This document provides information on apple production technology. It covers topics such as rootstocks, propagation, planting, pollination, flowering induction, training, pruning, fertilizers, irrigation, weed management, and harvesting. It discusses commercial apple rootstocks like M9, M26, and MM series and their effects on tree size. Propagation methods like grafting and budding are outlined. Planting density depends on the rootstock and ranges from 200-1250 trees per hectare. Pollinizers are needed for cross pollination. Practices to induce early flowering include branch bending, pruning, and using plant growth regulators. Training systems include central leader, spindle bush, and espalier. Proper pruning balances growth and

1. APPLE
PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
ABEER ALI
UHS16UG3006
2ND BSC HORTI
UNIVERSITY OF HORTICULTURAL SCIENCES BAGALKOT
COLLAGE OF HORTICULTURE , BENGALORE
COURSE TITTLE: TEMPERATE FRUIT CROPS FSC (202)

2. • ROOTSTOCKS
• PROPAGATION
• PLANTING
• POLLINATION AND
POLLINIZERS
• PRACTICES FOR INDUCTION OF
EARLY FLOWERING
• TRAINING
• PRUNING
• MANURS AND FERTILIZERS
• USE OF PGR’S
• IRRIGATION
• WEED MANAGEMAENT
• MULCHING
• INTERCROPPING
• FRUIT DROP
• FRUIT THINNING
• CAUSES OF LOW PRODUCTIVITY
• HARVESTING AND YIELD
• MATURITY INDICES
• POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY
• GRADING AND PACKING
• CONSTRAINS IN APPLE
CULTIVATION PRACTICES
• FUTURE THRUST IN APPLE

3. •Commercial age of the apple tree varies from 40 to 50 years
•Hence careful planning is imp
•The area selected for commercial apple orchard should be
preferably be on N-W slopes (4-8% slope) and free from frost
•Which assures sufficient chilling and proper soil moisture
retention and adequate sunshine

4. ROOTSTOCKS
(A) : SEEDLING ROOTSTOCKS
•Traditionally seedling rootstock are used in
our country
•Seedling rootstocks are vigorous, provide
well developed root system good
anchorage, but they are not uniform in size,
shows heterozygosity collection of seeds
from various sources further complicates
their likely characteristics.
•Seedling of crab apple (Malus baccata)
or self pollinizing varieties like Golden
Delicious and Granny Smith.

5. CLONAL ROOTSTOCKS
•In western countries, use of seedling rootstocks
are abandoned and now standerd clonal root
stocks are such as Malling (M) and Malling
merton (MM) are developed at East Malling
Research Station and Jhon Inn’s Research
Institute, Merton are used
•Clonal rootstocks are precocious, uniform and
resistant to some insect pests and diseases.
•The promising clonal rootstocks of apple
are :
M9 or EMLA9 and M26 or EMLA26
(Dwarf)

6. M7 or EMLA7, MM106 or EMLA106 ( Semi dwarf)
MM111 or EMLA111 (Semi vigorous)
Merton 793 ( vigorous)
•Malling series( M) rootstocks are size controlling but not resistant to woolly apple aphid.
•Malling Merton series (MM) are size controlling and resistant to woolly apple aphid.
•EMLA series rootstocks are virus free.
CLONAL ROOT STACKS ARE NOT SATISFACTORY IN INDIA
BECAUSE:
 Poor anchorage of the root stock due to the poor fertility of the soil.
 Slopy lands.
 Inadequate irrigation facilities.
 High suckering of root stocks.

7. BASED ON THE THEIR EFFECT ON THE SCION, CONAL
ROOTSTOCKS OF APPLE HAS BEEN CLASSIFIED INTO FIVE
GROUPS:
I. Very dwarfing – M27 [very small and poor anchorage]
II. Dwarfing – M9, M26 [ short juvenile phase weak anchorage, suitable for high density
planting in flat irrigated areas only]
III.Semi-dwarfing – M4,M7,and MM106 [suitable for HDP and well-drained soils;
resistant to wooly aphid and susceptible to collar rot.]
IV.Semi-vigorous – MM111, MM109 [ tree size is 70% of standard, drought tolerant and
resistant to wooly apple aphid]
V. Vigrous - Merton 793, M16, M25, M104.

