PERFORMANCE OF APPLE CULTIVARS UNDER COLD DESERT CONDITIONS OF NORTH-WESTERN HIMALAYAS

The cold desert in the North-Western Himalayas comprises the Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir and the Lahaul & Spiti, Kinnaur and Pangi areas of Himachal Pradesh located between 30°41’ and 32-36°N latitude and 76-79°E longitude. Repeated snowfall, high concentration of UV and IR radiation, high diurnal temperature variation, negligible rainfall and high wind velocity (45-60 miles h^-1) during winter are some of the main features of the climate of this region. The glacial melts serve as source of irrigation during summer. The soils are shallow, sandy loam in texture, low in organic matter and neutral to alkaline in reaction. The experiment evaluating six spur type cultivars namely ‘Red Chief’, ‘Well Spur’, ‘Silver Spur’, ‘Red Spur’, ‘Oregon Spur-II’, and ‘Golden Spur’ in relation to two standard cultivars, ‘Starking Delicious’ and ‘Vance Delicious’ grafted on seedling rootstocks, was conducted at the Regional Horticultural Research Sub-Station, Tabo, district Lahaul & Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, India, situated at an elevation of 3250 m. There were 833 tree ha^-1 at a spacing of 4×3 m planted in March 1996 on seedling rootstock. The maximum yield (18.5 kg tree^-1) and productivity (15.4 t ha^-1) were recorded with ‘Silver Spur’. The best quality fruit were produced by ‘Red Chief’ in terms of quality and market acceptability. The studies revealed that the ‘Red Chief’ and ‘Silver Spur’ were superior in terms of fruit quality, precocity and productivity and thus can be recommended for growing under high density plantations in the cold desert conditions of North-Western Himalayas.