Studies on Performance of Newly Released Apple Cultivar on Clonal Rootstocks

Rifat Bhat; Sharbat Hussain; Samiullaha, Muzaffara Akhter; Sana Bhat; Arshid Ah. Bhat; Rafiya Wani; Sireen Fatima

Rifat Bhat Division of Fruit Science, Faculty of Horticulture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science & Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar, Srinagar 190025, J&K, India.
Sharbat Hussain Division of Fruit Science, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar-190025, Srinagar (J&K), India.
Samiullaha, Muzaffara Akhter Division of Fruit Science, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar-190025, Srinagar (J&K), India.
Sana Bhat Division of Fruit Science, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar-190025, Srinagar (J&K), India.
Arshid Ah. Bhat Division of Fruit Science, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar-190025, Srinagar (J&K), India.
Rafiya Wani Division of Fruit Science, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar-190025, Srinagar (J&K), India.
Sireen Fatima Division of Fruit Science, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar-190025, Srinagar (J&K), India.

Keywords: Clonal rootstocks, apple, yield, quality, cultivars, productivity

Abstract

Apple (Malus domestica Borkh) occupies a significant place in the horticultural wealth of temperate zone. The growth and productivity of apple in Indian conditions can be optimised by replacing outdated depleted standard Delicious cultivars by the improved high yielding cultivars and adopting standard clonal rootstocks instead of seedling stock in addition to improved management practices. The present investigation was undertaken to make a preliminary assessment for studying the performance of newly released apple cultivars viz, Lal Ambri, Sunhari, Shireen, Firdous and Akbar on clonal rootstocks M-9 and MM-106. The experiment was carried out at the Experimental Farm of SKUAST-Kashmir, and was laid out in a randomized block design with ten treatment combinations. The results obtained revealed that the varieties excepting shireen worked on MM-106 rootstock resulted in higher plant height, per cent fruit set and fruit retention and the plants which were raised on M-9 rootstock resulted in more plant girth and plant spread. Commencement of flowering, fruit maturity, fruit weight and firmness occurred earlier in all varieties worked on M-9. Among these tested varieties, Lal Ambri, Shireen and Firdous developed red colour intensity excepting Sunhari and Akbar. It is concluded that apple trees raised on MM-106 rootstock resulted in higher yield than the trees raised on M-9 rootstock. Cultivar Akbar was better in comparison to other varieties, Lal Ambri showed maximum red colour intensity. Fruits from trees on M-9 rootstock showed higher red colour intensity. However, Shireen performed better in these parameters on M-9 rootstock.