8. AN IDEALAPPLE ROOTSTOCK SHOULD HAVE :
1. It should make a successful union with the scion cultivar.
2. It should provide good anchorage to the tree.
3. It should be easily propagated.
4. It should be easily available.
5. It should be dwarf enough to control tree size of the scion cultivar.
6. It should have ability to grow on an a varity of soils.
7. It should be resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses.

9. PROPAGATION OF ROOT STOCKS
(A)SEEDLING ROOTSTOCK
•Seeds are stratified for 60-70 days in alternate layers of moist sand at 4-6 oC during
December to February.
•The stratified seeds are sown in nursery beds during March at a spacing of 8-10 cm
from seed to seed and 15-20 cm from line to line.
•After sowing, the nursery beds are mulched with 10 cm thick dry grass and light
irrigation is given to avoid desiccation of stratified seeds.
•Mulch is removed as soon as seed start germinating.
•Cultural operations like weeding, hoeing, irrigation and spray of insecticide and
fungicides are done at regular intervals.
•The seedling rootstock attain graftable size of 15 mm diameter in a year.

10. (B) CLONAL ROOTSTOCKS
• Mount layering or hard wood
cuttings are commercially used to
propagate clonal root stocks
• Commercial apple varieties are
grafted on rootstock by tongue
grafting during feb and march. Gives
90% success.
• Chip budding also quite successful
during august September, gives soft
and smooth graft union.
• Use of micropropagation seems to
be an apt stratergy for the
multiplication of superior quality
virus free plants.

11. PROPAGATION OF SCION
•The commercial method of propagation of apple scion varieties is toungue grafting and
chip budding.
•The scion wood is collected from one year old shoots during January and packed in
moist sphagnum moss, after proper labeling of variety.
•These bundles of scion wood are stored in cold storage or buried deep in the soil at
shady place till required for grafting .
•The best time of grafting of apple is February to March with tongue and cleft methods.
•Chip budding can also be done in March and July.

12. PROCESS OF TONGUE GRAFTING IN APPLE

13. combinationScion & varity rootstock Tree size Spacing in mm Density(tree/ha)
standard MM109 Semi vigourous 6x6 278
MM111
M7 Semi dwarf 4.5x4.5 494
MM106
M9 dwarf 1.5x1.5 4444
Spur type Seedling Semi vigourous 5x5 400
MM109 Semi dwarf 3.5x3.5 816
MM111
M7 dwarf 3x3 1111
M106

14. PLANTING
•Pit size-1mx1mx1m
•Planting system:-squre or hexagonal planting syatem.
•Planting time:-January and February.
•The average number of plants in an area of one ha.
can range between 200 to 1250.
•Four different categories of planting density are
followed viz.
•low (less than 250 plants/ha.),
•moderate (250-500 plants/ha.),
•high (500-1250 plants/ha.) and
•ultra high density (more than 1250 plants /ha.).
Note:-during planting 30-40 kg. of FYM, 500 g. of
Single super phosphate and 50 g. of Malathion dust
are added after mixing properly in each pit.

18. POLLINATION AND POLLINIZERS:
• Most of the apple cultivars are self unfruitful and requires some compatible cultivars
for cross pollination and good fruit set.
• Inadequate fruit set often results from failure during the pollination period, which is
associated with pollen production, transfer and germination, pollen tube
development.
• Sterility and incompatibility are the two main causes of unfruitfulness in apple
• Low temperature, rainfall and cloudy.
• The cross pollination in apple can be improved by planting atleast 25to
33%pollinizers
• Placement of 5 to 6 honey bee colonies per hector
• Top working of 2 to 4 shoots of commercial varities with pollinizers
• Placement of bouquets.

19. HAND POLLINATION
BOUQUET POLLINATION

20. 6/26/2018 5:16:49 PM
BEE HIVES
TOP WORKING

21. FLOWERING, POLLINATION AND FRUIT SET
Apple starts bearing at the age of 4- 6 years. Spur type varieties start bearing early date
than standard bearers.
Similarly, scion cultivars start bearing earlier if grafted on a dwarfing rootstock than on
seedling rootstock. Apple bears terminally or on spurs. Flower bud differentiation in
takes place in july and flowering in spring

22. MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS OF FLOWERING:
• Buds are ovoid with imbricate scales, leaves are serrate or lobbed, folded in bud and
stipulate.
• Floral buds are mixed buds born terminally laterally on long shoot, depending upon the
cultivar, age and vigour of tree.
• The initiation of flower primordia starts about three to six weeks after full bloom (June).
• Inflorescence is determinate having five flowers. Flowers white or pink or in cymes.
• Flower of most cultivars are epigynous and hermaphrodite
• Flower consists of five petals, five sepals, 15-20 stamens and a pistil which is divided in
to five carplas each containing two ovules.
• Ovary is inferior.

