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Increasing pressure on land and reduction in average land holdings, shifting from low-density planting systems to high-density planting systems has become the need of the hour, especially in horticulture. Trees in high density are more precocious, heavy yielders and produce better quality fruits. It can play a significant role in improving the apple economy of Himachal. This is being facilitated under the World Bank-funded Himachal Pradesh Horticulture Development Project (HPHDP). UHF’s Directorate of Research is the nodal agency for implementation of the project at the university for the development of packages of practices (POP) on high-density apple plantations, which will be shared with farmers in the state. High-density plantation refers to the planting of maximum possible number of plants per unit area to get maximum crop yield and profit per unit of tree volume without impairing the soil fertility status. A high-density apple orchard with 500 plants was established on the university campus in 2016 by planting eight varieties on dwarfing and semi-dwarfing clonal rootstocks to identify suitable varieties and rootstocks along with ideal plant spacing and canopy management techniques for high-density apple plantations.
Various varieties being studied are Jeromine, Red Velox, Red Cap Valtod, Scarlet Spur-II, Super Chief, Gale Gala, Redlum Gala and Auvil Early Fuji grafted on M9 and MM106 rootstocks.” The plant spacing i.e. 2.5 X 0.75 m (5333 plants/ha), 2.5 X 1.0 m (4000/plants/ha) and 2.5 X 1.5 m (2666 plants/ha) and training systems viz., vertical axis, slender spindle and tall spindle are being tested. The results of varietal evaluation trial reveal that among eight varieties planted in high density, Jeromine, Red Cap Valtod, Scarlet Spur-11 and Redlum Gala is performing very well at low elevation (1,225 m AMSL) of Nauni in terms of colour development, yield, quality and productivity.