Celery 319
In cytogenetical studies, Choudhary and Kaul (1986) observed celery as a diploid
with chromosome number as 2n = 22. The flowers, although potentially self-fertile,
are normally cross-pollinated by insects.
18.1.3 Production and international trade
Celery is widely distributed in Europe, America and Asia. In the Western countries,
it is grown for the herb, which is consumed as salad or cooked as vegetable and ranks
second only to lettuce. In the USA, the major growing states are California, Florida,
Michigan and New York, whereas in Europe major producing countries are France,
Germany, the UK, Hungary, Italy, Belgium and Holland. Celery is cultivated for seed
as spice predominantly in India, southern France, China and Egypt. India is the major
producer and exporter of celery seed in the world market, which is partly used for
extraction of seed oil and oleoresins. In India, it is cultivated in Amritsar, Gurdaspur,
Jalandhar and Ludhiana in Punjab, Panipat in Haryana and Saharanpur in Uttar
Pradesh for production of celery seed (Vijay and Malhotra, 2002).
Celery, as seed spice, is grown on around 6000 ha with production of 5500 tonnes
annually in India. Indian celery seed and extractives are exported to the USA, Canada,
the UK, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, Japan and Germany.
During 2005–2006, India exported 3400 tonnes celery seed of worth $2.5 million.
India is meeting 62% of world demand for celery seed. About 284 metric tonnes of
celery spice powder worth Rs. 14.5 million, celery essential oil quantity of 17 metric
tonnes worth Rs. 33 million and oleoresins 183 metric tonnes worth Rs. 46.4 million
was also exported from India during 2005–2006. The total world production of seed
oil is about 45 tonnes, of which 17 tonnes is produced from India and the remainder
from Egypt, China, France, the UK and the USA.
18.2 Cultivation.......................................................................................
Celery thrives best in climates with a long, cool growing season, especially at night
and where rainfall is well distributed or irrigation is assured. Optimum production
occurs when mean temperatures range between 16 ∞C and 21 ∞C with the introduction
of cultivars for tolerating upper temperature ranges. Celery can be grown in some
subtropical regions. Celery is sensitive to freezing temperatures but on acclimatization
can tolerate light frost for a short time. Leaf celery type has been reported to be more
heat tolerant than root celery or stalk celery type. Celery has a shallow root system
and thus requires a highly fertile soil with good moisture-holding capacity. Though
it is reported to be cultivated in a wide range of soils, peat and clay loam soils are
usually well suited for production. Celery is moderately sensitive to salinity and
grows best within a pH range of 6.0–6.6 in mineral soils and 5.5–6.0 in organic soils.
In Ohio and Michigan celery is grown on muck soils for fresh market (Swaider, et al.,
1992; Rubatzky and Yamaguchi, 1997). The celery seed crop under Indian conditions
in Punjab is grown on soils with an average pH of around 7.5.
Celery needs high soil fertility, usually maintained by the application of balanced
commercial fertilizers. Supplemental nutrient applications averaging about 300 kg
N, 75 kg P 2 O 5 and 250 kg K 2 O ha–1 are used on mineral soils. Depending upon
nutrient availability and the fertility status of the soil, doses up to 220–450 kg of N,
120 kg P 2 O 5 and 180 kg K 2 O ha–1 may be used. About half the nitrogen and all