Srinagar, Oct 08: Directorate of Extension S.K. University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar has issued fruit harvesting-related precautionary guidelines in order to maintain safety during crop harvesting in October.
The guidelines, issued on October 3rd, advised the farmers to harvest apples and pears for table purpose and storage and make sure that fruits do not get any wound or bruises while harvesting/handling which will cause the rotting of fruit.
“Store unblemished fruit to prevent rotting in storage and fruits should be harvested only after ensuring that they have attained characteristic skin, flesh and seed colour. Mature fruits generally tend to hold less tightly to trees and as such detach easily. Specified days after full bloom is another reliable guide for harvesting fruits. In the case of apples, random samples should be subjected to starch-iodine test and starch rating,” the guidelines said.
The SKUAT-K has advised farmers that the apple fruit firmness test should be done with the help of a pressure tester.
The guidelines said fingernails of all persons handling fruit should be clipped short to avoid bruising or injury to the fruit with nails.
“The exact size, colour and stage of the maturity of the fruit to be picked must be explained to the pickers, when selective picking is desired. Picked fruit should be kept in the shade and shifted to the godown as soon as possible to extract field heat,” it said.
SKUAST guidelines added that two to three pickings at weekly or fortnightly intervals should be carried out on each tree to enable the poorly coloured or small sized fruits to develop to a marketable condition.
Regarding walnut, the precautions said that harvesting should be done only after ensuring that packing tissue of nuts has turned brown and hull removal is easy.
“Walnuts can be harvested one week before the expected date of harvest. This will hasten the dehiscence process and nuts obtained shall be clear without dark spots,” the guidelines said.
Regarding chestnuts, the advisory said that nuts should be harvested promptly so that they wouldn’t not be on the ground for more than two days, otherwise kernels get spoiled quickly due to high temperatures.
For the irrigation of land, the advisory advised the farmers to stop irrigation to the plants and allow it to prepare for the cold weather.
