Production technology of Apple

1. Production Technology of Apple

2. Taxonomy
Botanical name : Malus domestica
Family : Rosaceae
Origin : Central Asia
Chromosome No. : 2n = 34

3. Apple is a pomaceous fruit.
 The word pome comes from the French word pomme (which means
apple).
 In India, apple was introduced by Captain Lee in 1865 in Kullu Valley
of Himachal Pradesh.
 Later on, red coloured Delicious group varieties were introduced at
Kotgarh in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh in 1917 by American
Missionary Mr. Satya Nand Stokes.

4.  Largest producer – China
 In India, largest producer – Jammu & Kashmir- (17.19 lakh tonnes)
 Max. Area – Himachal Pradesh (Apple Bowl of India) -1.14 lakh ha
 Total Area - 3.13 lakh hectares
 Total Production - 24.37 lakh tonnes

5.  Apple is the most important temperate fruit of the North
Western Himalayan region in India.
 It is predominantly grown in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh and hills of Uttar Pradesh, accounting for about 90% of
the total production.

6.  Its cultivation has also been extended to Arunachal
Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, and Meghalaya in north-eastern region
and Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu.
 The agro climatic conditions in these states are not as conducive
as in north-western Himalayan region.
 Early and continuous rains from April onwards do not favour the
production of quality fruits, besides resulting in high incidence of
diseases.

7.  The genus Malus comprises about 30 species.
 East Asia is particularly rich in species.
 Many are diploid (2n = 2x = 34) and self-incompatible,
i.e. resemble, in these features, their wild progenitors.
 Under domestication, triploid (2n=3x=51) and
tetraploid (2n = 4x = 68) self-compatible apple clones
have evolved as well.

8. The wild ancestors of Malus domestica are Malus sieversii, found
growing wild in the mountains of Central Asia in southern
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and China, and possibly also
Malus sylvestris.

9. Crab apples (Malus floribunda) are popular as compact ornamental
trees, providing blossom in Spring and colourful fruit in Autumn.
The fruits often persist throughout winter.
Some crab apples are used as rootstocks for domestic apples to add
beneficial characteristics.
For example, varieties of Baccata, also called Siberian crab, rootstock is
used to give additional cold hardiness to the combined plant for
orchards in cold northern areas.
They are also used as pollinizers in apple orchards.

10. Malus floribunda- Crab apple

11. Malus baccata Malus prunifolia
Malus pumila Malus sylvestris

12. Nutriments
 Apples are rich in pectin and are useful in cure of diarrhoea.
 Apple murabba, a preserve popular in India, is regarded as a
stimulant for the heart: it is reported to relieve physical heaviness
and mental strain.
 The vitamins, salts and organic acids are concentrated particularly in
and just below the skin and the fruit should be eaten unpadded.
 Apple is considered a good source of potassium.
 The edible portion of fresh apples contains Ca, Mg, K, Na, P, CI, S
and Fe. The mineral constituents of the apple are considered
valuable for human nutrition.

14. Uses
 Apples are valued mainly as desert fruits.
 Fruits may be preserved for later use after slicing and hand-
drying, they are also canned, and jams and jellies are made
from them.
 The juice extracted from the fruits is used fresh or after
fermentation into cider, wine and vinegar; apple brandy is
obtained by distilling cider.

15. Leaves are alternately arranged, simple oval with an acute tip and
serrated margin, slightly downy below, 5-12 cm long and 3-6 cm broad
on a 2-5 cm petiole.
Blossoms are generally pinkish.
There are five petals, five carpels and many stamens.
The centre of the fruit contains five carpels arranged star-like, each
carpel containing one or two (rarely three) seeds.
The main edible part of an apple is actually juicy receptacle of a
flower i.e., thalamus.
Botanical Description

16.  Thalamus refers to the thickened part in the stem of the flower.
 It is also known as the receptacle or torus.
 It is located at the stalk of the flower.

