Insufficient snow in Himachal, stone fruit to take hit

Ambika Sharma

Solan, February 19

Apple and stone fruit growers are likely to suffer poor crop due to elevated temperatures and deficient rain and snow this winter. Less chill than the optimum leads to staggered, delayed and sparse flowering, resulting in poor fruit produce. Apple contributes about Rs 5,500 crore to Himachal’s economy while stone fruits are grown over 28,000 hectares in the state.

Deficient rain, snow and elevated temperatures have been recorded in 2022-2023 in most parts of the state. “During this winter in the stone fruit belt of Solan, 168 chill unit (CU) hours were experienced against the average of 299.8 CU hours registered during the last 30 years (1991-2020),” observed Dr Satish Bhardwaj of Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni. A chill unit hour refers to the time a fruit tree is exposed to effective winter temperatures for breaking dormancy and flowering.

The situation is no different in the apple belts where the CU hours at the wet temperate (Mashobra, Shimla) zone were 585.7 as against 1010.6 CU hours recorded on an average from 1985 to 2015. In the mid-hills comprising the sub-temperate (Kullu) zones, the CU hours registered this season were 358.9 as against 437.5 on an average from 1985 to 2015.

“The temperate fruits like apple, almond, peaches, plums, pears and cherries require chilling temperature for the growth of dormant buds during spring. The CU temperature during winter should be between 0-7oC for fruits to exhibit normal growth,” explained Dr Bhardwaj.