Morphology characters and flowering of Apple

Brief introduction about apple crop and it's manures.

1. Morphological characters and Flowering:
•Apple plant is deciduous without spiny branches.
•Buds are ovoid with imbricate scales, leaves are serrate or lobed, folded in
bud and stipulate.
•Floral buds are mixed buds borne terminally on spurs and terminally or
laterally on long shoot, depending upon the cultivar, age and vigourof tree.
•The initiation of flower primordiastarts about 3-6 weeks after full bloom (June).
•The inflorescence is determinate having five flowers. Flowers white or pink or
carmine in cymes.
•Flower of most cultivars are epigynousand hermaphrodite.
•Flower consists of five petals, five sepals,15-20 stamens and a pistil which is
divided into five carpals each containing two ovules.
•Ovary is inferior.
Fig.1Differentstagesofflowering

2. Pollination and Pollinizers:
•Most of apple varieties are self unfruitful and require some compatible cutivars
for cross pollination and good fruit set.
•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
•Low temperature, rainfall and cloudy
•Thecrosspollinationandfruitsetinapplecanbeimprovedbyplantingatleast
25to33percentofpollinizers,
•placementof5to6honeybeescoloniesperhectare,
•topworkingof2-4shootsofcommercialvarietieswith
pollinizers.
•placementofbouquets.
•Fig. 2.Non synchronization of flowering of main and pollinizer
cultivars due to insufficient winter chilling

3. O X O O X O O X O O
O X O O X O O X O O
O X O O X O O X O O
O X O O X O O X O O
O X O O X O O X O O
O X O O X O O X O O
O X O O X O O X O O
O X O O X O O X O O
O X O O X O O X O O
O X O O X O O X O O
Fig. 5. 33 per cent pollinizer( Every third row is a pollinizervariety)
O = Commercial variety
X =Pollinizervarieties
Hand pollination Fig.7.Bouquet placement
Fig.8.Topworking Fig.9.Placementofbeehive

4. Manureandfertilizers
•Themanureandfertilizerrequirementdependuponthesoil
fertility,ageoftree,culturalpracticesandcropload.
•Tojudgetheactualnutrientrequirement,theleafandsoil
analysisshouldbedonetoknowthestatusofnutrientsinthetree
andsoil.
•Intheorchardofoptimalfertility,nitrogen,phosphorusand
potassiumisappliedintheratioof70:35:70gperyearageof
appletreeanddosesoftheseNPKfertilizersarestabilizedatthe
ageof10years.
•Fortenormorethantenyear-appletree,100kgFYM,700gN,
350gP
2
O
5
and700gK
2
Oshouldbegivenannually.

5. Ageofthe
tree(year)
FYM
(kg)
N
(g)
CAN
(g)
P
2O
5
(g)
SSP
(g)
O
(g)
MOP
(g)
1 10 70 280 35 220 70 115
2 20 140 560 70 440 140 230
3 30 210 840 195 660 210 350
4 40 280 1120 140 880 280 470
5 50 350 1400 175 1100 350 585
6 60 420 1680 210 1320 420 700
7 70 500 1960 245 1540 500 820
8 80 560 2240 280 1760 560 935
9 90 630 2520 315 1980 630 1050
10andabove100 700 2800 350 2000 700 1170
Offyear 100 500 2000 250 1560 400 670
Table1:Recommended fertilizersscheduleforappleinHimachal
Pradesh

6. Timeandmethodofapplication
•FYMalongwithfulldoseofP
2
O
5
andK
2
OisappliedduringDecember-
January.
•Nitrogenisappliedintwosplitdoses.HalfdoseofNisappliedonemonth
beforeflowering(March)andremaininghalfdoseonemonthafterfruitset.
•Fertilizersshouldbebroadcastedintreebasins30cmawayfromthetrunk.
•However,inverysteepslopesandheavyrainfallareasbandapplicationof
fertilizersisrecommendedtoavoidleachingandrunofflossesoffertilizers.
•Forhigherfertilizeruseefficiency,solublefertilizerscanalsobeapplied
throughdripirrigation.
Foliarapplicationofnutrients
•Themicro-nutrientsparticularlyboron,zinc,ironandmanganeseareessential
fornormalgrowthofplantandtheirdeficiencyisfrequentlyobservedinapple.
•ItcanbecorrectedbytwofoliarspraysofZnSO
4
(0.5%)andboricacid
(0.01%)beforefloweringandinMay-June.

7. Orchardfloorandweedmanagement
•Cleanbasinmanagementsystem.
•Thebasinoftreesarekeptcleanandfreefromweedseitherbyhand
weeding,useofmulchesandweedicides.
•Intheinitialyearsofplantation,theintercropslikepeas,beans,cabbage,
cauliflowerandginger.
•Greenmanuringcropslikebean,peasandgram
•Inbearingorchard,mulchingofbasinareaoftreeswith10cmthicklayersof
hayorblackalkathene.
•Sodgrasseslikewhiteclover,redclover,orchardgrassandryegrassare
growninthevacantareabetweenthetrees.
•.Sprayofsimazineattherateof4kg/hainMarch,followedbytwospraysof
glyphosate@800ml/haatmonthlyintervalsinJulyandAugust.
Fig.10.Mulchingoftreebasinwithblackalkatheneandhay

8. Irrigation
•ThecultivationofappleinIndiaismainlyinhillyareas,where
landissloppyandwaterforirrigationisalsoinadequate,rainfallis
alsoveryless.
•ThemostcriticalperiodsofwaterrequirementisApriltoJuly,
whenflowering,fruitset,fruitgrowthanddevelopmentoccurs.
•Therainwatershouldbeharvestedandcollectedinwater
storagetanksandusedforirrigationparticularlyduringcritical
periodsofwaterrequirement.
•Dripirrigationmethodsavesmorethan50percentirrigation
waterandcanbeadoptedinwaterscarceareas.
•About6-8irrigationsat7-10daysintervalshouldbegivenduring
ApriltoJulyinApple.
•Besidesirrigation,treebasinsshouldbemulchedwithhayor
blackpolytheneinthemonthofMarch.