17. Fruit

18. Why Fresh Cut Apples Turns Brown?
Fresh cut apples turn brown when iron-containing chemicals
inside apple cells react with oxygen in the air.
We see this every day when iron objects rust, or when scabs
on cuts turn brown.
The chemical reaction is called "oxidation", and the enzyme
that regulates oxidation in apples is called "polyphenol
oxidase" (PPO), also known as "tyrosinase".
OXIDATION

19. In India
Large no. of Apple varieties were introduced in 1887 in the
orchard called Hillock Head, in Mashobra, Shimla, HP.
Later it was introduced in Bangalore and Nilgiris and it was
destroyed by woolly aphids in 1897.

20. Climatic requirements
 The apple plant is essentially suited to regions which have a
low winter temperature, attended by snowfall.
 It requires considerable chilling to check the rest period and
induce the opening of buds in spring.
 If the winters are not sufficiently cold, blossoming as well as
fruiting are insufficient and uneven.

21. More chilling for normal growth.
Very low temp, during bud rest favours better crop production.
Temperate types requires 1000 -1500 hours of uninterrupted
chilling below 70C for winter rest.
After bud break, during the growth, long day hours with high
light intensity is required.
For optimum growth and fruiting, temperature of 21.1 to 26.7
0C is needed.

22.  Elevation of 1500 to 2700 m above mean sea level
(Himalayan ranges).
 The areas with frost free spring and adequate sunshine
during summer, without wide fluctuations in temperature
are most suitable for apple cultivation.

23.  Low temperature, rains and cloudy weather during flowering
period hamper the bee activity, affects cross pollination
adversely.
 Dry winds during summer desiccate flowers and hampers bee
activity, resulting in poor fruit set.
 Well distributed rainfall of 100 to 125 cm through out the
growing season is most favourable for its optimal growth and
fruitfulness.
 Long drought spells during fruit development and excessive
rains and foggy conditions at fruit maturity hamper fruit size
and quality.

24. Soil
 Apple thrives best in loamy soils, which are rich in organic
matter.
 A soil pH between 6.0 to 6.5 with good drainage and
aeration are considered most suitable.
 The soil should be deep, fertile and free from hard
substrates and waterlogged conditions.

25. Propagation
Apple is propagated by asexual methods.
Budding(Shield budding) Grafting (Whip and Tongue grafting)

26. Rootstocks
(1) Seedling rootstocks
 Seedling rootstocks are vigorous and not uniform in size.
Seeds of crab apple (Malus baccata) or self pollinizing varieties
like Golden Delicious and Granny Smith are used for raising
seedling rootstocks.

27. (2) Clonal rootstocks
Clonal rootstocks are precocious, uniform and resistant to some insect
pests and diseases.
In recent years, size controlling clonal rootstocks are gaining popularity
especially for establishment of high density.
Rootstock Characters
Dwarfing M9 Suitable for HDP in flat and irrigated
areas only
Semi-dwarf M4, M7, MM106,
M24
HDP, Resistant to woolly aphids
Semi-vigorous MM111, M104 Drought tolerant and resistant to wooly
aphids
Vigorous Merton 793 Early fruit, resistant to wooly aphids
and collar rot
Ultra dwarf M27 Suitable for HDP

28.  MM series (Malling Merton) released from East Malling
Research Station (EMRS), Kent, England and John Innes
Institutes, England.
 Malling series (M) rootstocks are size controlling but not
resistant to woolly apple aphid.
 All rootstocks of MM series are size controlling and resistant
to woolly apple aphid.
 East Malling Long Ashton (EMLA)
series of rootstock is resistant to viruses.

30. Rootstock Special characteristics
Seedling rootstock- Crab
apple
Ornamental purpose
Geneva 41 Dwarf rootstock(HDP),highly resistant to fire
blight and Phytophthora.
G16 Dwarfing rootstock, resistant to fire blight
(alternative to M 9)
G935 Winter hardy, highly resistant to fire blight and
Phytophthora (alternative to M 26)
Northern Spy Resistant to woolly aphids
Bud.490,B.491,B.9,Ottawa.3,
Polish.2,P.22
Cold hardy
MM106, M7, MM104 Frost tolerant rootstock
M7, M16, M25, MM109 High temperature tolerant

31. Varieties of Apples
7000 varieties of apple, but only 100 are commercially grown in
the United States of America:
 Fuji
 Golden Delicious and Red Delicious
 Braeburn
 Rome Beauty
 Jonagold
 Winesap
 Mc Intosh
 Granny Smith

