It is an important fruit crop grown in dry temperate and mid-hills region of India. It belongs to the “Rosaceae” family. Apricots are native to China and now it is grown in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir states of India. It is a rich source of Vitamin A and niacin.  Apricots are used to make jams, desserts, squashes and nectar. They are also dried and canned for further use. They also have health benefits such as helps in reducing weight, controls blood pressure and lowers the risk of cancer. The sweet fruit kernels are used in confectionaries and bitter fruit kernels are used for oil extraction purpose.

Because of its hardy nature it is grown in variety of soils. Loamy soil having good drainage and fertility is ideal for doing apricot farming. The pH of ranges from 6-6.8 is good. However, in Kinnuar district of Himachal Pradesh, large wide apricot farming is done in sandy soil having well drainage system and in less fertile soils.

Midhills: New Castle, Shakarpara and Early Shipley

High hilly areas: Nugget, Royal, Charmagaz, Nari, Suffaida and Kaisha

Dry temperate areas: Charmagaz, Shakarpara, Suffaida and Kaisha

Other promising varieties:

Early maturing varieties are Beladi and Baiti

Late maturing varieties are Farmingdale and Alfred.

Other state varieties:
 
Moorpark, Turkey, Ambroise, Chaubattia Alankar, Chaubattia Madhu, Chaubattia Kesri,Bebeco, Halma, Rakchakarpa, Tokpopa, Margulam, Narmu, Khante, Australian, Charmagaz and Rogan are other state varieties.
 

Land must be prepared by the digging the pits of size 1m X 1m X 1m before 1 month of planting. Pits are filled with mixture of soil, FYM@60kg, SSP@1kg and chlorpyrifos solution@10ml in 10ltr water.

Nutrient Requirement (gm/tree)

Apply FYM@40-45kg per tree and fertilizer dose in the form of nitrogen@500gm, phosphorus@250gm and potassium@200gm is mixed in the soil in matured apricot trees i.e. having an age of 7 years and above. Full dose of Phosphorus and potassium is added at the time of FYM dose in December to January month. Nitrogen dose is added in two equal splits, first half is added 3 weeks before flowering and rest of the half dose is applied after 4 weeks. In rainfed areas, second half dose of Nitrogen is added on the onset of the monsoon.

Seed rate:
110trees/acre is used for planting.

Seed treatment:
Seeds are soaked in kinetin@5ppm or GA3 solution@500ppm for 24 hours before sowing. This will help to speed up the germination of the seeds.
 

Time of sowing:
Planting is mainly done in dormant season i.e. end-December to Mid-March.

Spacing:
In nursery, use seed to seed spacing of 15-20 cm and row to row spacing of 25-30cm. For planting, Use plant to plant spacing of 6m X 6m.

Sowing depth:
In nursery, 5-10cm deep seeds are sown.
 

Recommendation of Diuron or Atrazine@1.5kg/acre is done pre-emergence and in post emergence applies glyphosate@300ml/acre or Gramoxane@800ml/acre is good to control weed. Mulching is also an effective way to check the weed growth.

At 2-5 years of plant age, intercropping can be done as it will give farmer to extra income. Intercropping with cowpea, soybean, pea and beans should be done.

Irrigation is mainly given in April-May month during fruit development stage. Irrigation frequency will depend upon the type of soil, age of the tree and climatic conditions. In summer season i.e. May to June month, irrigation at the interval of 8-10 days is given. In heavy rain conditions, water should be drained out to avoid water logging. Mulching with hay of 10cm thickness is also an effective way to conserve soil moisture.

Propagation of apricots is mainly done by grafting, budding, T-budding, tongue grafting and chip budding method. For rising of seedlings through rootstocks, then seeds are collected from ripen wild apricots. Stratification is given for 45 days at 4^oC to break dormancy. After stratification, seeds treatment should be done. After seed treatment, they are sown in nursery beds. After seed sowing, mulching and light irrigation should be given.

• Pest and their control:

Borers: Twig borers which are brown colored grubs and trunk borers which are cream colored grubs. Twig borers bore into tender limb tips which causes shoot dieback and trunk borers bore round holes on the trunk which weakens the tree and ultimately die.

Treatment: To control on borers spray with 250ml Quinalphos per 150ltr of water.
 

Mites: They cause sap feeding which causes bronze color appearance on the leaves.
 
Treatment: To get rid of mites spray with 250ml Fenazaquin per 150ltr of water.
 

Leaf roller: They are pale yellow or green color worms which causes leaf rolling.

Treatment: To get rid of leaf roller spray with 250ml Quinalphos per 150ltr of water.
 

Aphids: They are tiny insects which vary in colors which will suck the plant juices. The symptoms are leaf curling which gets thicken, becomes yellow in color and ultimately die.
Treatment: Spraying of Dimehtoate 30% EC @1ml/ltr of water.
 

Scab: Dark mouldy spots are observed on underside of leaves. Later they turn into gray color. Affected portion gets fall off. Later on spot are observed on fruits. To control on scab disease, spray with 2.5gm copper oxychloride in one liter of water.

• DIsease and their control:
  

Bacterial Canker: Caused by Pseudomonas syringae. The symptoms of this disease are brown color leaf spots and fruits develop dark and deeply sunken spots.

Treatment: To control this disease use Bordeaux mixture in the ratio of (2:2:250).
 

Powdery mildew: They cause white-gray color patches seen on buds, stunted shoot growth and ultimately the affected areas turns harden and then crack. To control on powdery mildew, spray with 2.5gm Z-78  in one liter of water.

Bacterial Leaf spot: Caused by Xanthomonas campestris. The symptoms are purplish, brown or black color spots are seen on underside of leaves. To control on bacterial leaf spot, spray with 2.5gm Mancozeb in one liter of water.

Harvesting is mainly done in First week of May to end-June. Fruits are plucked when they change the surface from green to yellowish color.  After harvesting, grading is done. Then apricots are stored at 0oC temperature for 1-2 weeks and require 85-95% relative humidity. It gives an average yield of 20-35kg/tree.