Pulwama, Aug 30: Growers from different areas across South Kashmir have reported a significant reduction in the size of Apples in their orchards this season.
The small sized fruit have been reported in high density apple varieties as well as traditional varieties of Delicious and Kulu Delicious.
Mohammad Ashraf Wani, an apple grower from Keller area South Kashmir’s Shopian district informed Rising Kashmir that a fair percentage of fruit in his orchard spread on 20 Kanals of land is small sized.
“ The trees were supplied with all nutritional supplements and even some plant growth regulators (PGRs) were also applied but that didn’t yield the desired results,” he said, adding that a good percentage of fruit on many trees didn’t reach full size.
He said that for the high density variety of Red Gala, which is being harvested in Kashmir these days, they get good prices for high grade while as small sized apples were sold at comparatively low rate.
The apple grower informed that this issue is reported not only from Kashmir but Himachal Pradesh too.
He said that this may be due to rains witnessed in Kashmir during the blooming period of apple trees.
Ghulam Hassan, another apple grower from Pulwama district, reported 10 to 12 percent fruit in his 2 Kanal orchard as small sized.
Dr Jahangir, Assistant Professor Fruit Sciences at Shar e Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology Kashmir’s ( SKUAST-K’s ) Krishi Vigyan Kendra ( KVK) Malangpora, told Rising Kashmir that this year Kashmir witnessed intermittent rains during April and May.
“The trees were exposed to less hours of sunlight which affected photosynthesis,” he said, adding that first four to five weeks after fruit sett are crucial because this is the phase cell division.
He said that during this phase the plant needs nutrients through photosynthesis for proper cell divisions.
“Reduced sunlight hours affected the rate of photosynthesis which inturn influenced cell divisions resulting in small sized fruit this year,” he said.
