**3.17 Maturity indices, harvesting and yield**

Change of surface colour, days from full bloom to harvest and fruit TSS are considered to be the best indices of maturity. For fresh market, the fruits are plucked when surface colour turns green to yellow. Fully ripe fruits are, however, harvested for freezing, canning and drying. In Himachal Pradesh, days from full bloom to harvest and fruit TSS have been standardised for different varieties to judge the optimum time of harvest. Since apricot fruits are very perishable, so due care is required during harvesting, packing and transportation. The fruits should be harvested in the morning hours, and direct exposure of fruits to the sun is avoided during grading and packing. Apricot trees start fruiting at the age of 5 years and give economic yield up to 30–35 years. Apricot attains full bearing age at about 8–10 years and yield about 50–80 kg fruits per trees.

### **3.18 Thinning**

Fruit set in apricot is rather heavy which results into undersized fruits and also increases the tendency of biennial bearing. Fruit thinning improves fruit size, promotes regular bearing, decreases limb breakage due to heavy crop load and maintains the tree vigour. Fruit thinning should be done within 40 days after full bloom, i.e. during the last week of April or first week of May, because this is the effective period influencing fruit bud formation. Both hand and chemical thinning method are employed. Depending upon the crop load, the fruit may be thinned till the fruit are 6–10 cm apart. A spur should have not more than two fruits. Foliar spray of 25–50 ppm NAA 20 days after fruit set is best for thinning.

### **3.19 Orchard soil management and weed management**

Sod culture plus mulching of basin with dry grass or black polythene is the common orchard floor management practice followed in apricot orchards. In apricot orchards atrazine or diuron at 4.0 kg/ha as pre-emergence and gramoxone at 2 kg/L or glyphosate at 800 ml/ha as post-emergence has been found effective and economical in controlling weeds. Mulching of trees basin with 10–15-cm-thick dry grass also checks the weed growth.

**101**

**Author details**

Bhende Siddhesh Shamrao

Sciences, Shivamogga, Karnataka State, India

provided the original work is properly cited.

\*Address all correspondence to: siddhort@gmail.com

College of Horticulture, Hiriyur University of Agricultural and Horticulture

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

*Production Technology of Peach, Plum and Apricot in India*

Powdery mildew (*Sphaerotheca pannosa*).

Bacterial canker and gummosis (*Pseudomonas syringae*).

Brown rot (*Monilinia laxa*, *M. fructigena*, *Sclerotina*).

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92884*

Wilt (*Verticillium albo-atrum*).

**3.22 Diseases**

#### **3.20 Maturity indices**

Fruit and flesh colour. Size, firmness. TSS, acidity. Dry matter content.

#### **3.21 Pests**

Indian gypsy moth (*Lymantria obfuscata*). Leaf roller (*Archips micaceana*). Peach stem borer (*Sphenoptera lafertei*). Peach fruit fly (*Bactrocera dorsalis*).

*Production Technology of Peach, Plum and Apricot in India DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92884*

#### **3.22 Diseases**

Prunus

**3.18 Thinning**

for apricot in midhill of Himachal Pradesh.

**3.17 Maturity indices, harvesting and yield**

8–10 years and yield about 50–80 kg fruits per trees.

peak water use period is from the end of April to mid of June, which coincides with fruit development period. Irrigation at 20% depletion of soil moisture from field capacity improves fruit size and yield. Irrigation interval should be 10 days during May and 6–8 days during June. All in all, eight irrigations in a season are sufficient

Change of surface colour, days from full bloom to harvest and fruit TSS are considered to be the best indices of maturity. For fresh market, the fruits are plucked when surface colour turns green to yellow. Fully ripe fruits are, however, harvested for freezing, canning and drying. In Himachal Pradesh, days from full bloom to harvest and fruit TSS have been standardised for different varieties to judge the optimum time of harvest. Since apricot fruits are very perishable, so due care is required during harvesting, packing and transportation. The fruits should be harvested in the morning hours, and direct exposure of fruits to the sun is avoided during grading and packing. Apricot trees start fruiting at the age of 5 years and give economic yield up to 30–35 years. Apricot attains full bearing age at about

Fruit set in apricot is rather heavy which results into undersized fruits and also increases the tendency of biennial bearing. Fruit thinning improves fruit size, promotes regular bearing, decreases limb breakage due to heavy crop load and maintains the tree vigour. Fruit thinning should be done within 40 days after full bloom, i.e. during the last week of April or first week of May, because this is the effective period influencing fruit bud formation. Both hand and chemical thinning method are employed. Depending upon the crop load, the fruit may be thinned till the fruit are 6–10 cm apart. A spur should have not more than two fruits. Foliar

Sod culture plus mulching of basin with dry grass or black polythene is the common orchard floor management practice followed in apricot orchards. In apricot orchards atrazine or diuron at 4.0 kg/ha as pre-emergence and gramoxone at 2 kg/L or glyphosate at 800 ml/ha as post-emergence has been found effective and economical in controlling weeds. Mulching of trees basin with 10–15-cm-thick dry

spray of 25–50 ppm NAA 20 days after fruit set is best for thinning.

**3.19 Orchard soil management and weed management**

grass also checks the weed growth.

Indian gypsy moth (*Lymantria obfuscata*).

Peach stem borer (*Sphenoptera lafertei*). Peach fruit fly (*Bactrocera dorsalis*).

Leaf roller (*Archips micaceana*).

**3.20 Maturity indices**

Fruit and flesh colour. Size, firmness. TSS, acidity.

Dry matter content.

**100**

**3.21 Pests**

Bacterial canker and gummosis (*Pseudomonas syringae*). Powdery mildew (*Sphaerotheca pannosa*). Brown rot (*Monilinia laxa*, *M. fructigena*, *Sclerotina*). Wilt (*Verticillium albo-atrum*).