23. PRACTICES FOR INDUCTION OF EARLY FLOWERING :
• SPREADING OF BRANCHES:
Bending of branches of the young trees at an angle of 45degree from the main trunk helps in
early flowering.
Scientific evidences have indicated that bending of the branches restricts the movement of
carbohydrate and auxin from the upper portion towards the roots and accumulated
carbohydrates assumed to be favourable to flower bud formation.
• PRUNING
If the trees are excessively vigorous, dormant pruning should be limited to cuts that are
absolutely required. Because dormant pruning will induce excessive vegetative growth and
inhibits flower bud formation.
• NUTRIENT CONTROL
the tree should get sufficient nitrogen, that should not inhibit the flower formation. The
nutrients like Zn, Cu, B detrimental for flowering in apple.

24. • RINGING AND SCORING.
Scoring and ringing is performed one or two weeks after full bloom, using a sharp
knife. These practice may however induce blossom bud formation during the year of
treatment, but can cause some trees to show severe shock symptoms
• USE OF PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
PGR are capable for controlling and influencing tree vigour and cropping. The
application of alar for the tress those have excess vigour .
Similarly NAA used as an additive to paint the pruning cuts, it reduces the vigorous
shoot growth from pruning cuts
PP333 (Paclobutrazol) can be used to restrict growth and to increase bloom. Used as
late July , and should be preffered over ringing and scoring treatments.

25. TRAINING
 Training helps to establish a strong frame work of scaffold limbs capable of
supporting heavy yield with quality fruits, regulate annual succession of crops
exposure of maximum leaf surface to sun, direct the growth of the trees so
that various cultural operations like spraying and harvesting become
economical, protect the tree from sunburn and promote early production.
 The plants are trained according to growth habit and vigour of the rootstocks.
 The standard trees are trained on modified central leader systems
 Spindle bush system is suitable for dwarf plants , high density planting under
mid hill conditions.

27. I. MODIFIED CENTRAL LEADER SYSTEM (The standard trees )
 The plants are pruned to 50–60cm above the ground at the time of planting
 During first year, 2–3 well-spaced scaffold limbs are selected with the lowest at 30cm above
the ground
 The selected primary scaffolds during summer are headed back to one-fourth to one-fifth of
the growth.
 A total of 5–7 secondary branches/tree usually two on each primary scaffold are also
selected in the second dormant pruning which are directed partially outward. The primary
scaffold should have the crotch angle of 45° with trunk. The proper crotch angle can be
developed by tying the branches with ropes or inserting the branch spreaders.
 Third year training consists of thinning out of unwanted branches and heading back others
to desirable side limbs. Secondary branches often develop spurs during third growing
season.

28.  By fourth year, training is largely completed. By this time, the proportional growth of
central leader and side scaffold branches should be attained which should be 1 : 1.5.
This will is favourable for proper spur development.

30. 2. SPINDLE BUSH/SLENDER SPINDLE (Dwarf plants)
 During first summer, 2–3 laterals, 30cm from the
base are selected to form main scaffold branches
 During first winter, 2–3 well-spaced laterals are
retained .The scaffold branches are headed back to
one-third to half of the length to a outward growing
bud if the growth is weak
 During August of second year, suitable laterals are
tied down to form more scaffold branches, it may
again be cut back to suitably placed weak growing
lateral which is trained to take the place of the
central leader.
 During subsequent winters, branches are allowed to
grow from central leader at regular intervals.

