 or 3 at the branch tips. The fruit stalk (pedicel) varies from 1 to 5 in (2.5-12.5 cm) long.
All parts of the tree, including the unripe fruit, are rich in milky, gummy latex. There are two main types: the normal, "wild" type (cultivated in some areas) with seeds and little pulp, and the "cultivated" (more widely grown) seedless type, but occasionally a few fully developed seeds are found in usually seedless cultivars. Some forms with entire leaves and with both seeds and edible pulp have been classified by Dr. F.R. Fosberg as belonging to a separate species, A. mariannensis Trecul. but these commonly integrate with A. altilis and some other botanists regard them as included in that highly variable species.
Breadfruit Origin and Distribution
The breadfruit is believed to be native to a vast area extending from New Guinea through the Indo-Malayan Archipelago to Western Micronesia. It is said to have been widely spread in the Pacific area by migrating Polynesians, and Hawaiians believed that it was brought from the Samoan island of Upalu to Oahu in the 12th Century A.D. It is said to have been first seen by Europeans in the Marquesas in 1595, then in Tahiti in 1606. At the beginning of the 18th Century, the early English explorers were loud in its praises, and its fame, together with several periods of famine in Jamaica between 1780 and 1786, inspired plantation owners in the British West Indies to petition King George III to import seedless breadfruit trees to provide food for their slaves.
There is good evidence that the French navigator Sonnerat in 1772 obtained the seeded breadfruit in the Philippines and brought it to the French West Indies. It seems also that some seedless and seeded breadfruit plants reached Jamaica from a French ship bound for Martinique but captured by the British in 1782. There were at least two plants of the seeded breadfruit in Jamaica in 1784 and distributions were quickly made to the other islands.
There is a record of a plant having been sent from Martinique to the St. Vincent Botanical Garden before 1793. The story of Captain Thigh's first voyage to Tahiti, in 1787, and the loss of his cargo of 1,015 potted breadfruit plants on his disastrous return voyage is well known. He set out again in 1791 and delivered 5 different kinds totalling 2,126 plants to Jamaica in February 1793. On that island, the seedless breadfruit flourished and it came to be commonly planted in other islands of the West Indies, in the lowlands of Central America and northern South America. In some areas, only the seedless type is grown, in others, particularly Haiti, the seeded is more common. Jamaica is by far the leading producer of the seedless type, followed by St. Lucia. In New Guinea, only the seeded type is grown for food.
It has been suggested that the seeded breadfruit was carried by Spaniards from the Philippines to Mexico and Central America long before any reached the West Indies. On the Pacific coast of Central America, the seeded type is common and standard fare for domestic swine. On the Atlantic Coast, seedless varieties are much consumed by people of African origin. The breadfruit tree is much grown for shade in Yucatan.
It is very common in the lowlands of Colombia, a popular food in the Cauca Valley, the Choco, and the San Andres Islands; mostly fed to live stock in other areas. In Guyana, in 1978, about 1,000 new breadfruit trees were being produced each year but not nearly enough to fill requests for plants. There and in Trinidad, because of many Asians in the population, both seeded and seedless breadfruits are much appreciated as a regular article of the diet; in some other areas of the Caribbean, breadfruit is regarded merely as a food for the poor for use only in emergencies.
Nowadays, it is attracting the attention of gourmets and some islands are making small shipments to the United States, Canada and Europe for specialized ethnic markets. In the Palau Islands of the South Pacific, breadfruit is being outclassed by cassava and imported flour and rice. For some time breadfruit was losing ground to taro (Colocasia esculenta Schott.) in Hawaii, but now land for taro is limited and its culture is static.
The United States Department of Agriculture brought in breadfruit plants from the Canal Zone, Panama, in 1906 (S.P.I. #19228). For many years there have been a number of seedless breadfruit trees in Key West, Florida, and there is now at least one on Vaca Key about 50 miles to the northeast. On the mainland of Florida, the tree can be maintained outdoors for a few years with mild winters but, unless protected with plastic covering to prevent dehydration, it ultimately succumbs. A few have been kept alive in greenhouses or conservatories such as the Rare Plant House of Fairchild Tropical Garden, and the indoor garden of the Jamaica Inn on Key Biscayne.
Breadfruit Varieties
An unpublished report of 1921 covered 200 cultivars of breadfruit in the Marquesas. The South Pacific Commission published the results of a breadfruit survey in 1966. In it, there were described 166 named sorts from Tonga, Niue, Western and American Samoa, Papua and New Guinea, New Hebrides and Rotuma. There are 70 named varieties of seeded and seedless breadfruits in Fiji. They are locally separated into 8 classes by leaf form. The following, briefly presented, are those that are recorded as "very good". It will be noted that some varietal names are reported under more than one class.