10. FruitThinning
•Heavybearinginappleduringonyear,resultsinsmall
sizedandpoorqualityfruits.Therefore,judicious
thinningatproperstageoffruitdevelopment(peastage)
ismusttoregulatecroppingandimprovingfruitsizeand
quality.
•Thethinningcanbeachievedeithermanuallyorwith
theuseofgrowthregulators.
•Removaloffruitletsbyhandthinningisverylaborious
anduneconomical.
•Chemicalthinningwithfoliarsprayof20ppm
Nepthaleneaceticacid(NAA)atpetalfall.

11. FruitDrop
•Applebloomprofusely,butasmallpercentageofflowerwillmatureintofruit.
•Mostoftheflowersfallsoonafterfullboomwithsmallamountdroppinglater.
•Inmostofthecommercialvarieties40to60percentfruitdropoccurs.
•(1)EarlyDropisanaturalandoccursduetolackofpollinationafterpetalfall
tothreeweekslater.Thisdropcanbecontrolledbyassuringeffective
pollinationandplacementofbeehivesandplantingofmorepollinizervarieties
intheorchard.
•(2)JuneDropisamajordropwhichiscausedbymoisturestress.Thisdrop
canbecontrolledwiththeapplicationofirrigationwaterandmulchingoftree
basins.
•(3)Pre-HarvestDropoccursbeforeharvestingoffruitsandcausedeconomic
losstofarmers,whichisduetoreductioninlevelsofauxinsandincreasein
ethyleneinthefruit.Applicationof10ppmNAA20-25daysbeforeharvest
checksthisdrop.

12. Use of growth regulators:
1.Plant propagation:GA
3
at 100-200 ppmcan overcome the physiological dormancy
and stimulate germination in seeds. Application of IBA at 2000 ppmand NAA @200
ppmhelps in rooting in cuttings of clonalrootstocks.
2.Effect on growth:Foliar spray of PP333 @ 500 to 1000 ppmreduces the
vegetative growth of apple trees. Application of 250 ppmGA
3
stimulate the vegetative
growth but also enhances alternate bearing phenomenon.
3.Effect on fruit set and yield. Application of triacontanol(20 ppm), miraculan(0.6
ml/L), Paras0.6 ml/L or Biozymeat 2ml/ L sprayed at bud swell and petal fall stages
helps in improving fruit set and yield in Delicious apple.
4.Fruit drop:. The pre-harvest is controlled with the application of 10 ppmNAA, (1 ml
of Planofixin 4.5 L of water) one week before the expected fruit drop.
5.Fruit thinning:The application of 10-20 ppmNAA, 7-15 days after petal fall is most
effective for fruit thinning .
6.Improvement of fruit shape:Application of promalin30-60 ppm(GA
3+7 +
cytokinin)
at pea stage helps to improves the shape of the apple fruits.
7.Improvement of fruit colourand maturity:Application of ethrel(2-chloroethyl
phosphonicacid) @ 1200 ppma..i. or 4.5 ml ethrel/ litreof water + 25 ppmNAA
improves surface red colourin apple.

13. Maturity indices and Harvesting
•Apple is a climacteric fruit in which the maturity of fruit does not coincide with
ripening.
•The fruits do not attain ripe edible quality on the tree at harvest
•The maturity indices like days from full bloom to harvest, change of ground colourof
fruit from green to yellow to pale, TSS of fruit pulp, ease of separation of fruit from
spur, change of seed colourto light brown and fruit firmness are used singly or in
combination.
•The entire fruit does not attain full colourand mature on the tree at one time, therefore,
fruits should be picked in 2-3 pickings.
•Harvesting of fruit is done in such a way that bruising and stem puncture are avoided
and pedicel must retain with fruit.
•Picked fruits are placed softly in the picking bag or basket and transported to packing
houses for grading and packing.

14. FruitVariety DFFB
(Days)
Firmness
(kg/cm
2)
TSS(%)
AppleTydeman’s Early
Worcester
90±4 7.8±0.1512.0-13.0
StarkingDelicious120±5 8.2±.4 13.0-15.0
RedChief 110±5 8.5±.4 14.0-15.0
RedDelicious 134±5 8.5±.4 13.0-14.0
GoldenDelicious 148±5 8.4±.4 12.0-14.5
GrannySmith 180±5 8.4±.4 13.0-14.0
Table2.Maturityindicesforimportantvarietiesofapple

15. Grade Fruit diameter (mm)
Super Large 85 ±2.5
ExtraLarge 80±2.5
Large 75±2.5
Medium 70±2.5
Small 65±2.5
ExtraSmall 60±2.5
Pittoo 55±2.5
Grading:-
Thefruitsaregradedaccordingtofruitsizeandfruitappearancelikecolourand
shape.Onthebasisofsize,theapplefruitsaregradedmanuallyorbymechanical
gradesas:
•Onthebasesoffruitcolourshape,qualityandappearancefruitsaregradedas
AAA,AA,andA.
•Thequalityoffruitsduringtransportation,storageandmarketingareinfluencedby
thepacking.Usually,applesarepackedintelescopiccorrugatedfibreboard(CFB)
cartons.
•TheusualdimensionsoftelescopicCFBcartonwithtraysare50.4x30.3x28.2cm
(outerjacket)50x30x28.2cm(innercase).
•Theeachlayeroffruitincartonisseparatedbyafruittrayswhicharedifferentfor
differentsizegrades.
Table3.Sizegradesofapple