31. SPINDLE SYSTEM OF TRAINING

32. When trained as an espalier, apple trees can be
planted closer together than normal, allowing
multiple, healthy apple trees in a smaller space
(3*4) , and the branches can be trained to grow
in any direction or shape desired. Espalier
training limits the apple trees to a two
dimensional shape by pruning and attaching
shoots to a trellis. The trellis is constructed
from wire strung between two posts and should
last at least a decade to complete the training of
the branches
3. ESPALIER SYSTEM OF TRAINING

33. 4. CORDON SYSTEM OF TRANING
Cordon fruit trees are simply trees grown as a single stem, with all the fruit swelling on
short laterals immediately off this central stem. Cordons are normally grown at a 45-
degree angle for the simple reason that this increases the length of the stem, and hence
fruits, at picking height
5. PALMATTO SYSTEM OF TRAINING
The palmette was best-suited to medium-high planting densities (700-1100 trees/ha in
peach and 1500-2000 trees/ha in standard apple cultivars), with tree heights ranging
from 2.5 m (apples on weak rootstocks) to over 4 m (peach in fertile soils). Because the
Palmette system "squeezes" trees along the row, this system was not suitable for very
high planting densities
6. DWARF SYSTEM OF TRANING
7. HEAD SYSTEM OF TRANING

35. CORDON SYSTEM OF TRANING

36. ESPALIER SYSTEM OF TRAINING

38. PRUNNING
 Pruning is essential to maintain a proper balance between vegetative
growth and spur development.
 Proper pruning of weak and undesirable branches/twigs is necessary after
six years of plantation.
 The centre of the should be kept open in verities for the fruit colour

40. PRECAUTIONS IN PRUNING
 When a limb larger than 3cm in diameter is removed, the pruning cut should be made as
close as possible to the branch from which the limb arises without leaving a stub.
 Large pruning wounds should be protected with Bordeaux paste or Chaubattia paste to check
the entry of rot-causing fungi.
 In 1- or 2-year-old shoots, heading back can be done to promote growth of side shoots and
quick wound healing. In 3-year-old and older shoots, pruning should be shifted to thinning
out cuts to reduce vegetative growth and promote fruiting.
 The competing branches should be thinned out rather than headed back.

41. MANURE AND FERTILIZERS
•The manure and fertilizer requirement depend upon the soil fertility, age of tree, cultural
practices and crop load. .
•In the orchard of optimal fertility, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is applied in the ratio of
70:35:70 g per year age of apple tree and doses of these NPK fertilizers are stabilized at the age
of 10 years .
• For ten or more than ten year- apple tree, 100 kg FYM, 700 g N, 350 g P2O5 and 700 g K2O
should be given annually.
• FYM along with full dose of P2O5 and K2O is applied during December-January.
•Nitrogen is applied in two split doses. Half dose of N is applied one month before flowering
(March) and remaining half dose one month after fruit set.
•Fertilizers should be broadcasted in tree basins 30 cm away from the trunk.
•However, in very steep slopes and heavy rainfall areas band application of fertilizers is
recommended to avoid leaching and run off losses of fertilizers.
•For higher fertilizer use efficiency, soluble fertilizers can also be applied through drip irrigation

43. USE OF GROWTH REGULATORS:
Growth regulators plays a significant role in breaking seed dormancy and improving seed
germination, rooting in cuttings of clonal rootstocks, flowering fruit set, vegetative growth,
fruit size and shape, colour development, ripening and abscission and control of fruit drop
in apple. The role of these growth regulators are broadly described as:
Plant propagation: Growth regulators help in breaking seed dormancy and initiation of
rooting in cuttings of clonal rootstocks. GA3 at 100-200 ppm can overcome the
physiological dormancy and stimulate germination in seeds. Application of IBA at 2000
ppm and NAA @200 ppm helps in rooting in cuttings of clonal rootstocks.
Effect on growth: Growth regulators like auxin and GA3 helps in increasing the
vegetative growth, growth retardants like PP333 retard the growth of trees and help in
flower bud formation. Foliar spray of PP333 @ 500 to 1000 ppm reduces the vegetative
growth of apple trees. Application of 250 ppm GA3 stimulate the vegetative growth but
also enhances alternate bearing phenomenon.

