Apple 🍎🍏

1. Botanical Name : Malus domestica Borkh.
Family : Rosaceae
Subfamily : Pomoideae
Origin : South West Asia
Apple

2. Taxonomic classification of apple
Order = Rosales
Family = Rosaceae
Sub-family = Pomoideae
Genus = Malus
Species = domestica
Basic chromosome 2n=17

3. Botany
 Deciduous, rarely evergreen trees or shrubs are rarely with spiny
branches.
 Leaves – Oval or elliptic to broad ovate, bluntly serrated, glossy above
and pubescent below.

4.  Flowers – White to pink in cymes.
 Stamens – 15-50 with usually yellow anthers.
 Ovary – Inferior, 3-5 celled.
 Fruit – Pome.

5. Introduction
 The Apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) is grown in areas where winter
are cold, springs are frost free, summer is mild.
 The genus Malus has 25 species.
 In India, it was introduced by Captain Lee in 1865 in Kullu Valley of
Himachal Pradesh.

6. Composition and Uses
 High in Vitamin C and Fibre Content.
 Low in calories and the pectin they
contain will reduce the cholesterol level in
blood.
 They act as a kind of natural tooth-
brushing while massaging the gums and
sweetening mouth and breath.

7. Origin and Distribution
 Originated in the Caucasus mountains of South-Western Asia.
 In India, Apple is grown on commercial scale in Jammu and
Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand .
 It is also cultivated on limited scale in North-Eastern states like
Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur
and Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu.

8. Different Species In Apple
M. floribunda (Flowering Crab)
It is native of Japan. These are small and thorny. Flowering are highly
ornamental, red colour. Fruit are small and red in colour.

9. M. baccata (Siberian crab)
It grows wild from Siberia to Manchuria and the Himalayan region.
Spreading tree, flowers white and showy. Fruit yellow or red, firm and
translucent.

10. M. coronaria (American Crab apple)
Tree are small, bushy and thorny. Flower are large with persistent calyx.
Fruits are greenish yellow, fragrant and waxy.

11. M. angustifolia (Narrow Leaved Crab Apple)
It is distributed from Pennsylvania to Tennessee and Florida. Leaves are
small, narrow and lanceolate. Flowers are pink in colour, fruit small.

12. M. ioensis
Trees are small, flowers large. Fruit are green with light coloured spot.
M. soulardii
This is a natural hybird of M. sylvestris and M. ioensis. Trees are small.
Fruit are with good aroma

13. M. orientalis : Late keeping bitter fruits
M. sylvestris : Small, astringent, greenish yellow fruits
M. baccata : Hardy
M. mandshurica : Manchurian crab
M. prunifolia : Larger Chinese crab

14. M. domestica – cultivated apple

15. M. prunifolia

16. M. pumila

17. M. sylvestris

18. Important Cultivars (North Indian Hills)
Himachal Pradesh
Starking Delicious, Starcrimson Delicious, Rich-a-Red, Red Delicious,
Red Gold, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Amber, Gold Spur, Tropical
Beauty.
Jammu and Kashmir
Irish Peach, Cox’S Orange Pippin, Ambri, Golden Delicious, Red
Delicious.
Uttar pradesh
Early Shanburry, Fanny Golden Delicious, McIntosh, Red Delicious.

19. Tamil Nadu Hills
Early Varieties (April- May)
Irish Peach, Coonoor-3.
Mid Season (June- July)
Carrington, Winterstein.
Late Season (Aug- Sep)
Rome Beauty, Parlin’s Beauty and Kodaikanal Beauty.

20. Varieties Parentage Important characters
Jammu and Kashmir
Lal Ambri Red Delicious X Ambri Ambri with red colour
Sunehri Ambri X Golden delicious Ambri with golden delicious
Himachal Pradesh
Ambred Red Delicious X Ambri 57 Keeping quality good,low incidence
of powdery mildew, sooty blotch
and scab
Ambstarking Starking Delicious X Ambri 81 Tolerant to scab
Ambroyal Starking Delicious X Ambri 84 Semi – dwarf tree, semi spur type,
good dessert quality, tolerant to
scab
Ambrich Richared X Ambri 15 Semi- dwarf tree, semi spur type,
good dessert quality, tolerant to
scab
Uttar Pradesh
Chaubattia princess Red Delicious X Early Shanbury Early (ripens in last week of june),
fruit wilt deep red steaks on pale
background, very sweet and good
keeping quality.
Important apple hybrids developed in India

33. Low Chilling Cultivars
 Michal
 Schlomit
 Anna
 Tamma
 Vered
 Neomi
 Tropical Beauty
 Parlin’s Beauty

34. Scab Resistant Cultivars
 Prima
 Priscilla
 Sir Prize
 Jonafree
 Florina
 Macfree
 Nova Easy Grow
 Coop 12
 Coop 13 (Redfree)
 Nova Mac
 Liberty
 Freedom

35. Soil & Climate
 Apple can normally be grown in areas which experience 800-1600
chilling hours below 70 C. Available at an elevation ranging from 1600-
2300 m above MSL. For low chilling cultivars 250 hrs.
 In South India, Chilling hours are below 500 – ‘Warm winter Climate’.
 During fruit growth – long day hours required.
 Warm days 12-150 C and Cool nights – 7-8 0 C – favour production of
quality fruits in large quantities.

