PRODUCTION

TECHNOLOGY
OF APPLE
 AREAS COVERED
 Origin and history of apple
 Botanical information
 Cultivated varieties
 Soil and climatic conditions
 Propagation of apple
 Cultural practices
 Harvesting
 Production and estimated yield
 Post harvest handling and storage
 Physiological disorders
 Insect, pests and diseases
 Useful by-products
 ORIGIN AND HISTORY

Malus sieversii is a wild apple native to the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan. DNA analysis has
recently been shown to be the primary ancestor of most cultivars of domesticated apple (Malus pumila).

It
was described as Pyrus sieversii in 1833 by Carl Friedrich von Ledebour, a German naturalist who saw them
growing in the Altai mountain.

It is deciduous tree growing up to 5 to 12 meters, very similar in appearance to the domestic apple.

The centre of diversity of genus Malus is in eastern present day turkey. Apple was perhaps the earliest tree to be
cultivated and its fruits have been improved through selection over thousands of years.
 ORIGIN AND HISTORY
•Alexanderthe Great is credited with finding
dwarfed apples in Kazakhstan in 328 BCE.

•Apple were introduced to the North America by

Colonist in the 17th century and the first apple
orchard on the North American continent was
planted in Boston by Revered Willam Blaxton in
1625.

•The only apple native to North America are crab

apples, which were once called ‘common apple’.
 ORIGIN AND HISTORY

•InPakistan, its cultivation is limited and restricted to

northern hilly tracts of Punjab, NWFP and Quetta
region of Balochistan.

•Apple cultivars are brought as seeds from Europe

were spread along native american trade routes, as
well as being cultivated on colonial farms.
BOTANICAL INFORMATION
Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Rosales
Family : Rosaceae
Sub Family: Maloidae
Genus : Malus
Specie : Malus domestica
 BOTANICAL INFORMATION

•Tree: The apple is a deciduous tree standing

1.8 to 4.5 m tall in cultivation.

•When cultivated, the size, shape and branch

density are determined by rootstock and
trimming method.

•Leaves: The leaves are alternately arranged

dark green colored simple ovals with serrated
margins and slightly downy undersides.
 BOTANICAL INFORMATION

•Apple blossom: the flower is perfect

with 5 petals, 5 sepals, 5 carpel with
two ovule each and 15-20 stamens.
•Most apple blossom petals are pink

when they first bloom then they fade

to white as the season progresses.
•All the flowers are self sterile and self
pollination is impossible. The honey bee is
the best pollinator of domestic apple
 BOTANICAL INFORMATION
Pollination and fruit set:
• when apple tree is ready to grow it produces flowers in
winter
•Some apple varieties can self pollinate but most varieties
require cross pollination.
•The outer part of the ovary develops into fleshy white part
of the apple. The inner wall of the ovary becomes the apple
core around the seeds.
 BOTANICAL INFORMATION
Apple: false fruit
•The bulk of the fleshy edible portion is
derived from the hypanthium or floral
cup, not the ovary. Seeds are relatively
small and black, and mildy poisonous.

•When the other accessory floral parts

contribute to the formation of fruit, then
such fruits are called as false fruits or
pseudo-carp.

•In apple, the thalamus or receptacle

grows around the pericarp ton produce the
fleshy edible part. Hence, it is a false fruit .
 CULTIVATED VARIETIES
•There are more than 7500 known cultivars of apples.
Different cultivars are available for temperate and sub-
tropical regions.
•Commercial popular apple cultivars are soft but crisp.
Other desired qualities in modern commercial apple
breeding are colorful skin, absence of russeting, ease of
shipping, lengthy storage ability, high yield, disease
resistance, long stem and popular flavor.

•Differentvarieties of apple include red delicious,

McIntosh, golden delicious, gala, granny smith, fuji,
braeburn, pink lady, honey crisp, empire,
 CULTIVATED VARIETIES

Red delicious
•A popular eating apple
•Crispy, juicy taste, sweet flavor
•Great for snacking
•Fast growing apple tree
•It has thick skin
•Due its long storage life,

its selling can be carried

out of its season.
 CULTIVATED VARIETIES

McIntosh:
•Fruit has red and green skin
•Quickly produces apples
•Easy to grow
•Ideal for baking
•A tart flavor and tender white flesh
•With a soft skin and softer flesh, the McIntosh
strikes a level balance between and acidic.
 CULTIVATED VARIETIES
Golden ( yellow) delicious:
•Considered as all purpose apple
•Mild and sweet
•The flesh is juicy but taste wise is not all that different
from the Red Delicious.
•Amazingly sweet taste
•Grows almost anywhere.
 CULTIVATED VARIETIES
Gala:
•Native to new zeeland
•It is cross between a kidd’s orange red ande a
golden delicious apple
•With pinkish orange striping over a gold base
•Its skin is thin, concealing a crisp and juicy flesh
that’s fragrant and fairy sweet
•Long storage life
•Fast growing apple tree
 CULTIVATED VARIETIES
Granny smith:
•This white green apple boasts white, firm, juicy flesh
that is sweet and tart at the same time
•Fast growing apple tree
•Delicious fruit
•Great for snacking
 CULTIVATED VARIETIES

