Guava is an important fruit crop of India and has gained considerable importance because of its high nutritive value, availability at moderate price, a pleasant aroma and good flavour. Guava is one of the most common fruit liked alike by both the rich and the poor. Guava is a rich source of vitamin C and pectin. It contains 82.5% water, 2.45% acid, 4.45% reducing sugars, 5.23% non-reducing sugars, 9.73 brix, 0.48% ash and 260 mg vitamin C/100 g fruit which differ with the cultivar, stage of maturity and season. The fruit is relished when mature or ripe and freshly plucked from the tree. It is also used for many preparations like jelly, cheese and juice.

Guava is one of the hardiest fruit trees. It adapts itself to a variety of soils and climatic conditions. Even under most neglected conditions, it comes up well. The guava tree can withstand heat and prolonged droughts, but is susceptible to frost. A cool winter induces heavy fruiting.

Guava is mainly a self-pollinated crop though cross-pollination is also common. This result in large variability in the seedling population from which promising genotypes have been selected in different agroclimatic regions of the country. Guava is also propagated through seed. Inarching, layering and air-layering are commonly practiced. Propagation through root suckers, root cuttings and budding is sometimes successful. Propagation is generally done during the rainy season. The new plants are ready to be set out after a year. The usual distance for planting is 5.5 to 6 metres.

The growing of a green-manure crop during the rainy season, and clean cultivation during the rest of the year are recommended. One or two irrigation between the end of the monsoon and the harvesting (winter) are given in northern India. In southern India irrigation throughout the year is necessary. In addition to bulky organic manure, the use of 46 to 60 kg of N, 77.5 kg to 90 kg of P and 100 kg to 110 kg of K per hectare is recommended.

Even though, guava plants are generally grown under rainfed conditions and the plants hardly require any irrigation during the rainy season. Irrigation has however, proved useful in cultivation., In north bi-weekly irrigation during the winter and also during April-June has improved fruit size of the winter crop and increased fruit set and reduced fruit drop in both the seasons. In regions with 380-500 mm rainfall, additional 2,460 mm water is required through 8-10 irrigation, once in every 20 days in summer and every month in winter. Period during April-June was found critical.

Planting distance varies from 5.4 to 7.5 m. Close plantings are still not known. The trials conducted under All-India Co-ordinated Fruit Improvement Projects at different centres, viz. Faizabad, Ranchi and Basti, indicated that double-hedge-row system of planting with 800-900 plants/ha is beneficial for high yield per unit area in Allahabad Safeda. High density has also adversely affected the quality, particularly total soluble solids and ascorbic acid. The tree volume spread and number of branches/tree also decreased with increasing plant density.

It has been observed that guava is very hardy to soil and agro-climatic conditions, but shows good response to manuring in increasing fruit production. Research results have shown that guava is very responsive to the application of both organic and inorganic fertilizers. It was also observed that application of nitrogen stimulates growth and increases flower and fruit yields. Fertilization not only increased the yield but also improved the quality.

Fruits must be plucked as they ripen. Plucking extends over several weeks. For long-distance marketing, it is necessary to harvest the fruit somewhat earlier. Yields of 22,000 kg per hectare have been reported.