Breadfruit Climate
The breadfruit is ultra-tropical, much tenderer than the mango tree. It has been reported that it requires a temperature range of 60° to 100°F (15.56°-37.78°C), an annual rainfall of 80 to 100 in (203-254 cm), and a relative humidity of 70 to 80%. However, in southern India, it is cultivated at sea level and up humid slopes to an altitude of 3,500 ft (1,065 m), also in thickets in dry regions where it can be irrigated. In the "equatorial dry climate" of the Marquesas, where the breadfruit is an essential crop, there is an average rainfall of only 40 to 60 in (100-150 cm) and frequent droughts. In Central America, it is grown only below 2,000 ft (600 m).
Breadfruit Soil
According to many reports, the breadfruit tree must have deep, fertile, well-drained soil. But some of the best authorities on South Pacific plants point out that the seedless breadfruit does well on sandy coral soils, and seeded types grow naturally on "coraline limestone" islands in Micronesia. In New Guinea, the breadfruit tree occurs wild along waterways and on the margins of forests in the flood plain, and often in freshwater swamps. It is believed that there is great variation in the adaptability of different strains to climatic and soil conditions, and that each should be matched with its proper environment. The Tahitian 'Manitarvaka' is known to be drought-resistant. The variety 'Mai-Tarika', of the Gilbert Islands, is salt-tolerant. 'Mejwaan', a seeded variety of the Marshall Islands, is not harmed by brackish water nor salt spray and has been introduced into Western Samoa and Tahiti.
Breadfruit Propagation
The seeded breadfruit is always grown from seeds, which must be planted when fairly fresh as they lose viability in a few weeks. The seedless breadfruit is often propagated by transplanting suckers which spring up naturally from the roots. One can deliberately induce suckers by uncovering and injuring a root.
Pruning the parent tree will increase the number of suckers, and root pruning each sucker several times over a period of months before taking it up will contribute to its survival when transplanted. For multiplication in quantity, it is better to make root cuttings about 1 to 2 1/2 in (2.5-6.35 cm) thick and 9 in (22 cm) long. The ends may be dipped into a solution of potassium permanganate to coagulate the latex, and the cuttings are planted close together horizontally in sand. They should be shaded and watered daily, unless it is possible to apply intermittent mist.
Calluses may form in 6 weeks (though rooting time may vary from 2 to 5 months) and the cuttings are transplanted to pots, at a slant, and watered once or twice a day for several months or until the plants are 2 ft (60 cm) high. A refined method of rapid propagation uses stem cuttings taken from root shoots. In Puerto Rico, the cuttings are transplanted into plastic bags containing a mixture of soil, peat and sand, kept under mist for a week, then under 65% shade, and given liquid fertilizer and regular waterings. When the root system is well developed, they are allowed full sun until time to set out in the field.
In India, it is reported that breadfruit scions can be successfully grafted or budded onto seedlings of wild jackfruit trees.
Breadfruit Culture
Young breadfruit trees are planted in well-enriched holes 15 in (40 cm) deep and 3 ft (0. 9m) wide that are first prepared by burning trash in them to sterilize the soil and then insecticide is mixed with the soil to protect the roots and shoots from grubs. The trees are spaced 25 to 40 ft (7.5-12 m) apart in plantations. Usually there are about 25 trees per acre (84/ha). Those grown from root suckers will bear in 5 years and will be productive for 50 years. Some growers recommend pruning of branches that have borne fruit and would normally die back, because this practice stimulates new shoots and also tends to keep the tree from being too tall for convenient harvesting.
Standard mixtures of NPK are applied seasonally. When the trees reach bearing age, they each receive, in addition, 4.4 lbs (2 kg) superphosphate per year to increase the size and quality of the fruits.
Breadfruit Season
In the South Seas, the tree fruits more or less continuously, fruit in all stages of development being present on the tree the year around, but there are two or three main fruiting periods. In the Caroline Islands and the Gilbert Islands, the main ripening season is May to July or September; in the Society Islands and New Hebrides, from November to April, the secondary crop being in July and August. Breadfruits are most abundant in Hawaiian markets off and on from July to February.
Flowering starts in March in northern India and fruits are ready for harvest in about 3 months. Seeded breadfruits growing in the Eastern Caroline Islands fruit only once a year but the season is 3 months long-from December to March. Seedless varieties introduced from Ponape bear 2 to 3 times a year. In the Bahamas, breadfruit is available mainly from June to November, but some fruits may mature at other times during the year.