32. DIPLOIDS TRIPLOIDS
Plenty of pollens Low pollens
Self fruitful Self unfruitful
Yellow Delicious, Jonathan Baldwin, Tropical Beauty, Rome Beauty,
Ambri, Sunheri, Ambstarking, Ambroyal,
Ambrich, Chaubattia Princess,
Chaubattia Anupam, Ambred Red
No Pollinizers required Diploids are used as Pollinizers (Golden
Delicious & Red Gold)

33. Cultivar Origin
Gala group New Zealand
Elstar group Golden Delicious x Ingrid Marie,
Netherlands
Delicious group Seedling, USA
Golden group Golden Reinette x Grime Golden, USA
Reinette group Ancient cultivar, unknown origin
Jonagold group Delicious x Jonathan, USA
Braeburn group Seedling, New Zealand
Granny Smith group Seedling from French Crab, Australia
Fuji Group Seedling from Ralls Janet x Red Delicious,
Japan
Introduction

34. Red Delicious

35. Golden Delicious Mc Intosh
Granny smith Cox orange pippin
Pink Lady

39. Clonal selection
KKL 1
Clonal selection made from Parlin’s Beauty.
Adapted very well to warm winter conditions.
Fruits available during July - August
Ripened fruits are in attractive yellow in colour with crimson red.
Yield – 22t/ha

40. Varieties Parentage Important characters
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
Important apple hybrids developed in India

42. Jammu &
Kashmir
Lal Ambri Red Delicious X
Ambri
Red Colour fruits
Sunehri Ambri X Golden
Delicious
Ambri with colour of
Golden Delicious
Akbar Ambri X Cox’s
Orange Pippin
Good fruit quality
Firdous Golden Delicious X
Rome Beauty X
Malus floribunda
Scab resistance
Shireen Lord Lam Bourne X
Melba X R-
1274078
Scab resistance

44. Akbar
Firdous Shireen

45. Uttar Pradesh
Chaubattia
Princess
Red Delicious X Early
Shanbury
Early (ripens in last week of
June), fruit with deep red streaks
on pale background, very sweet
and good keeping quality.
Chaubattia
Anupam
Red Delicious X Early
Shunberry
Ripen second week of July, fruit
skin with shiny red streaks with
blush on pale background

46. Scab resistant cultivars

49. Varieties
The varieties with warm winter resistance with low chilling
requirements alone are suitable to the hills of Tamil Nadu.
Early varieties
These varieties bears yield during April – May.
Irish Peach and Zouches Pippin are popular early varieties.
Mid season varieties
These varieties bears yield during June – July.
The popular mid season varieties are Carrington and Winterstein.
Late varieties
These varieties bears yield during August – September.
Rome Beauty, Parlin’s Beauty and KKL 1 are late varieties.

50. Irish Peach Carrington
Winterstein
Rome Beauty

51. Planting and planting density
 The best time of planting of apple is January - February.
 The planting distance varies according to variety, rootstock and fertility
status of soil.
 Before planting, orchard layout should be planned.
 In flat land, square or hexagonal system of layout is adopted, whereas
in slopy land, contour and terrace system of layout is done.
 After layout of an orchard, the pits of 1x1x1 m size are dug well in
advance of planting.
 Apple is normally planted at a spacing of 4 x 4 m.

52.  The pits are filled at least one month before planting with soil, in
which 40-50 kg well rotten FYM and 1 kg single super phosphate
are mixed.
 After planting, watering is done and tree basins are mulched
with 10 cm thick dry grass, which helps in conserving the soil
moisture and control the weed population.
 In apple, most of the varieties are self unfruitful, therefore, at
the time of planting, proper proportion of pollinizer varieties
(25 or 33%) should be planted in the orchard.

57. Training and Pruning
 Training is done to shape or build a strong framework of the trees in
order to support maximum crop when plant reaches bearing stage.
 The plants are trained according to growth habit and vigour of the
root stocks.
 In India, the apple trees are trained to modified leader system with
3-5 main branches and a clear trunk of 1.0 to 1.5m.
 After completion of training in 4-5 years, with proper pruning the
branches of the tree should make an extension growth of 25 to 50 cm
every year to maintain a balance between vegetative growth and fruit
production.