44. Effect on fruit set and yield: In apple there is a problem of fruit setting in marginal and
warm areas. Application of triacontanol (20 ppm), miraculan (0.6 ml/L), Paras 0.6 ml/L
or Biozyme at 2ml/ L sprayed at bud swell and petal fall stages helps in improving fruit
set and yield in Delicious apple.
Fruit drop: The problem of pre-harvest fruit drop is more severe in early maturing
cultivars, where 40-60% of fruit drops. The pre-harvest dropping is mainly because of
hormonal imbalance and can be controlled with the application of 10 ppm NAA, (1 ml
of Planofix in 4.5 L of water) one week before the expected fruit drop.
Fruit thinning: Many cultivars like Red Gold , Starking Delicious and Golden Delicious
are prone to bear heavily resulting in smaller, low quality fruits thus promote biennial
bearing cycle. The application of 10-20 ppm NAA, 7-15 days after petal fall is most
effective for fruit thinning and to maintain regular production of good size and quality
fruits.

45. Improvement of fruit shape: In apple market price depends upon the size and shape
having well developed calyx lobes especially in Delicious Group apples. Application
of promalin 30-60 ppm (GA3+7 + cytokinin) at pea stage helps to improves the shape
of the apple fruits.
Improvement of fruit colour and maturity: Apple surface colour development is
greatly hampered in low lying apple growing areas due to warmer conditions. Fruits
with poor colour fetch low prices. Application of ethrel (2- chloro ethyl phosphonic
acid) @ 1200 ppm a..i. or 4.5 ml ethrel/ litre of water + 25 ppm NAA improves
surface red colour in apple.

46. Elements Chemical & Dose Time of Spray
N Urea, 5.0% Pre-petal fall
Ca Ca Cl2, 0.5% 30-45 days before harvest
Zn ZnSO4, 0.5% After petal fall
Mn Mn SO4, 0.4% After petal fall
B H3 BO3, 0.1% Before bloom and after
bloom
CORRECTIVE MEASURES FOR NUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES
IN APPLE

47. IRRIGATION
• The most critical periods of water
requirement is April to July, when flowering,
fruit set , fruit growth and development
occurs.
• The rain water should be harvested and
collected in water storage tanks and used for
irrigation particularly during critical periods
of water requirement.
• Drip irrigation method saves more than 50
per cent irrigation water and can be adopted
in water scarce areas.

48. WEEDING
• Clean basin management system.
• The basin of trees are kept clean and free from weeds either by hand weeding, use
of mulches and weedicides application of glyphosate @ 800 ml./ha. or
Gammaxone /Paraquat (0.5% ) as post emergence herbicide suppresses weed
growth for 4-5 months
• About 6-8 irrigations at 7-10 days interval should be given during April to July in
Apple.
• Besides irrigation, tree basins should be mulched with hay or black polythene in
the month of March

49. MULCHING
• In bearing orchard, mulching of basin area of trees with 10 cm thick
layers of hay or black alkathene
• . Sod grasses like white clover, red clover, orchard grass and rye grass
are grown in the vacant area between the trees.
• . Spray of simazine at the rate of 4 kg/ha in March, followed by two
sprays of glyphosate @ 800 ml/ha at monthly intervals in July and
August
INTERCROPPING
• Green manuring crops viz. sunflower and bean may be cultivated in the early years of
plantation in order to improve soil texture and nutrient status of soil. In the initial years
of plantation, the intercrops like peas, beans, cabbage, cauliflower and ginger.
• Green manuring crops like bean, peas and gram

50. MULCHING

51. INTERCROPPING

52. FRUIT DROP
• Apple bloom profusely, but a small percentage of flower will
mature into fruit.
• Most of the flowers fall soon after full boom with small
amount dropping later.
• In most of the commercial varieties 40 to 60 per cent fruit
drop occurs.
• (1) Early Drop is a natural and occurs due to lack of
pollination after petal fall to three weeks later. This drop can
be controlled by assuring effective pollination and placement
of bee hives and planting of more pollinizer varieties in the
orchard.

53. • (2) June Drop is a major drop which is caused by moisture stress. This drop can be
controlled with the application of irrigation water and mulching of tree basins.
(3) Pre-Harvest Drop occurs before harvesting of fruits and caused economic
loss to farmers, which is due to reduction in levels of auxins and increase in
ethylene in the fruit. Application of 10 ppm NAA 20-25 days before harvest
checks this drop
Foliar application of nutrients (MANAGEMENT):-
• The micro-nutrients particularly boron, zinc, iron and manganese are essential for
normal growth of plant and their deficiency is frequently observed in apple.
• It can be corrected by two foliar sprays of ZnSO4 (0.5%) and boric acid (0.01%)
before flowering and in MayJune.

