basics of apricot production

1. Apricot
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2. Taxonamy
• Kingdom: Plantae
• Order: Rosales
• Family: Rosaceae
• Subfamily: Maloideae or Spiraeoideae
• Genus: Prunus
• Subgenus: Prunus
• Section: Armeniaca
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3. Species
• P. armeniaca :Apricot
• P. brigantina :Briançon apricot, marmot plum
• P. mandshurica:Manchurian apricot and Scout apricot
• P. mume :Chinese plum, Japanese apricot
• P. sibirica :Siberian apricot
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4. Prunus armeniaca- apricots
• The apricot is a small tree, 8–12 m tall, with a trunk up to 40
cm in diameter and a dense, spreading canopy
• leaves- ovate, 5–9 cm long and 4–8 cm wide, with a rounded
base, a pointed tip and a finely serrated margin.
• flowers- 2–4.5 cm in diameter, with five white to pinkish
petals; produced singly or in pairs in early spring before the
leaves
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5. Contd…
• Fruit- drupe, 1.5–2.5 cm diameter from yellow to orange,
often tinged red on the side most exposed to the sun; its
surface can be glabrous or velvety with very short hairs
(pubescent)
• Flesh- usually firm, taste can range from sweet to tart, The
single seed is enclosed in a hard, stony shell, often called a
"stone" or "kernel", with a grainy, smooth texture except for
three ridges running down one side
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6. Climate
• Temperate crop
• White flushed, sweet kernelled apricot- cooler, dry climate
upto 3000m above msl
• Yellow fleshed, bitter kernelled apricot- warmer climate,
midhills(900-1500m msl)
• Chilling -300- 900 hrs below 7°C
• Frost free warm spring –favorable for fruting
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7. Contd…
• Average summer temperature: 16.6- 32.2°C ,for quality fruit
production
• Annual rainfall requirement - 100cm, well distributed
throughout the season
• Lower temperature in spring(<4°C)- blossom damage
• High humidity in summer- incidence of brown rot
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8. Soil
• Can grow on most of soil
• Deep fertile, well drained loamy soil in better
• pH- 6- 6.8
• Cultivated areas- Himachal Pradesh, J&K, UP, NE hills
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9. Varieties
• Himachal Pradesh
• Midhills- New Castle, Early Shipley, Shakarpara
• Highhills- Karisha, Nugget, Royal, Suffaida, Charmagz, Nari
• Dry temperate- Charmagz, Suffaida, Shakarpara, Kaisha
• Uttar Pradesh- Charmagz, Kaisa, Moorpark, Turkey, St.
Ambroise, early Shipleys, Chaubattia
Alankar, Chaubattia Madhu, Chaubattia
kesri, bebeco
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10. Contd…
• Ladak- Halman, Rakchakarpa, Tokpopa, Margulam, Narmu,
Khante
• Kashmir- Turkey, Austalian, Charmagz, Rogan, Shakarpara
• New varieties for mid hills
• Early maturing- Baiti, Beladi
• Late maturing- Farmingdale, Alfred
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11. Propagation
• Tongue grafting- done in February
• Pencil thick shoots are used
• T-budding- in June
• Chip budding- in September
• Cleft grafting- for rejuvenation of plant
Tongue grafting
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12. Rootstocks
• Rootstocks- Wild apricot, wild peach
• In heavy soil and high moisture- Myrobalan plum is used
• Root stock raised by seedlings
• Seed treatments
• Stratification- 45-50 days at 4°C
• Soaking for 24 hrs in-500ppm GA3/ 5ppm Kinetin
• Sowing- 6-10cm deep, 20x30 spacing
• Root stock used after 1 year
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13. Planting
• Planting done in dormant season (December- March)
• Pit size- 1x1x1m
• Pit filled with- soil, 50-60 kg FYM, 1kg SSP, 10Ltr
chlorpyriphos solution(1%)
• Planting system
• Plains- square, triangular system
• Hill slops- contour system
• Spacing- 6x6m
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14. Training
• Training system- open vase/
modified centrel leader
• Open vase system- more
popular in hilly regions
• At planting-
• whip headed back to 60-70 cm,
3-5 side shoots are allowed to
grow in all direction
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15. Contd…
• First dormant season-
• 3-5 spirally arranged, well shaped primary branches(crouch angle
45°) are selected
• Lowest branch at 40-45 cm above ground level
• Primary scaffold branches are headed back to half of its length
• Second dormant season-
• 5-7 well spaced secondary scaffold branches are selected on each
branch
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16. Pruning
• Pruning is done from third year onwards
• Thinning of over crowded branches and removal of diseased
and weak branches are done
• Spurs are formed on one year old root stocks and last for 3-4
years
• In older trees one year old shoots are thinned to 25-30%
• Chaubattia paste is applied after pruning
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17. Manuring and fertilization
• For mature trees
• FYM- 40 kg/tree/ year
• N:P2O5:K2O-500:250:200 g/tree/year
• FYM and full dose of P & K applied in December- January
• Nitrogen in 2 doses
• 1st half - 2-3 weeks before flowering
• 2nd half -In irrigated area- one month later 1st dose
-In rainfed area- at onset of monsoon or as foliar
spray(.5%)
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18. After care
• Wee control- chemical or mechanical means
• Inter cropping- pea, bean, soybean, cowpea
• Fruit thinning
• for improves fruit size, promote regular bearing, maintain tree
vigour, decrease limb breakage
• Done 40 days after full bloom
• Hand thinning-till 2 fruits per spur
• Chemical thinning- 25-50ppm NAA 20 days after fruitset
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19. Irrigation
• Apricot is tolerant to dry atmosphere
• Critical period for irrigation- fruit growth and development
• Peak water useperiod- April end to mid June
• Irrigation done and 20% depletion of soil moistur from field
capacity
• Irrigation interval -10 day in May , 8 days in June
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20. Flowering and fruiting
• Bloom appears in late February to March
• flowers produced singly or in pairs in early spring before the
leaves
• Pollination- self & crosspollination
• Pollinating agent- honey bee, bumble bee
• Fruit mature within 100-120 days from blooming
• fruit is a drupe
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21. Harvesting
• Start yielding from 5 years and continue till 30-35 years
• Fruit maturity- from May to June
• Maturity is indicated by days from full bloom and TSS
• For fresh market- when colour changes from green to yellow
• Fully mature fruits used for freezing, canning, drying
• Harvesting done in morning hours
• Yield-50-80kg/tree
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22. Post harvest handling
• Fruits are precooled, graded and
packed in CFB boxes
• Storage- 1-2 weeks at 0°C and 85-
90% relative humidity
• Value addition- dry fruit
• Important source of carotenoids ,
minerals
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23. Physiological disorders
• Sun burn
• Occur in seedlings due to exposure of bark to sunlight
• Paint bark with white colour
• Gumming of tree
• Caused by high level of water table, acidity in the soil and
irrigation water
• Control: Improve drain system in the orchard
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