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| Books on guava maturity, apple scab released | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, May 1: Two books on "Maturity indices of guava" and "Apple Scab (Venturia inaequalis): understanding and treatment for better management" were released by Raman Bhalla, Minister for Housing, Horticulture and Culture and additional charge of Sports and Youth Services today.
Raman Bhalla in his address emphasized that apple is the most important temperate fruit crop of the North-western Indian Himalayan region. These areas do not fall in the temperate zone of the world, yet the prevailing temperate climate of the region is primarily due to high altitude snowfall, which helps to meet the chilling requirements of the crop.
In India, commercial cultivation of apple is confined to J&K, H.P and Uttaranchal. In J&K, total area under apple is 1,57,280 hectares with production of 13,48,149 MT during 2012-13. Apple scab occurs in most areas of the world where apples are grown and is one of the most serious diseases of apple and ornamental crabapple. It occurs on the leaves, petioles, blossoms and fruit. Infections usually develop first on the undersides of leaves, on fruit spurs, on the exposed side when the fruit buds open. Once the leaf has unfolded, both sides may be infected.
The timely management of this disease which will help the apple growers of the state in general and country in particular to get more income so as to raise their economic condition.
If poorly managed, apple scab results in severe defoliation of apple trees. The disease negatively affects fruit size and quality (due to blemishes and poor ripening). In India, the disease was first recorded in Kashmir valley in 1930, and by 1973 it had firmly established in most of the apple plantations of the state. In India, the first epidemic of scab was observed in Kashmir valley in 1973, and this itself had ruined the apple crop worth 54 lakhs in a single season.
Since then, the disease has continued to cause enormous damage to the apple crop in the unsprayed orchard. In 2013, this disease struck in a big way the apple crop in Kashmir valley whereby it had engulfed almost all the potential apple growing areas of the state and had endangered the very existence of this crop.
The state suffered a loss of around 500 crores. |
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