🫐Other Fruits

Apple

- **Botanical Name:** `Malus pumila` - **Family:** Rosaceae - **King of temperate fruits**. Apple holds this title due to its **global popularity**, outstanding **flavour**, excellent **storage life**, and enormous **economic importance** in temperate fruit-growing regions worldwide. - Storage temperature of apple is `0 to 1.1 °C`. At this temperature, **respiration** is minimized while avoiding **freezing injury**, allowing apples to be stored for **several months** in **cold storage**. - **Cider** is made from apple after fermentation. **Apple cider** is produced by fermenting freshly pressed apple juice using **yeast**, which converts sugars into alcohol. It is a major apple product in Europe and North America. - Commercial method of propagation in apple is **tounge grafting**. **Tongue grafting** (also called whip-and-tongue grafting) provides a strong **interlocking union** between rootstock and scion, ensuring high graft success rates.

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Varieties

Other Important Varities:

• Gala: A sweet, crisp apple with a distinctive yellow-orange skin.
• Granny Smith: A tart, crisp apple with a bright green skin.
• Honeycrisp: A sweet, juicy apple with a crisp texture and red-and-yellow skin.
• Fuji: A sweet, juicy apple with a yellow-green skin with red highlights.
• Pink Lady: A tangy, sweet apple with a pinkish-red skin.
• Red Delicious: A sweet, mildly tart apple with a bright red skin. Red Delicious is the most widely grown apple variety in India, particularly in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
• Golden Delicious: A sweet, juicy apple with a golden yellow skin.
• Braeburn: A crisp, sweet-tart apple with a red and green skin.

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Root stocks of Apple

Apple rootstocks are classified into the Malling (M) and Malling-Merton (MM) series, developed at East Malling Research Station, England. They range from very dwarfing (M9, M27) to very vigorous (M25), allowing growers to match rootstock vigour to the desired planting density.

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Diseases

• Crown Gall — Agrobacterium tumefaciens (Bacteria). This soil-borne bacterium enters through wounds and causes tumour-like growths (galls) at the crown and roots, disrupting water and nutrient uptake.

- **Fire Blight of apple and pear** -- `Erwinia amylovora`. **Fire blight** is a devastating bacterial disease that causes **rapid wilting** and **blackening** of blossoms, shoots, and branches, giving them a scorched or "fire-burnt" appearance.

- **Apple Scab** - `Venturia subinaequalis` (Fungi). This is the **most serious fungal disease** of apple worldwide, causing dark, **olive-green to black spots** on leaves and fruits that reduce market value.

- **Water core:** `B deficiency`. **Water core** appears as **glassy, water-soaked areas** in the flesh, caused by accumulation of **sorbitol** in intercellular spaces. - **Bitter pit and cracking:** `Ca deficiency`. **Calcium** is essential for **cell wall strength**, and its deficiency causes small, sunken, **bitter-tasting spots** (bitter pit) and fruit cracking.

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Insect of apple/pear/peach

• Sanjose scale: Quadraspidiotus perniciosus

- Suck the cell sap from leaves, twigs and fruits, the infested fruits also have a scaly appearance & each spot is surrounded by a scarlet or red area. **San Jose scale** is a quarantine pest in many countries and can cause **complete crop loss** if unmanaged. - Important **parasitoid** of sanjose is `Encarsia perniciosi` - **Wooly apple aphid:** `Eriosoma lanigerum`

- The infested plants have pale-green leaves and whitish cotton patches on stem and branches, characteristic galls/knots are formed on roots & underground portion of plants. The **white waxy covering** gives a "woolly" appearance, making this aphid easy to identify. - Its main **parasitoid** is `Aphelinus mali`. **Biological control** using *Aphelinus mali* has been one of the most successful examples of **classical biological control** in fruit crops.

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Grapes

- **Botanical Name:** `Vitis vinifera` - **Family:** Vitaceae - Ideal time of planting unrooted **grape cuttings** (Hardwood-cutting) is `October`. - **Rooted** cuttings are planted in **January--February**. - Grape is a **deciduous crop**. Being **deciduous**, grapevines naturally shed their leaves in winter and enter **dormancy**, which is an important phase for the vine to rest and accumulate **carbohydrate reserves** for the next season's growth. - Propagated by `hard wood cuttings`. **Hardwood cuttings** of 4-6 buds taken during the **dormant season** root readily, making this the simplest and most cost-effective propagation method.

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• Thompson seedless with its clone occupies 55% area under grape cultivation. Thompson Seedless is the single most important grape variety in India, valued for its seedless nature, suitability for raisin making, and versatility as a table grape.
• Element that is universal deficient in grape is Mg. Magnesium deficiency causes interveinal chlorosis on older leaves, as Mg is a mobile nutrient and a core component of the chlorophyll molecule.
• Tartaric acid is present in grape fruits. Tartaric acid is the principal acid in grapes, giving them their characteristic tart flavour and playing a critical role in wine quality and stability.
• The chemical used to reduce post-harvest fruit drop in grape is NAA (50 ppm).
• Outstanding cultivar of raisin (dehydrated grape) is Kismis Rely

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• Dogridge is a salt tolerant root stock of grape. Dogridge (Vitis champini) can tolerate soil salinity and is widely used in India’s grape-growing regions where soil salinity is a common constraint.
• Viticulture: Production and marketing of grapes.
• Oenology: All aspects of wine and winemaking.