Fuji:
•Dense, crisp and generally regarded the sweetest
of all varieties
•Ripens quickly
•Grows in many climates
•Fast growing apple tree
 CULTIVATED VARIETIES

Empire:
•Red or green skinned
•This juicy apple with a tart sweet flavor and
creamy flesh is a cross between Red Delicious
and McIntosh.
 SOIL AND CLIMATIC CONDITION
Soil:
•Apple tree grows and bears fruit in wide range of
soil but deep, well drained, fertile loam which
permits free root development is more suitable.

•Water logged soil should be avoided.

•Hardpan soils are also undesirable, as are light,

shallow, gravelly soils, which are not capable of
retaining adequate moisture.
SOIL AND CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
Climate:
•Apple need a cooler climate than most of the
temperate fruit because it require chilling
temperature in dormancy period.

•Temperature of about -30 degree or rapid

fluctuation in temperature is harmful.
•Uniformly severe cold nights during the rest
periods are useful.

•Apple thrives usually at altitude of 1700-2500

m.
SOIL AND CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
Climate:
•The quality of fruits grown at lower altitude are not good due to
high summer temperature.
•Localities having mean summer temperature up to 27 degree or
lower are more considerable for the growth of apples.
•750ppm rainfall is ideal for apple trees.
•In Pakistan, northern hilly tracts receive most of their rain
during the monsoon while the Quetta region usually faces
shortage of irrigation water.
•Late spring frosts and hail during the early stages of fruit
development often damage apple crop in Murree Hills.
•Continuous strong wind particularly during the blooming
season is another hazard in apple culture.
 PROPAGATION

Raising of Rootstock:
•Apple trees are budded on crab apple, on various East
mailing types and on seedling of some commercial apple
varieties. In the Murree Hills, crab apple is the only
rootstock. Some other rootstock are used in Sariab,
Quetta and Tarnab, Peshawar, including M-1, M-7 and
M-9. M-1 is a very outstanding rootstock because of its
good nursery performance. M-9 is the most growing
stock in heavy soil and is dwarfing in nature.
 PROPAGATION

Through Seedling:
•Crab apple is propagated through seed and stooling. To
raise crab apple seedlings, the seeds are extracted in May-
June and stored in a cool, dry place until December, when
they are either sown directly in the sol or stratified in
boxes.
•In Murree, both stratification and direct sowing produce
similar results. The seeds begin to germinate in March and
are later transplanted to other beds, where they are ready
for budding by the next summer.
 PROPAGATION
Through Stooling:
•This is also called mound layering which is used for
raising of rootstock. Two years old crab apple are cut
back to ground level in the spring. Several shoots then
emerge and when they are 10-15 cm tall, moist and
friable soil is hilled up around them up to half he height
of the shoots. This process is repeated 2 or 3 times until
July, when the final height of the hill thus built up is 15-
20 cm and shoots are 45 cm or more in length.
•The un-rooted shoot and the parent stool are kept
exposed to light during spring so that they develop new
shoots then parent is again hilled up to encourage root
development in these shoots.
 PROPAGATION

Raising of scion varieties:

Scion are propagated vegetatively by budding or
grafting.
Cutting and layering are not suitable because they are
difficult to establish on their own roots.
Budding is done during the active growth stage, while
grafting is done dormancy in winter or early spring.
Some method of grafting of apples are whip, tongue
grafting and cleft grafting. For budding, the ring or t-
budding are of practiced.
 CULTURAL PRACTICES

Planting:
On sloping land, contour planting is
done because it has advantages that soil
and rain water are conserved
which results in better tree growth
and production over a long period of
time.
 CULTURAL PRACTICES
•On level land, square system is use for planting of apple
trees. New plantation is done in early spring. The plant to
plant distance should be 6-7 m.
• wide spacing improves tree vigor and also promotes fruit
color due to prolonged exposure to sunlight.
•In hilly areas, sod helps to prevent soil erosion and in
maintenance of organic matter.
•In the Murree hills, trees are hoed under their canopy during
early summer to eradicate weeds and grass and monsoon
onward grass allowed to grow and mowed from time to time.
 CULTURAL PRACTICES

