Studies of three apple pollinizer cultivars on m9 clonal rootstock under high-density plantation in cold dry temperate region of Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at the Vegetable Research Station, Kalpa, to study the performance of three pollinizer cultivars grafted on M9 clonal rootstock under high-density plantations in the cold temperate region of Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh, situated at an altitude of 27,000 meters. The high-density plantation of apples in Kinnaur district is still in the inception stage and it is important to aware the farmers of the area about pollinizer cultivars improve the production of temperate fruits. Sufficient and judicious incorporation of pollinizer cultivars is indeed an important aspect in the enhancement of productivity, keeping in mind that this trial was carried out to benefit the farming community in the coming years. The experiment evaluates three apple cultivars ‘Gale Gala/M9’, ‘Redlum Gala/M9’, and ‘Auvil Early Fuji/M9’, planted in the year 2016 as a feathered plant at a spacing of 2.5X1.0 meters in Randomized Block Design (RBD). Most of the growth and fruiting characteristics were found to be non-significant and significant results were obtained only in the Number of fruits, Fruit Size, Length and fruit weight. However, Maximum, shoot extension growth (13.86 cm), plant height (219.50 cm), Total Number of flowers Number (1211 / tree), Number of fruit set /tree (64.25), Number of fruits/tree (30.17), Yield (3.79 kg/tree) and Productivity (15.14 MT/Ha) were recorded with Redlum Gala on M9, whereas, trunk diameter (30.50 mm), plant spread N-S (120.83 cm), fruit diameter (81.21 mm), percent fruit set (23.06 ) and Fruit Size (Length, 73.77 mm; Breadth 77.68 mm) were observed in Gale Gala on M9. Further, higher Plant Spread E-W (125.00 cm) and fruit weight (218.23 g/fruit) were observed in Auvil Early Fuji. Studies have shown that all three pollinizer cultivars performed similarly with a non-significant difference, yet Redlum Gala/M9 performed better amongst the cultivars studied and it may be recommended to grow under high-density plantations in cold temperate conditions of Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh.