STANDARDIZATION OF TEMPERATE FRUITS NURSERY GROWING TECHNIQUES FOR TRIBAL COLD DESERT AREAS OF NORTH-WESTERN HIMALAYAS

The nursery plants of temperate fruits are uprooted in the month of mid December to mid January in wet temperate regions but cannot be planted in arid temperate areas because of chilly winters till middle of April. This gap of 3 to 3.5 months between uprooting of nursery plants and ultimate transplanting in the orchard leads to high mortality because of lack of acclimatization. This implies that nursery plants for cold desert areas should be produced locally. Due to the short growing season, prolonged winters and high diurnal temperature variation in cold desert areas, the growing of temperate fruit trees in the nursery under open field conditions is quite difficult, as seedlings cannot attain graftable thickness even after 2-3 years. To overcome the problem pioneer efforts have been made at University of Horticulture and Forestry, Regional Horticultural Research Sub-Station, Tabo, district Lahaul & Spiti, India by producing locally acclimatized nursery plants of temperate fruits on seedling rootstocks under polyhouses. Owing to difficult growing conditions, the present studies were conducted with the objectives to standardize the most suitable time of tongue grafting and optimize doses of N application for producing good quality nursery plants. These plants are uprooted 3-7 days prior to transplanting in the region, which has resulted in 95-100% field survival rates. Tongue grafting is the commonly used method of propagation. The application of N during June to September after 30 days interval have been found to be effective in achieving best bud-take success, plant height and radial diameter of nursery plants.