The botanical name of apple is “Malus domestica”. It is an important commercially grown temperate fruit which blossoms in spring season and gives fruit in the autumn season. It is the fourth most widely produced fruit after orange, banana and grapes. Apples are the rich source of Vitamin-C and Beta-carotene.  It is a deciduous tree with an average height of 1.8-4.6m. Among all countries, China is the largest apple producing country. Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, hills of Uttar Pradesh, and extended to Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim and Meghalaya in which apple farming is done. It is mainly used for making canned slices, candies, juices and jellies. It also has the health benefits. By eating apples, it helps to reduce risk of stroke or heart diseases, brain related issues, type-2 diabetes and cancer.
Chamoli, Dehradun, Nainital, Tehri, Uttarkashi are major apple producing areas of Uttarakhand.
 

Loamy soil which is rich with organic matter is best suited for the growth of apple farming. Soil having pH of 5.5-6.5 is good for its cultivation. Soil having good drainage system is ideal for its farming.

Red June: Its fruits are small to medium in size, round to egg shaped and is red in color. Flesh is white, normal juicy and is light sour in taste. Fruits mature in end-June to first week of July.

Fanny: Its fruits are medium size and round in shape. It has shining peel and surface is green-yellow in color. Flesh is crispy, normal juicy and light sour in taste. Fruits are medium quality. Fruits mature in first fortnight of July. Fruits have medium storage capacity.

Benoni: It has medium sized, egg to cone shaped fruits. It has shining peel and its peel is yellow in color having red lines on it. Flesh is crispy and is juicy. It has good transportation and storage capacity. The variety matures in first week of July.

Chaubattia Princess: Flesh is creamy white, granular, firm, juicy and juicier. The variety matures in third week of June.

Chaubattia Anupam: The variety matures in first week of July. It has tastier fruits which is sweet and has good storage capacity.

King of the pippin: Fruits are medium size and egg to cone shape. It has shining peel which having light violet color stripes. The fruits contain crispy flesh, juicy and light sour in taste. The fruit matures in end week of July to first week of September. It has medium storage capacity.

Mcintosh: It has medium sized and round shape fruits. Fruits are shining and surface is green-yellow in color. It has crispy flesh which is juicy and sweet in taste. The fruit matures in first to third week of August.

Spartan: It has medium sized fruits, which are flat, thin peel which is smooth and dark red in color. The fruits mature in mid-August.

Red Gold: Fruits are medium sized which is cone shaped. It has red peel, hard, thick, waxy, smooth, and shining and is of mixed stripes. The fruits are of good quality, storage and transportation. Fruits mature in second to third week of August.

Cortland: Fruits are medium egg-shaped, peel is smooth, yellow striped on red peel. White color flesh taking greenish color which is hard, juicy and sweet in taste. Fruit is of good quality, storage and transportation. The fruits mature in second fortnight of August.

Red Delicious: Its fruits are big and egg shaped. It has smooth peel and peel is deep yellow having red striped on it. Flesh is buttery soft and crispy. The fruits mature in end week of August to first week of September.

Stocking Delicious: It has big and egg shaped fruits. It has yellow flesh, juicy and sweet in taste.

Rich-a-red: It has juicy, sweet and delicious flesh. The fruits mature in end week of August to first week of December. It has good storage capacity.

Golden Delicious: It has medium to big sized fruits which are egg shaped. Flesh is buttery white, crispy, sweet and aromatic. The fruit matures in first fortnight of September.

Winter Delicious: This variety has big sized fruits. It has smooth thick peel which is light green violet in color. The variety matures in second fortnight of September. It has good storage and transportation capacity.

Ambri: It has medium to big sized fruits which is round-egg shaped. Flesh is smooth, crispy, less juicy, white and sweet. The fruit matures in end-September.

Ambred: It has long trees which are spreading nature. Fruit are medium in shape which is cone shaped. Fruits peel is medium thick, smooth, shining and similar in shape. Flesh is white, granular and juicy in nature. The fruit matures in second week of September.

Starkrimson Delicious: The variety has sweet flesh which is juicy in nature. It is continuous yield giving variety.

Freedom: The variety is resistant to apple scab and fire blight and is tolerant to powdery mildew. The variety is productive and early maturing. It has creamy flesh, medium soft and juicy in nature.
 
Fuzzy: The variety is developed in Japan. The fruit is round, flat and long big in shape. The variety matures inn first fortnight of November. It has good storage capacity.

Liberty: Fruits are flat in shape. Flesh is juicy, granular and fine. Taste is light sour and good. The variety is resistant to apple scab.

For apple farming, well prepared land is required. For planting purpose, dug the pits of size 1m X 1m X 1m, one month before planting. Each pit is filled with mixture of soil, farm yard manure or well decomposed cow dung and Single super phosphate.

