APRICOT

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. 

Early maturing varieties: New Large Early, Charmagaz, Shipley Early

Medium maturing varieties: Turkey, Moorpark, Kaisha, New Castle.

Late maturing varieties: Royal, Saint Embryos

Improved varieties:

Shipley Early: It has medium sized fruits which are round in shape and has creamy white color peel. Fruits are juicy in taste and the fruit matures in mid-May.
 
Kaisha: It has medium sized which are round and yellow in color. Flesh is violet which gives good aroma. It has good yield and the fruits mature in med-June.

New Castle: It has medium round fruit which is deep violet yellow in color, flesh is juicy and sweet in taste. The fruits mature in first week of June.

Royal: Big sized fruits which are round-egg shaped and are light yellow in color. It has yellow color flesh, which is hard and juicy. This variety is also used for packing and dry purposes.

Saint Embryos: Big sized fruits which are egg shaped and violet-yellow peel. Flesh is violet-yellow and soft. The fruit matures in July month.

Chaubattia Madhu: The fruit matures in first week of June.

Chaubattia Alankar: It has round shaped fruits which are medium in shape and light yellow in color. The fruit matures in end week of May to first week of June.

Chaubattia Kesri: It has medium to big sized fruits which are round and flat in shape and is violet in color. The fruit matures in third to fourth week of June.

Plough land thoroughly and bring soil to fine tilth. For planting purpose, dug the pits of size 1 m X 1 m X 1 m, one month before planting. Each pit is filled with mixture of soil, FYM@60 kg, SSP@ 1 kg and chlorpyrifos solution@10 ml in 10 litre water. 

Time of sowing:
Planting is mainly done in December month.  
 
Spacing:
In nursery, use seed to seed spacing of 15-20 cm and row to row spacing of 25-30cm. In main field, for planting, Use plant to plant spacing of 6m X 6m.
 
Sowing depth:
In nursery, sow seeds at depth of 5-10cm.
 
Method of Sowing:
Transplanting of seedlings in main field. One year old, disease free seedling are used for transplantation purpose.

Method of Planting:
Planting method is depended upon soil, climate etc. For flat land, use square or triangular method where as in hilly areas, use contour method of planting.

Seed rate:

Propagation of apricots is mainly done by grafting, budding, T-budding, tongue grafting and chip budding method. To rootstock raising, seeds are collected from ripen wild apricots. Stratification is given for 45 days at 4oC 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. After one year, seedlings are ready for grafting.

Fertilizer Requirement (kg/acre)

After second to tenth year of planting, application of well decomposed cow dung@10kg/tree should be done. The dose of nitrogen@100gm/tree, phosphorus@25gm/tree and potash@50gm/tree should be given every year. Full dose of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash is added in December month.

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 10 cm thickness is also an effective way to conserve soil moisture. 

Recommendation of Diuron or Atrazine@1.5 kg/acre is done pre-emergence and in post emergence applies glyphosate@300 ml/acre or Gramoxane@800 ml/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. 

• 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.

Mites: They cause sap feeding which causes bronze color appearance on the leaves.

• Disease and their control:

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.

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 2.5 gram Z-78 in one liter 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 2.5 gram copper oxychloride 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 0^oC temperature for 1-2 weeks and require 85-95% relative humidity. It gives an average yield of 20-35 kg/tree.