STUDIES ON APPLE YIELD FORECASTING ON THE BASIS OF BUD EXAMINATION

Studies were conducted on yield forecasting of apple, grown at <1500 (L1), 1500–2000 (L2) and >2000 (L3) m amsl in Himachal Pradesh during 1994 to 1996. Yield was found to increase with increase in elevation.
The proportion of reproductive buds was studied on five different categories viz., on shoot terminals (S1), branched spurs (S2), spurs having fruit in previous seasons (S3), solitary swollen spurs (S4) and pointed buds (S5). The floral bud proportion increased with increasing altitude.
S4 was found to be the most potential fruiting category irrespective of location.
Yield predicting models were selected through Principal Component (PC) and Ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis.
PC regression gave better estimates.
Reproductive bud proportions (R2 and R4) on branched (S2) and solitary swollen spurs (S4) were found to be significant explanatory variables for yield at L1 and L2. At L3, R3 i.e. reproductive bud proportion on S3 was also important.
The forecasting performance of the selected regression lines was ranked ‘good’.

XXV International Horticultural Congress, Part 9: Computers and Automation, Electronic Information in Horticulture

R.P. Awasthi, Shashi K. Sharma

Apple, Reproductive buds, Yield estimation

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2000.519.9