Indian Journal of Agricultural Research
Year : 2000, Volume : 34, Issue : 1
First page : ( 17) Last page : ( 22)
Print ISSN : 0367-8245.

Studies on apple yield forecasting on the basis of bud examination

Kumar Shashi, Awasthi R.P.

Department of Pornology, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Nauni-173 230, India.

Abstract

Studies were conducted on yield forecasting of apple, grown at <1500 (L₁), 1500–2000 (L₂) and >2000 (L₃) m amsl in Himachal Pradesh during 1994 to 1996. Yield was found to increase with increase in elevation. The proportion of reproductive buds was studies on five different categories viz., on short terminals (S₁), branched spurs (S₂), spurs having fruit in previous seasons (S₃), solitary swollen spurs (S₄) and pointed buds (S₅). The floral bud proportion increased with increasing altitude. S₄ was found to be the potential fruiting category irrespective of location. Yield predicting models were selected through Principal Component (PC) and Ordinary least square (OL5) regression analysis. PC regression gave better estimates. Reproductive bud proportions (R₂ and R₄) on branched (S₂) and solitary swollen spurs (S₄) were found to be significant explanatory variables for yield at L₁ and L₂. At L₃, R₃ i.e. reproductive bud proportion on S₃ was also important. The forecasting performance of the selected regression lines was ranked ‘good’.

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