62. Espalier system of training
Cordon system

65. Pruning
 The objective of pruning is to maintain a proper balance between
vegetative growth and spur development.
 The training is completed during initial 4-5 years after planting
of plant, but pruning is continued after training throughout the
life of tree.
 Thinning out and heading back are two basic components.
 The pruning consists of thinning out of all upright laterals and those
growing inside the trees and heading back of leaders and laterals.
 In apple, the fruit in obtained not only on spurs but also on fruit buds
on young laterals.
 Therefore, pruning should be done in such a way that continuous
supply of new, healthy shoots, spurs and branches are maintained.

67.  Some apple trees bear fruit on short crooked growth called
spurs.
 These spurs bear for several years.
 Such spurs should be pruned to encourage vegetative
growth and new spur development in only when they
stopped bearing fruits.
 Pruning is done when the plants are dormant i.e. in the
month of December-January.

68. BRANCHES TO BE PRUNED
UN PRUNED BRANCHES

73. Pollination and Pollinizers
 Most of apple varieties are self unfruitful and cannot produce fruit if
fertilized by their own pollen and thus require some compatible cultivars for
cross pollination and good fruit set.
 Apple trees produce abundant bloom, but fail to set fruit especially under
adverse climatic conditions due to lack of pollination.
 Inadequate fruit set often results from a failure during the pollination
period, which is associated with pollen production, transfer and
germination, pollen tube development or fertility of the ovule.
 Sterility and incompatibility are two main causes of unfruitfulness in apple.

74.  The commercial cultivars Red Delicious, Royal Delicious, Top
Red, Vance Delicious, Red Chief and Oregon Spur are
self incompatible.
 The Red Delicious needs a pollination partner. Gala, Fuji,
Yellow Delicious, Granny Smith, or Crabapple for best
pollination.
 Low temperature, rainfall and cloudy weather at flowering
time adversely affect the bee activity, transfer of pollen to
stigma, pollen germination, and ultimately result in poor fruit
set.

75.  The cross pollination and fruit set in apple can be
improved by
 planting at least 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 flower bouquets of pollinizers.

78. Bud burst and flowering

81. DORMANT BUD
BUD SWELLING
GREEN TIPS
HALF GREEN
LEAFLESS
Stages of flowering

82. HALF INCH
GREEN LEAFS
GREEN BUTTON
PINK BUTTON
FLOWERING
FULL BLOOM

83. END OF
FLOWERING
PETAL FALL
FRUIT SET
GREEN FRUIT
RIPENED FRUIT

84. Stages of fruit set and development

85. Flowering trees

86. Flowering tree

87. Flowers

88. Manures and fertilizers
 The first application should be made at the time of filling of pits.
 The fertilizer dose depends upon soil fertility, type of soil, kind and age of
trees, cultural practices, climate and crop load.
 In an orchard of optimal fertility, N, P and K may be applied in the ratio
70:30:70 g/year age of the tree.
 The dose should be stabilized (700:350:700gN: P: K per tree) after 10 years of
age. These applications may be supplemented with FYM@10 kg per year /age
of the tree with the maximum of 100 kg.
 Apple trees prefer N, P and K in the form of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate,
Super Phosphate and Muriate of Potash respectively.
 In off years, the fertilizer dose of NPK may be reduced to 500g, 250g and
400g respectively.

89.  In bearing trees, FYM along with P and K should be applied during
December-January.
 The Nitrogen can be applied in two split doses, first dose
2-3 weeks before bud break (Feb -Mar) and the second, one
month after flowering.
 The fertilizers should be broadcasted in the tree basins
30 cm away from the tree trunk, up to the canopy drip line and
mixed well in the soil.

90. Manures and fertilizers (kg/tree)
STATES N P K FYM
Arunachal
Pradesh
350 180 180 50
Himachal
Pradesh
700 350 700 100
Tamilnadu 250 1000 1000 25
Uttar
Pradesh
500 100 400 50

91. Foliar application of nutrients
 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 May-June.

92. Inter cultural operations
Orchard floor and weed management
In this system, the basin of trees are kept clean and free from
weeds either by hand weeding, use of mulches and weedicides.
 In the initial years of plantation, the intercrops like peas, beans,
cabbage, cauliflower and ginger are grown in the vacant area in
between the trees but not in basin area.
 Some green manuring crops like beans, peas and gram can also be
grown which helps in improving soil texture and nutrient status.

