Influence of nutrient applications on growth,yield & quality of apple

The present investigation was carried out at experimental orchard, Division of Fruit Science, SKUAST-K, Shalimar. The experiment consisted of three treatments on three cultivars of apple (Lal Ambri, Firdous and Sunhari) replicated thrice in RBD. The results revealed that foliar application of nutrients had a significant effect on growth parameters, foliar nutrient contents, physical & chemical characters, yield and quality of apple cultivars. The combined application of Ca, Mg and micro-nutrients resulted in better annual shoot growth, leaf fruit ratio, leaf area and number of leaves per shoot when compared with control and other treatments, without affecting uptake of N, P and K. Further, the leaf Ca, Mg, Zn, Mn and B uptake improved with the combined application of Ca, Mg & micro-nutrients when compared with control and other treatments.The studies revealed that the foliar application of nutrients improved the overall performance of apple cultivars with respect to qualitative and quantitative characters. Hence the combined foliar application of macronutrients and micro-nutrients along with soil application of N,P and K is recommended for the better performance of apple cultivars.