Time of sowing:
Seed sowing should be done in November month. The budding can be done in September month and grafting is done in February-March month.

Spacing:
In nursery, sowing is done in rows 10 cm apart with the spacing of 5 cm between the seeds. At time of planting, for medium sized varieties use spacing of 4m X 5m or 4m X 6m for tree plantation. For dwarf varieties use spacing of 2.5 X 4.0m and for extra dwarf varieties, use spacing of 3.0m X 0.90m.

Sowing depth:
In nursery, seed sowing depth is 2-3 cm.

Method of sowing:
Transplanting method

Method of planting:
Method Planting is depending upon soil type and climatic conditions. For flat and valley areas, square or Hexagonal method of planting is used. Whereas For slope areas, contour method is used.  
 

Seed rate:
For Medium sized varieties, use 166-200 trees/acre.
For Dwarf varieties, use 350-400 trees/acre.
For Extra dwarf varieties, use more than 1300 trees/ acre.
 

For propagation purpose, rootstock of crab apple or self-pollinizing variety like Maintosh, Golden Delicious etc are used. Use stratified seeds and sow them in nursery during November – December or February – March. In nursery, use row to row spacing of 10cm and plant to plant spacing of 5cm. Sow seeds at depth of 2-3cm.
After then provide light irrigation and cover bed with hay or mulch. After one year, seedlings are ready to grafting purpose. Propagation is mainly done by tongue grafting and budding methods.
 

Nutrient Requirement (gm/tree/year)

Before planting, add FYM@30-40kg, SSP@500gm and Malathion dust@50gm in each pit. Add fertilizer dose of N:P:K@70:35:70 gram/tree/year and mix well. As the age of tree increases, multiplied the fertilizer dose with the age of the tree.  For example, when the tree reaches 10 years of age, then application of fertilizer dose should be N:P:K@700:350:700 gram/tree/year.

For proper development and good quality of apples, training and pruning on proper time is required. Training of tree depends on growth of the rootstocks. Mainly “modified central leader system” is used for training to receive proper light. For mid hill areas, “Spindle bush system” is used.

To control the weeds, mulching and intercultural operations are done. In intercultural operations, application of Glyphosate@300ml/acre or Paraquat@0.5% is used as post emergence herbicide to destroy the weeds for 4-5 months and in mulching, oak leaves or dry grass are used for conserving moisture in the soil.

• Pest and their control:
  

Wooly apple aphid: Firstly the pest attacks the underground roots. As a result swelling occurs and ultimately the whole plant dies. The pest generally not attacks in December and January month.
If infestation is observed then spraying of insecticides such as Carbaryl @30gm/15ltr is done in October- November month to prevent from aphids. During summer and spring season, Dimethoate @15ml/10ltr is mixed with soil to get rid of aphids.

Apple scab: The disease mainly affects the leaves and fruits. The symptoms are twisted leaves and circular black spots on upper surface.

Treatment: To control this disease spray with M-45@50gm/15ltr of water.

Stem borer:  The pest affect the plant by sucking the sap from branches and twigs. As a result, nursery plants become weak and ultimately die.

If infestation is observed then spraying of Diazinon or methyl parathion @0.05% is done. Fumigation can also be done with HCN gas or methyl bromide to protect crop from scale pest.
 

Blossom thrips: It is black or yellowish brown color thrips which punctures and suck the sap of the flowers.

Thrips can be controlled by Carbosulphan @1ml/liter or Thiamethoxam@1gram/liter of water.

• Disease and their control:

Apple bitter rot: Caused by Glomerella cingulata. It causes small and brown color sunken spots on fruits.

Treatment: To control this disease spray with Z-78@50gm/15ltr of water.

Black rot: Symptoms are seen mainly in spring season and the symptoms are circular lesions on the upper surface of leaves. The disease results in rotting of fruits.

Treatment: To control this disease spray with M-45@50gm/15ltr of water.

Root rot: The symptoms are dark color and wet rot is seen at the base of the trunk. The leaves start falling and fruits start shriveling. The infected tree ultimately dies off.

Treatment: To control this disease spray with Aliete80WP@2.5gm/1ltr of water.

Fruit drop: Spraying of NAA @10ppm (Planofix @1ml in 4.5ltr of water) is done before the expected fruit drop will help to control fruit dropping.

From 8th year, apple tree starts bearing fruits. From 8th -17th year, apple productivity will increase every year and after 17th -30th year, production will remain constant. After 30th year, elevation in productivity of apple begins. Harvesting is mainly done after full ripening of fruit.

After harvesting, apples are placed for pre cooling before packing. After pre cooling, grading is done. After grading, apples are stored in cold storage at a temperature of -1.1- 0^oC having 85-90% relative humidity. Fruits are packed in wooden boxes for long distance transportation and for sale purpose in local markets.