93. In bearing orchard, mulching of basin area of trees with 10 cm thick
layers of hay or black alkathene is a good floor management practice
for efficient weed control and in situ moisture conservation.
 Sod grasses like white clover, red clover, orchard grass and rye grass
are grown in the vacant area between the trees.
 For weed control, pre-emergence and post emergence weedicides can
also be used.
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 have been found very effective to control the weeds in apple
orchards.

95. Irrigation
Apples require optimum soil moisture particularly during the period
of fruit growth and development to get good size and better quality
fruits.
The most critical periods of water requirement is April to July, when
flowering, fruit set, fruit growth and development occurs.
Water management includes
 rainwater harvesting,
in-situ soil moisture conservation and
efficient use of water for irrigation through drip irrigation.

96. The rain water should be harvested and collected in water storage
tanks.
The harvested water should be 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.
 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.

97. 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, therefore chemical thinning with foliar spray of 20 ppm
Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) at petal fall results in optimum fruit
thinning.

98. Fruit Drop
Although apple bloom profusely, yet a small percentage of flower will
mature into fruit.
Most of the flowers fall soon after full boom with small amount
dropping later.
Fruit drop is a serious problem in apple.
 In most of the commercial varieties 40 to 60 per cent fruit drop
occurs in three phases.
Application of 10 ppm NAA 20-25 days before harvest checks this
drop.

99. 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.
 The 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.
The 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.

101. Harvesting
 Since apple is a climacteric fruit, the maturity of fruits doesn‘t coincide with
ripening.
 The fruits usually don‘t attain full ripe edible quality on the tree while
harvesting.
 The fruits should be harvested at proper picking maturity to attain proper edible
quality at ripening.
 Picking of immature fruits results in poor quality fruits lacking flavour and taste
which shrivel during storage.
 Over mature fruits develop soft scald and internal break down with poor shelf
life.
 There are several reliable maturity indices which can be adopted singly or in
combination for proper fruit harvesting.

102. They are:
• TSS of the fruit pulp
• Ease in separation of fruit from the spur
• Change in ground surface colour from green to pale
• Change in seed colour to light brown
• Fruit firmness
• Days from full bloom to harvest
All the fruits on the tree won‘t mature at a time, thus more than one picking
are required.
Yield:
 A full bearing tree yields from 40-100 kg fruit.
 The bearing generally commences after 5 years of planting and continues
for about 50 years.
 Several varieties of apple show alternate bearing.

103. Pre- and post-harvest management
After harvesting of fruits, proper handling, grading and storage is
important. In apple fruits, about 30% post harvest losses have been
recorded, which can be minimized by proper handling of fruits.
(a)Precooling:- Immediately after picking, the fruits should be placed
in a cool and ventilated place for removal of field heat before
packing.
For the removal of field heat, the methods like use of air cooler,
cold water sprinkling, fruit washing and keeping of fruits over night in a
cool place are adopted.
(b) Grading:- The fruits are graded according to fruit size and fruit
appearance like colour and shape.

104. On the basis of size, the apple fruits are graded
manually or by mechanical grades as:

106. 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.
 Each layer of fruit in carton is separated by fruit trays which are different for
different size grades.

107. Storage
 Apple fruit has long storage life and shelf life of fruits can be
prolonged by providing optimal storage conditions.
 The cold storage retards fruit deterioration and reduce decay
from pathogen and to prevent shrivelness resulting from water
loss.
 Apple fruits can be stored for 4-6 months after harvest in cold
storage at a temperature of -1.1 to 0 o C with 80-90 per cent
relative humidity.

108. Processing
 About 30 per cent of apple fruits are rejected as cull fruits
before packaging for fresh fruit market.
 The culled fruits can be processed and preserved as fruit
pulp for making various value added products like jam, fruit
leather, fruit toffees and fermented products like wine can
be prepared from preserved pulp.
 From fresh fruits, juice can be made.

109. Canned apple slices
Apple Juice

111. T
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