Inadequate Nutrition - Contributing to Low Productivity in Apple

This post is in continuation of our earlier post on Pollination problems part of our series on Low Productivity in Apple: Contributing factors in Himachal Pradesh

Inadequate Nutrition

Although the fertilizer recommendations for the apple fruit crops in the state as a whole have been standardized and made available to growers in the package and practices, yet such recommendations are not available on the regional basis. The fertilizer use efficiency is not optimum due to drought during the growth periods, leaching down and runoff of the nutrients during monsoon or unbalanced fertilizer use. The problems of nutrient management are further accentuated in areas where the land is sloping and with poor fertility, resulting in deficient root growth and thereby poor nutrient uptake by plants. Due to non-judicious use of fertilizers in many orchards, micronutrient deficiencies, particularly zinc, boron and manganese, have also been observed and need to be corrected by foliar application of the nutrients. Modern plant tissue analysis technology for the diagnosis of nutrient disorders, though available, has not been widely used.

Nutrient management in orchard is, therefore, required to be scientifically taken care, to overcome the problem of low productivity.

This post is part of our series on Low Productivity in Apple: Contributing factors in Himachal Pradesh. Entire series is coverted through following topics

1. Genetic potential of the cultivar
2. Management Practices
3. Pollination Problems
4. Inadequate Nutrition
5. Poor Canopy Management
6. Moisture Stress
7. Old and Senile Orchards
8. Environmental factors

Keep following for the further posts.