54. .
FRUIT DROP

55. FRUIT THINNING
• Heavy bearing in apple during on year, results in small sized and poor quality fruits.
Therefore, judicious thinning at proper stage of fruit development (pea stage) is must to
regulate cropping and improving fruit size and quality.
• The thinning can be achieved either manually or with the use of growth regulators.
• Removal of fruit lets by hand thinning is very laborious and uneconomical.
Chemical thinning with foliar spray of 20 ppm Nepthalene acetic acid (NAA)at petal fall.

56. Causes of Low productivity
1. Climatic factors:
• The low temperature at the time of flowering and fruit setting adversely affects
production of fruits.
• The areas most vulnerable to the influence of low temperature are located
between 5000 to 6000 feet elevation where good spring season with adequate
sunshine promote apple flowering during mid March to mid April
• Fluctuating temperature during this period particularly rains accompanied by
low temperature inhibits the cross pollination due to restricted bees activity and
washing off pollen and poor pollen tube growth.
• It is well established that the flowers are killed below 2.20C and bee activity is
completely inhibited below 4.4oC.
6/26/2018 5:16:49 PM

57. The predominant varieties like Starking Delicious, Red Delicious, Rich-a-red and
certain improved bud sports and spur types are self unfruitful and require cross
pollination for fruitfulness.
Moreover, these varieties have strong tendency of alternate bearing ,which is also one
of the reasons for low production during the off years.
2. Varietals factors:
In Himachal Pradesh, 25 to 33 per cent proportion of pollinizing varieties in orchards
is recommended for adequate fruit set.
But an actual proportion of these varieties are only 5-10 per cent.
The problem is further compounded due to predominance of Golden Delicious as a
pollinizing variety, which does not synchronize in flowering of the Delicious varieties
in many agro climatic situations, and strong tendency of alternate bearing.
3. Inadequate pollinizer:

58. Honey bees are the major agents besides other wild pollinators for effective pollination in
apple.
Over the years the populations of honey bees and other pollinators have declined due to
indiscriminate use of pesticides.
Placement of honeybees in the orchards has also not picked up due to scarcity of beehives.
Apple cultivation is mostly done on the slopes which poses serious problem of water and
nutrient losses.
Frequent dry spells during April-June and September –November make the nutrients
unavailable to the plants even if applied adequately in the soil.
4. Lack of pollinators:
5. Inadequate nutrition:-

59. 6. Poor soil conditions:-
In orchards which are planted on the slopes, run off losses render the soils nutritionally
and structurally poor.
In many orchards, soils which do not have adequate drainage, temporary water logging
conditions develop during the rainy season killing feeder roots and temporarily restricting
the uptake of the nutrients.
All these factors adversely affect the plant health and productivity.
Dependence of the orchardists on hired pruners is increasing day by day.
The plants are not properly trained and pruned by these untrained pruners resulting in
poor canopy development.
7 Poor canopy management
8. Senile orchards:
Orchards more than 40 years of age face the problem of unfruitfulness more seriously
than the young orchards

60. The number of disease has been found affecting the apple orchards.
The most serious among these is apple scab
Besides apple scab others diseases are premature leaf fall, root rot, color rot, replant
problem.
Powdery mildew, cankers and viruses. Most of the pollinizing cultivar like golden Delicious
and Red Gold have been found to be higher susceptible to scab.
9. Pathological factors:
The magnititude of pest in incidence varies from region to region and orchard to orchards.
Aphid is most dominant one affecting 82 per cent orchards followed by San Jose Scale
(71%),blossom trips (70%),European mite (62%), apple leaf roller(43%) root borer(26%)
stem borer(9%),defoliating beetle(6%) and hairy cater pillar (5%).
10. Entomological factors:

61. LIFE CYCLE OF APPLE FRUIT CROP

62. HARVESTING AND YIELD
 The orchard start bearing from 8th and the economic life of an apple tree exceeds
upto 30 years.
 The level of productivity varies form elevation to elevation.
Production stage extends up to even forty years depending upon agroclimatic condition.
 Apple being a climacteric fruit, the maturity period does not coincide with
ripening.
 The fruits are usually harvested before they are fully ripe.
 Harvesting of fruit is done in such a way that bruising and stem puncture are
avoided and pedicel must retain with fruit.
The average yield of different apple varieties in the state of Uttaranchal is very low (5-6
tonnes/ha.) as compared to that in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir which is around
11-13 tonnes/ha.

