Performance of New Apple Varieties under Cold Dessert Conditions of Lahaul and Spiti Valley

High density orcharding and the quest for high quality produce is gaining day by day and extending its spread into the dry temperate regions.Lahaul and Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh, India is known for its quality apple production but is a quite fragile ecotype with high degree of vulnerability to the climatic changes.Agro-ecologically the region is quite variable from wet temperate conditions to highly dry temperate dessert conditions.Intensive apple cultivation therefore in the region needs critical prior assessment for its sustained success.The studies presented in this research article discuss the expected performance score of different clonal and seedling rootstocks, spur and high coloring cultivars in high densities of planting.Six apple varieties on different rootstocks under high-density plantations were evaluated for growth, yield and quality parameters.The experiment evaluated six apple varieties 'Super Chief/MM 106', 'Red Velox/M9', 'Jeromine/M9', 'Gale Gala/M9','Redlum Gala/M9' and 'Auvial Early Fuji/M9' planted at a spacing of 2.51.0 m2 in Randomized Block Design, with three replications.From the evaluation of data on growth, yield and quality traits, it was found that var.'Super Chief/MM 106', followed by cultivars 'Red Velox/M9' and 'Jeromine/M9', has recorded better horticultural performance than other varieties studied.Among different varieties 'Super Chief/MM 106' recorded maximum annual shoot extension growth (25.72 cm), trunk girth (45.16 mm) and tree height (290.20 cm), tree spread (322.31E-W and 291.15 cm N-S), fruit Breadth (80.17 mm), fruit weight (213.08 g fruit-1), TSS (12.60 Brix), fruit length (72.82 mm), fruit yield (4.61 kg tree-1) and productivity .Cultivar 'Super Chief/MM 106' was found to be superior for growth, lowering, yield and quality characteristics.