Breadfruit Harvesting and Yield
Breadfruits are picked when maturity is indicated by the appearance of small drops of latex on the surface. Harvesters climb the trees and break the fruit stalk with a forked stick so that the fruit will fall. Even though this may cause some bruising or splitting, it is considered better than catching the fruits by hand because the broken pedicel leaks much latex. They are packed in cartons in which they are separated individually by dividers.
In the South Pacific, the trees yield 50 to 150 fruits per year. In southern India, normal production is 150 to 200 fruits annually. Productivity varies between wet and dry areas. In the West Indies, a conservative estimate is 25 fruits per tree. Studies in Barbados indicate a reasonable potential of 6.7 to 13.4 tons per acre (16-32 tons/ha). Much higher yields have been forecasted, but experts are skeptical and view these as unrealistic.
Breadfruit Pests and Diseases
Soft-scales and mealybugs are found on breadfruit trees in the West Indies and ants infest branches that die back after fruiting. In southern India, the fruits on the tree are subject to soft rot. This fungus disease can be controlled by two sprays of Bordeaux mixture, one month apart. Young breadfruit trees in Trinidad have been killed by a disease caused by Rosellinia sp. In the Pacific Islands Fusarium sp. is believed to be the cause of die back, and Pythium sp. is suspected in cases of root rot. A mysterious malady, called "Pingalap disease", killed thousands of trees from 1957 to 1960 in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, the Caroline Islands, Marshalls and Mariannas. The foliage wilts and then the branch dies back. Sometimes the whole tree is affected and killed to the roots; occasionally only half of a tree declines. The fungus, Phytophthora palmivora, attacks the fruit on the island of Truk. Phomopsis, Dothiorella and Phylospora cause stem-end rot.
Breadfruit Toxicity
Most varieties of breadfruit are purgative if eaten raw. Some varieties are boiled twice and the water thrown away, to avoid unpleasant effects, while there are a few named cultivars that can be safely eaten without cooking.
The cyclopropane-containing sterol, cycloartenol, has been isolated from the fresh fruit. It contitutes 12% of the non-saponifiable extract.
Breadfruit Other Uses
Leaves: Breadfruit leaves are eagerly eaten by domestic livestock. In India, they are fed to cattle and goats; in Guam, to cattle, horses and pigs. Horses are apt to eat the bark of young trees as well, so new plantings must be protected from them.
Latex: Breadfruit latex has been used in the past as birdlime on the tips of posts to catch birds. The early Hawaiians plucked the feathers for their ceremonial cloaks, then removed the gummy substance from the birds' feet with oil from the candlenut, Aleurites moluccana Willd., or with sugarcane juice, and released them.
After boiling with coconut oil, the latex serves for caulking boats and, mixed with colored earth, is used as a paint for boats.
Wood: The wood is yellowish or yellow-gray with dark markings or orange speckles; light in weight; not very hard but strong, elastic and termite resistant (except for drywood termites) and is used for construction and furniture. In Samoa, it is the standard material for house-posts and for the rounded roof-ends of native houses. The wood of the Samoan variety 'Aveloloa' which has deeply cut leaves, is most preferred for house-building, but that of 'Puou', an ancient variety, is also utilized. In Guam and Puerto Rico the wood is used for interior partitions.
Because of its lightness, the wood is in demand for surfboards. Traditional Hawaiian drums are made from sections of breadfruit trunks 2 ft (60 cm) long and 1 ft (30 cm) in width, and these are played with the palms of the hands during Hula dances. After seasoning by burying in mud, the wood is valued for making household articles. These are rough-sanded by coral and lava, but the final smoothing is accomplished with the dried stipules of the breadfruit tree itself.
Fiber: Fiber from the bark is difficult to extract but highly durable. Malaysians fashioned it into clothing. Material for tape cloth is obtained from the inner bark of young trees and branches. In the Philippines, it is made into harnesses for water buffalo.
Flowers: The male flower spike used to be blended with the fiber of the paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera Vent. to make elegant loincloths. When thoroughly dry, the flower spikes also serve as tinder.
Medicinal Uses: In Trinidad and the Bahamas, a decoction of the breadfruit leaf is believed to lower blood pressure, and is also said to relieve asthma. Crushed leaves are applied on the tongue as a treatment for thrush. The leaf juice is employed as ear-drops. Ashes of burned leaves are used on skin infections. A powder of roasted leaves is employed as a remedy for enlarged spleen. The crushed fruit is poulticed on tumors to "ripen" them. Toasted flowers are rubbed on the gums around an aching tooth. The latex is used on skin diseases and is bandaged on the spine to relieve sciatica. Diluted latex is taken internally to overcome diarrhea.
Article Source Purdue University Horticulture Department.
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Indices/index_ab.html
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