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Pruning

• North India (Summer Crop): Pruning is done in December-January. Winter pruning in North India removes the previous season’s growth and stimulates fresh shoots that will produce the summer crop.
• South India (Monsoon Crop): Two Pruning are done. 1^st in April - May (back or foundation pruning) and 2^nd in October. The foundation pruning develops the vine’s framework, while the October pruning (forward or fruit pruning) stimulates the fruiting shoots for the next crop.
• In Maharashtra and Karnataka wines are pruned twice in the month of April and October. ^AFO-2021

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Varieties

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Physiological disorder

• Hen and chicken disease - Boron deficiency. This disorder results in a bunch containing both normal-sized berries (“hens”) and small, seedless berries (“chickens”). Boron is essential for pollen germination and fruit set, and its deficiency leads to poor fertilization in some flowers.

- **Berry or blossom drop** -- improper pollination & fertilization. - **Pink berry** - high temperature (common in Thompson seedless). **High temperatures** during ripening cause the normally green-yellow berries to develop an undesirable **pinkish-red colour** due to **anthocyanin** formation.

- **Calyx end rot:** `Ca` deficiency

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Disease

• Downy mildew: Plasmophora viticola (Major). This is the most destructive fungal disease of grapes in India, favoured by humid conditions. It causes oily spots on upper leaf surface and white downy growth on the lower surface, leading to severe defoliation.
• Powdery mildew: Erysiphe viti

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Insect

• Thrips: Rhiphiphothrips cruntatus
  • It can be managed by spray Malathion 50 EC @ 1 ml/liter
• Flea beetle: Scelodenta strigicollis

- It is managed by spray carbaryl 50 WP @ 2.5 kg/ha of orchard. **Flea beetles** damage the **opening buds** by boring into them, significantly reducing the number of productive shoots.

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Training system for grape vines

1. Kniffin: (also known as 4 - canes system). In this system, the vine is trained on two horizontal wires at different heights, with two canes on each wire, totaling four canes.
2. Head system: (suitable for less vigorous cultivar & it is very simple and inexpensive). The vine is trained to a single trunk with short arms (spurs), requiring no trellis system, hence the lowest cost.
3. Telephone system (6 - canes system, suitable for vigorous cultivar). Named for its resemblance to telephone line poles, this system uses three levels of wires with two canes each, providing maximum canopy spread for vigorous vines.
4. Bower system: Training system of grapes which is mostly adopted in India. Also called overhead arbour or pandal system, the vine canopy forms a flat, horizontal roof supported by a framework of poles and wires. This system provides maximum light interception and is preferred in tropical Indian conditions.

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Walnut

- **King of nut crops**. (**Queen** = **Peanut**). Walnut (*Juglans regia*) earns the title **king of nuts** due to its exceptionally high **nutritional value**, including **omega-3 fatty acids**, **antioxidants**, and **protein**, making it one of the most **health-beneficial nuts** available.

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Fig

**Caprification** - **Artificial pollination** of figs that usually bear **only pistillate flowers** by hanging male flowering branches of the **caprifig** in the trees to facilitate pollen transfer by a fig wasp. **Caprification** is a unique pollination method specific to figs. The tiny **fig wasp** (*Blastophaga psenes*) enters the female fig through a small opening (ostiole), carrying pollen from the male **caprifig**. This symbiotic relationship between the fig and its wasp is one of the most remarkable examples of **co-evolution** in the plant kingdom.

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Pineapple

• Leaf fiber is obtained from pineapple. Pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) is a natural, biodegradable textile fibre extracted from pineapple leaves. It is gaining popularity as a sustainable alternative to synthetic fibres, used in making fabrics, paper, and even vegan leather (Pinatex).

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Strawberry

- **Albinism:** This is a **physiological disorder** of strawberry, due to **lack of fruit colour** during ripening in which fruit remain irregular pink or even totally white and sometimes swollen beside having acid test and become less firm. ^{RRB SO 2021} **Albinism** is triggered by **high temperatures** during fruit development, which inhibit **anthocyanin biosynthesis** (the pigment responsible for the red colour), resulting in pale, unmarketable fruits. ## Summary Cheat Sheet

Concept / Topic	Key Details
Apple (Malus domestica)	Family Rosaceae; origin Central Asia
Apple propagation	Tongue grafting on M-series rootstocks (M9, MM106)
Apple leading state	Jammu & Kashmir; also Himachal Pradesh
Grapes (Vitis vinifera)	Family Vitaceae; origin Armenia/Caspian
Grapes propagation	Hardwood cuttings
Grapes leading state	Maharashtra (Nashik)
Walnut (Juglans regia)	Family Juglandaceae; propagated by patch budding
Walnut leading state	Jammu & Kashmir
Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa)	Family Rosaceae; propagated by runners
Strawberry varieties	Chandler, Camarosa, Sweet Charlie
Fig (Ficus carica)	Family Moraceae; fruit = syconus
Fig propagation	Hardwood cuttings
Fig varieties	Poona Fig, Brown Turkey
Litchi (Litchi chinensis)	Family Sapindaceae; propagated by air layering
Litchi leading state	Bihar (Muzaffarpur)
Sapota (Manilkara zapota)	Family Sapotaceae; propagated by inarching
Sapota product	Chicle (chewing gum base) from latex