Cultivation practice of Apple Production ।। NEB।।SEE।। Shiva Prasad Dhakal ।। Technical Guru

Fruits Production

 Apple (Malus domestica)


Introduction

  • Apple (Malus domestica/Malus pumila) is a temperate deciduous fruit.
  • It belongs to rosaceae family.
  •  More than 80% of apple production is done in Europe.
  • In Nepal, Jumla, Humla, Dolpa, Mugu, Kalikot, Manang, Mustang, etc. are the major apple producing areas.
  • It is one of the most preferred fruit by the consumers.
  • Thallus is its edible portion. The saying 'an apple a day, keeps the doctor away' depicts us about the importance of apple.
Composition and uses
  • It is good source of vitamin, fiber and minerals.
  • Ripe fruits are directly consumed and it is also used to prepare jam, jelly, candy, ice-cream, wine etc.
Origin and distribution
  • Its origin is considered to be in South West Asia, spreading across Europe to France.
Variety
Based on chromosome number:
  1.  Diploid variety: It is self-fruitful and a good commercial crop. Eg: All Delicious, Jonathan, Rome Beauty, Anna etc. 
  2. Triploid variety: It is self-unfruitful and requires pollinizer (golden delicious) e.g. Cox's orange Pippin, Baldwin, Beauty of Bath wine sap, Stayman etc.
Based on season: 
  1. Early varieties: Anna, Vered, Fanny etc. 
  2. Mid varieties: All delicious, Cox's orange pippin 
  3. Late varieties: Cortland, Granny Smith

Based on chilling requirement (4-7 0 C):

  1. Over 1000 hours/high chilling cultivars: Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, rich-a-red grown at altitude 2000-2500 masl
  2. Between 500-1000hours/low chilling cultivars: Tropical Beauty, Anna, Vered, etc. (only 150 hours chilling temperature required in Brazil) at altitude less than 1500masl.

Climate and soil

  • It can be cultivated at an altitude of 1500-3000m from mean sea level depending upon the variety.
  • The annual rainfall lies between 400-500mm.It require temperature about 15-21 ⁰ c for proper growth and development.
  • It also requires 250-1400 hours of chilling temperature below 7.2 ⁰ C during winter season to break dormancy.
  • It can be cultivated in sandy loam and sandy clay soil having ph range of 6-7.
  • The soil should have proper drainage facility.

Area and production

  • Area (ha): 12,015; productive area (ha): 3,707; production (mt): 19,850; productivity (mt/ha): 5.36.

Propagation and planting

  • It is commercially propagated by tongue grafting or T-budding.
  • Seedling rootstocks of wild apple: Siberian crab apple, American crab apple and wild crab apple.
  • The saplings are planted in well prepared land at spacing of 6-8m depending upon variety.
  • The pit size should be 60x60x60 cm3 .
  • The sapling should be planted in the month of Poush-Falgun.

Irrigation

  • Moisture stress mainly affects the fruit production. Insufficient moisture cause flower and fruit drop.
  • Younger plants are irrigated twice a week depending upon moisture of the soil.
  • Bearing plants are irrigated once a week in summer.

Manure and fertilizer


Training and pruning

  • The apple tree is train by modified leader system in which main stem is allowed to grow up to 1.5-2.5 m then headed back to height of 1.2-1.5 m to facilitate lateral branch growth.
  • After then, diseased, dried, crowded, overlapped branches are removed.

Intercropping

  • Intercrops viz. pea, cabbage, red clover and French bean may be cultivated along with apple which helps to improve soil texture and nutrient status of soil.
  • Percent fruit set and fruit maturity occurred earlier in apple trees intercropped with pea, red clover and French bean.

Intercultural operations

  • Hand weeding can be practiced but in large orchards spraying of glyphosate @1.7kg/ha is recommendable.

Insect pest of apple 

  1. San Jose scale (Quadraspidiotus perniciosus)
  2. Wooly apple aphid (Eriosoma lanigerum)

Diseases of apple 

  1. Apple scab
C/o: fungus 
S.n: Venturia inaequalis

2. Powdery mildew 

C/o: fungus 

S.n: Podoshera leucotricha

3. Crown gall or hairy root 
C/o: fungus 
S.n: Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Physiological disorder

1. Bitter pit
  • Small brown lesions of 2-10 mm in diameter (depending on the cultivar) develop in the flesh of the fruit.
  • The tissue below the skin becomes dark and corky.
  • These spots generally turn darker and become more sunken than the surrounding skin and are fully developed after one to two months in storage.
Control
  • Cultural practices that reduce the incidence of bitter pit are calcium sprays, summer pruning and harvesting mature fruit.
  • Avoid nitrogen and magnesium summer spray, fertilizer treatments that result in lowering the soil ph or induce excess vigor, and fluctuating soil moisture.
2. Internal browning
  • Brown discoloration appears in the flesh, firm but moist, usually originating in or near the core.
  • Brown areas have well defined margins and may include dry cavities resulting from dryness.
  • Symptoms can range from a small spot of brown flesh to nearly the entire flesh being affected in severe cases.
Control
  • Avoid harvesting over mature fruit.
  • Harvest at the optimum maturity, especially for controlled atmosphere storage.

Stage of maturity

  • The fruits are harvested when it attained full size and colour changes from green to red colour and flesh become firm.

Harvesting methods

  • Apples need to be handled carefully when picking them to avoid any bumps or bruises which will prevent them keeping well.
  • Cupping your hand under the apple and pick it.
  • If picking is done using a ladder then consider one of the excellent apple harvesting bags that you wear like an apron to collect them as you harvest.

Yield

  • It yields about 10-12 ton per hectare.

Grading

  • Grading of apples is done according to fruit size and fruit appearance or quality.
  • On the basis of fruit size, apples are graded manually.
  • On the basis of fruit colour, shape, quality and appearance, apple fruits can be graded in three or more quality grades.

Packaging

  • Apples are usually packed in wooden boxes having the capacity to accommodate about 10 or 20 kg.
  • Corrugated fibre board cartons are also used for packing.

Transport

  • Road transport by trucks is the most popular mode of transport due to easy approach from orchards to the market.
  • Over loading should be avoided.
  • To reduce bruising, good shock absorbers should be used.

Storage

  • Apples have a long storage life compared to other fruits and can be stored for a period of 4-8 months after harvesting.
  • The fruits can be kept in cold storage at a temperature of about – 1.10 to 0⁰ C and 85-90% relative humidity.
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