63. • The maturity indices like days
from full bloom to harvest,
• change of ground colour of fruit
from green to yellow to pale,
• TSS of fruit pulp, ease of
separation of fruit from spur,
• change of seed colour to light
brown and fruit firmness are used
singly or in combination.
MATURITY INDICES
 colour change, starch index should be 1-
2.(starch iodine test)

65. HAND HARVESTING
HARVESTING
METHOD
Mechanical harvesting
Harvesting by
ladder
HARVE
STED
FRUITS
OF
APPLE

66. POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY
Harvesting
Precooling
Grading
(as AAA, AA and A; A,B,C; or extra fancy, fancy class I and fancy class II.)
Storage
(4-8 months kept in cold storage at a temp. 1.10 to 00 C and 85-90% RH.)

67. Packing
(10 or 20 kg fruits were packed in wooden boxes or Corrugated fiber board
cartons)
.
Transportation
marketing

68. GRADING AND PACKING:-
The fruits are graded according to fruit size and fruit appearance like colour and shape.
On the basis of size, the apple fruits are graded manually or by mechanical grades as:
• On the bases of fruit colour shape, quality and appearance fruits are graded as AAA, AA,
and A.
• The quality of fruits during transportation, storage and marketing are influenced by the
packing. Usually, apples are packed in telescopic corrugated fibre board (CFB) cartons.
• The usual dimensions of telescopic CFB carton with trays are 50.4 x 30.3 x 28.2 cm
(outer jacket) 50 x 30 x
28.2 cm (inner case).
• The each layer of fruit in carton is separated by a fruit trays which are different for
different size grades.

71. PREPARED PRODUCT FROM APPLE

73. CONSTRAINT IN APPLE CULTIVATION
 Large number of old orchards (more than 30 years old) are showing decline in terms of
growth and fruit yield.
 choice of wrong pollinizers and their inadequacy in number often result to low
productivity.
 The need for injecting new blood into the apple industry through spread of new cultivars
(spur types, color mutants, strains of Gala, Red Fuji; scab resistant cultivars, bud sport
selections of Royal Delicious, and some of the promising hybrids) is urgently felt.
 The low chilling cultivars and promising cultivars identified need further spread.
 Technologies like use of clonal rootstocks, introduction of renewal pruning techniques
and micro nutrient applications have not been transferred and adopted at a satisfactory
level.
 The water and fertilizer use efficiency is generally poor. Also, spring frost and hailstorms
are adverse weather parameters leading to low productivity
 Apple scab disease has been the major plant protection problem in apple

74.  in apple for which biological and serological indexing/detection procedures have
been developed.
 . Limited quantity of virus-free budwood is also being supplied.
 Extreme care is now required to be taken to multiply quality planting material (in
apple alone approximately 2 million plants/year) for establishing new plantations
 Most of the orchardists still sell their crop at flowering to contractors as there is no
well organized marketing system
 . Transportation in the hills itself is problematic
 . Post-harvest management problems originating from poor harvesting (strip picking)
and improper packing system (non CFB boxes) and lack of proper pre-cooling and
cold storage facilities result in huge (25-30%) loss of fruits ,. Capacity of the
processing sector is also inadequate.
 . The existing processing units are quite old and they require modernization for
which substantial investment is required.

75. FUTURE THRUST IN APPLE
Both North-West and North-Eastern regions of India offer large areas ideally
suitable for cultivation of apple.
Widening the Cultivar Base
 Scientific water management and practicing proper training and pruning of trees
including introduction of renewal pruning techniques, will make significant impact
on increased production .
 There is immense scope for increasing various processed products of apple. u For
rapid multiplication of germplasm tissue culture method can be adopted u Govt
should help for loan and marketing to encourage farmer.

76.  REFERENCE:
Fruit production (major fruit crops) – R.R Sharma, Hare Krishna
Handbook of horticulture – K.L Chandra
https://www.slideshare.net/manasicar/apple-cultivation?from_action=save
University notes.