DefinePK

Abstract

Effect of the selected climatic factors (temperature, humidity, sunshine) on sooty blotch (SB) and flyspeck (FS) intensity and fruit quality was verified in apple orchards during two consecutive years on three different experimental sites [Site I: Moderately plains (PothiBala); Site II: Northern slopes (Rawalakot city); Site III: Southern slopes (Drake)]. All the orchards were planted with cultivar ‘Banky’, and the trees were 12 years old at the time of this study. Morphological data revealed that high relative humidity along with rainfall increased the intensity of SB and FS attack. Significant (P< 0.05) differences were observed regarding the number of fruit set per tree and fruit weight on all the three sites under observation. Sites having abundant sunshine, less humidity and less rainfall showed significantly (P< 0.05) higher yield and less disease attack. High rainfall and high humidity showed a negative correlation with fruit quality.  Moreover, high titratable acidity and ascorbic acid content also proved that more sunshine and less humidity affected the quality of apple fruits positively. Thus, from this study it can be concluded that the sites having more sunshine and less rainfall are suitable for planting apple orchards than the sites with less sunshine, high humidity and high rainfall.
Keywords: Disease intensity; Fruit quality; Humidity; Malus domestica Borkh; Rainfall
http://dx.doi.org/10.19045/bspab.2018.70091