Manuring:
•It is an important cultural operation which is regularly
performed in commercial orchards.
•Three major elements nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium,
are applied through fertilizers
•Apple require high K levels, while the need of P is quite low.
•Organic manure is more suitable than chemical fertilizers.
 CULTURAL PRACTICES
•For full grown apple tree, 80-100kg of well rotted FYM
is applied in November before first snow.
•For full bearing tree, fertilizer doses of

Ammonium sulphate 1.5-2 kg

Potassium sulphate 2 kg
Superphosphate 3 kg
are recommended. Nitrogen is applied in three doses;
one soon after snow clearance and the other after fruit
set.
 CULTURAL PRACTICES

Irrigation:
•During blooming season, irrigation helps to increase fruit
set and fruit development
•In Murree hills, irrigation is done through rainfall except
in the months of May-June. In these months, irrigation is
supplied from springs.
•In Quetta, there is no rainfall in summer and only 250
mm in winter. Water for irrigation is supplied through
karez and springs.
•At maturity, light irrigation should be applied. This helps
the fruit attain timely ripening and full color development.
 CULTURAL PRACTICES
Pruning and training:
• Both young and bearing trees are pruned to increase orchard
output, mostly during the dormant season. Training is done to
maintain the shape of the tree and to expose the tree to the
sunlight. Young trees are prune to train them to desirable shape so
that limbs constituting the main framework are strong enough to
bear heavy crop of fruit.
This can be helpful in managing spraying, thinning
and picking of fruit. Old and undesirable trees are removed to
maintain the tree in a vigorous condition. The kind and amount of
pruning of tree will depend upon its age, original framework,
growth characteristics and fruiting habit of variety.
 HARVESTING
Maturity:
Several methods are available for determining
optimal harvest time. Days from full bloom is
relatively constant from year to year and gives
grower a rough estimate of picking date.
Cultivars like gala mature early and Fuji very
late.
Harvest method:
Apple must be picked by hands to avoid bruising
of fresh market quality grade. Fruit must be
picked carefully to avoid damaging the spur,
where next season fruit will be borne.
 PRODUCTION AND YIELD
•Balochistan has largest area under apple production as
nearly as one million tons of fruits are produced from
0.23 million hectares and production is 32.6%.
•Province wise production of apple:

Year Punjab Sindh KPK Balochis Pakistan

tan (000
tonnes)
2016-17 3.55 00.00 89.98 576.40 669.91
2017-18 3.60 00.00 69.30 576.40 649.40
 POST HARVEST HANDLING

•Standard packing line operations are used for apple after

harvest; hydro-cooling, washing, culling, waxing, sorting
and packing. Apples are packed most often in 4/5 bushel
boxes (40lb) but polyethylene bags are also popular for
retail marketing. Quality grade is based on size and
appearance of skin.
•Storage
Controlled atmosphere (CA) storage has allowed
the marketing of apples on a year round basis. The storage
room temperature is altered to retard respiration by
reducing oxygen to 2-3% and raising carbon dioxide to
about 1%. More mature fruits are sold directly or placed in
short term storage.
 PHYSIOLOGICAL DISORDERS

• apples are affected by different physiological disorders

such as:
•Superficial scald
•Senescent scald
•Core fush
•Internal breakdown
•Braeburn browning
•Water core
 INSECTS PESTS AND DISEASES

•Leaves are damaged by insects

•Apple trees are susceptible to number of fungal and
bacterial diseases and insects pests. Nearly all commercial
orchards pursue an aggressive program of chemical sprays
to maintain high fruit quality, tree health and high yield.
•Spraying of insects pests must never be done during
flowering because it kills pollinators. White clover is a
component of many grass seed mixes and many bees are
poisoned by insecticides while visiting the flowers on the
orchard floor after spraying.
 INSECTS PESTS AND DISEASE

•Among the most serious disease problems are the fire

blight and Gynosporangium rust, apple scab, black spot.
•The plum curculio is the most important insect pest.
Others include apple maggot, codling moth
•Apples are difficult to grow organically, though a few
orchards have done so with commercial success, using
disease resistant cultivars and the very best cultural
control. Spray of light coating of kaolin clay is used as
physical barrier to many pests and also helps to prevent
apple sun scald.
 USEFUL BY- PRODUCTS
•Apple jam is made from pulp and juice of the fruit.
•Apple can also be used to make jelly
•Apple pulp is manufactured by picking fresh fruit,
which are clean, sound and properly matured.
•Apple juice concentrate is produced by evaporating the
fresh apple juice, which is extracted from farm fresh
juicy apples.
•Dried apple retain some chewiness and apple chips are
crunchy and make for fine garnish on desserts and
salads.
•Apple cider vinegar is used in salad, food
preservatives and chutneys.