36.  Well drained, slightly acidic, sandy loam to sandy clay loam soil or red
laterite soil with good depth (1.6 m), pH – 5.5-6.5 is ideal.
 No hard substrata and water logged condition. Sunshine for colour
development.

37. Propagation
 Propagated through Grafting/ Budding.
 Selection of right type of rootstock is important.
 The Rootstock for Apple can be of 2 broad categories
1) Seedling rootstock – Usually raised from the seeds of crab apple or
commercial cultivars after stratification.
2) Clonal rootstock – Multiplied through clonally by mound or stool
layering.
Seedling rootstocks do not impart uniformity and are susceptible to wolly
aphid infestation. Hence clonal rootstocks are more popular.

38.  The East Malling Research Station (EMRS), England selected and
developed a series of apple rootstock Malling Stock (M) in 1912.
 These rootstocks have a wide choice of tree vigour .
Dwarfing – M 9, M 27
Semi dwarfing – M 2 and
Vigorous rootstock - M 12, but they are susceptible to wolly aphids.
 Hence John Innes Horticultural Institute, Merton in collaboration with
EMRS started releasing Wolly aphid resistant stocks – Malling Merton
(MM) stocks. Important among them are MM 104, 106, 109, 778, 779,
Northern spy.
 M 7, MM 106 – tolerant to below freezing.

39. Wolly Aphid

40.  Tamil Nadu – Whip and Tongue method.
 North Indian Hills – Budding and Tongue grafting.
 One year old grafts are suitable for planting in the main field

41. Tongue grafting
 February-March is the ideal time.
 One year old seedling R/S or clonal R/S.
 Scion grafted 15-20 cm above ground level.
 Graft union – 4-6 weeks.
 While planting graft union kept 20 cm above ground level to avoid collar
rot and scion rooting.

42. Main Field Preparation
 Pits – 60×60×60 cm both TN and Northern hills.
 Dug well in advance of planting. Manures (10 kg), P2O5 (0.45 kg/pit).
 Spacing – 4m in TN and 6.0 to 7.5 m in Northern India for semi- vigorous
and vigorous cultivars.
 For HDP, a spacing of 1.5 to 3.0 m is recommended.
 The grafted plants are planted during June- July under South Indian hills.
 While in the North it is planted during Dec- March.

43. Irrigation
 For successful apple growing more than 50 – 60 cm of precipitation
through out the growing season is necessary.
 Soil moisture is inadequate - young grafts planted provided with regular
irrigation till the plants establish.
 Drip irrigation is increasingly used in most of the apple orchards where
higher yields are obtained.
 Critical stage of water requirement – after fruit set
 Summer months – 7-10 days interval
 Drip irrigation – 1,700 litres of water/tree/season – high water use
efficiency
 Conventional system – 3,800 litres/tree/season

44. Manures & Fertilizers
 TN – 250 g N, 1 kg P, 1 kg K per bearing tree.
 HP - 10 year old tree – 700:350:700 g NPK/tree.
 Fertilizers applied in tree basins 30 cm away from tree trunk
 FYM – 10 kg/tree every year.
 Time of application – Oct- Nov (South Indian conditions).
 In North, P and K – applied during Dec-Jan and half dose of N during
2-3 weeks before flowering (Feb-Mar) and second dose one month
after the first application.

45. Micro nutrients
 Deficiencies of Zinc – Spray Zinc sulphate 0.5 % (May- June).
 Boron – Boric acid 0.1 % (June).
 Manganese – Manganese sulphate 0.4 % (June) .
 Zn, B and Mn - 1-2 spray at 5 days interval.
 Calcium – Calcium chloride 0.5 % (Jun-July) – 2 spays at 15 days
interval.

46. Training
 In Tamil Nadu hills, the plants are allowed to grow to a height of 60-70 cm
by removing the side shoots and then trained to Open center system.
 In the North, they predominantly trained to Modified leader system or
spindle bush system.

47. Pruning
 Done during winter months.
 Bear fruit buds on past season growth called ‘spur’.
 Permanent fruit spurs obtained on laterals by heading back the leader
every year.
 Cut upward growing limbs back to get strong laterals.
 Remove crowding branches.
 Remove dead, broken and diseased wood.
 Remove all water sprouts and criss cross branches.
 Divert branches to open areas by pruning to desirable laterals.

48. Pollination and Pollinizers
 Some delicious group apple varieties will not set fruit unless cross-
pollinated with certain other compatible varieties.
 Adequate number of pollinizer should be given to ensure cross-
pollination.
 Pollinizers are planted depending on climatic conditions.

49. Cross pollination and Fruit set improved by
 Planting atleast 25 to 33 per cent of pollinizers.
 Placement of 5 to 6 honey bees colonies per hectare.
 Top working of 2-4 shoots of commercial varieties with pollinizers.
 Placement of bouquets.

50. New Pollinizers
 Tydeman’s Early Worcestor
 Red Gold
 Golden Delicious
 Mc Intosh
 Lord Lambourne
 Winter Banana
 Granny Smith
 Starkspur Golden
 Golden Spur

51. Harvest & Yield
 Climacteric fruit.
 Can be harvested based on TSS,
 Ease in separation of fruit from spur,
 Change in ground surface colour from green to pale,
 Fruit firmness and Days From Full Bloom to Harvest (DFFB).
 Hand picked carefully and placed softly in the baskets.
 Transferred to packing houses from grading and packing
 Yield – 100-150 t/ha in medium density planting