**1.8 Soil**

Prunus

**1.3 Morphological characters of plant**

Clingstones: *Persica vulgaris*, Risso. Freestones: *Persica domestica*, Risso.

a.*Prunus persica var. nucipersica*, Schneid: the nectarine.

b.*Prunus persica* var*.* platycarpa, Bailey: saucer peach.

Usually small, smooth-skinned fruit, and leaves strongly serrate but not

Flattened, scarcely thick greenish fruit with a red cheek, medium in size with

The flowers are perfect, solitary, sessile and pink coloured. Flowering starts in the first week of February and continues till the end of the month. Pollination is aided by insects, and the mode of pollination is homogamy. The pollen of peach is highly viable. Commercial peach varieties are self-fruitful and set good crops without cross-pollination. J.L. Hale is the only variety which is self-unfruitful and requires to be pollinated by other varieties. Fruit setting starts in the beginning of March. The fruits are borne after 1-year growth. A small proportion is borne on short-lived spurs also. The fruit is drupe, and the edible portion is the mesocarp [2].

In India, peaches are mainly grown in midhills at a height ranging from 1000 to 1600 m. They also do well in wet and humid climate with cold winter and

**1.4 Ornamental forms of peach**

always so.

good flavour.

**1.5 Other species**

1.Prunus davidiana

2.Prunus *mira.* Small, bushy tree. Late blooming habit.

**1.6 Flowering and fruiting**

Slender, willow-like tree. Smaller than common peach.

Peach is a small- to medium-sized upright spreading, open topped deciduous tree. The trunk bark is dark brown and rough, and young shoots are smooth and pinkish in colour. The leaves are simple, large, oblong lanceolate, glabrous above and pubescent beneath. Vegetative and flower buds are borne in the axil of the leaves. Its flowers are numerous, sessile, white or pink appearing before the leaves. The flower is of perigynous type as the perianth surrounds the pistil but is not fused to it. The floral configuration is five sepals, five petals, thirty stamens and a single ovary. Fruits are fuzzy with free- or clingstone; however, the nectarines are fuzzless peaches. The stone is deeppitted and very hard. There are two well marked horticultural forms [1]. These include:

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**1.7 Climate**

Peach thrives well on light sandy soils. Deep fertile loam or sandy loam with good drainage is considered to be the best. The pH ranges between 5.8 and 6.8. It cannot tolerate imperfect drainage. Fertile and heavy soils are hazardous.

## **1.9 Planting and aftercare**

Peaches are planted in the end of January in 1 m3 pits at a distance of 6.5 m apart. In hills, the spacing adopted is 5 × 4 m. A spacing of 3 × 3 m is practised under high-density orchards. Immediately after planting, staking is provided. The support should be firm, preferably of bamboo or other wooden logs. Young plants should be watered at frequent intervals. Stock sprouts should be removed carefully.

### **1.10 Propagation**

The peach is commercially propagated by means of budding and grafting. T-budding is the common method, and the season of budding is from April to September. Tongue grafting and wedge grafting are also done. Grafting is done in December–January.

#### **1.11 Raising of rootstocks**

Rootstock for peaches is raised from seeds of desi peach trees. The seeds of commercial cultivars like Sharbati and Khurmani are also used. Peach plants can also be raised on peach-almond hybrid, apricot, almond seedling, plum and behmi (*Prunus mira*). Most commonly used rootstock are the seedlings of wild peach. Peach seeds need chilling in hours to germinate. The process of meeting the cold requirement is called stratification. The stratification of peach seeds can be done under natural conditions and cold storage conditions at 10°C or below.

## **1.12 Grafting operations**

Peach seedlings from stratified seeds planted in the nursery beds during January become buddable in June. The grafting can be done when the seedlings are still in the nursery beds, or these can be uprooted and brought at one place for grafting.

#### **1.13 Training**

The peach is trained to the modified leader system. Plants should be headed back to a height of 90–100 cm at the time of planting. All the branches on the plants are also cut back to two buds. Three to five laterals which are well spaced are allowed to develop around the trunk. The lowest branch should not be below 40–50 cm from the ground level.

#### **1.14 Open-centre system**

After planting, the plant is cut back to 40–60 cm above the ground level. During the growing season, about three to six laterals, in addition to the central leader, are produced on the tree. In the first winter pruning, three to four scaffold branches

which are well located and have wide angle should be selected, and the remaining unwanted branches are removed. The central leader is also completely removed. The selected branches are headed back to ¼ to ½ of the growth. During the second dormant pruning, two to three secondary branches are selected on the primary branches. The major consideration in selecting secondary branches should be their location so that after pruning, the tips of the primary and secondary leaders are about 30–40 cm apart from each other. The height of secondary branches is staggered in different years by pruning all branch leaders more severely. The vertical ones are pruned more severely. This will produce branch leaders at different heights and prevent overcrowding when the tree is mature. In the following years, the head should be fully formed, and selection of secondary branches is completed.

#### **1.15 Tatura trellis system**

In high-density planting, this system of training of plants is very popular due to yield efficiency. Trees are planted at a spacing of 5 × 1 m or 6 × 1 m. At the time of planting, a 1-year-old plant is headed back to 20 cm above the ground level. In the next growing season, two limbs or branches are selected in opposite directions, and these branches are trained across the interrow space at an angle of 60° from the horizontal, forming a V-shaped canopy. The canopy is supported by a permanent trellis constructed of high-tensile galvanised steel fence posts. The secondary branches are developed along each primary branch forming a fruiting canopy.

#### **1.16 Pruning**

The peach fruits are borne after 1-year growth. A small proportion is borne on short-lived spurs also. Pruning should be done so as to produce 50–100 cm of growth in young trees and 30–70 cm in old trees annually. About 40% of 1-year-old branches should be thinned out to ensure proper tree growth and improve fruit size and quality. The pruning of peaches is carried out in early January.

The main objective of pruning is to maintain balance between vegetative growth and fruiting. Bearing peach requires heavy and regular pruning because it bears fruits laterally on the previous season growth. It is known that once the tree bears fruits, it will never bear again throughout its life. Therefore, pruning is done to remove the unproductive parts which in turn will form new fruiting branches in the following season. In peach pruning, thinning and heading back of shoots are two basic components. Pruning should be done so as to produce 30–70 cm of growth under subtropical conditions and 25–30 cm under midhills, annually, which is sufficient for optimum fruit production. For good-quality fruit production, 40–50% of thinning out and 75% heading back of shoots are suggested under midhill conditions. At the time of pruning, dead, diseased and broken branches should be pruned off.

#### **1.17 Orchard floor management**

In the initial years of plantation, the intercrops like peas, beans, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower and ginger are grown in the vacant area in between the trees but not in the basin area. Besides these, some green manuring crops like bean, peas and gram should be grown which helps in improving soil texture and nutrient status. In bearing orchard, the basin area of trees should be kept clean either by manual weeding or the use of weedicides. Sod grasses like white clover, red clover, orchard grass and rye grass are grown in the vacant area between the trees. Basins are mulched with 10-cm-thick dry grass mulch or black alkathene mulch. The mulching helps to conserve soil moisture and efficiently control the weeds in the basin area.

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

average number of leaves per fruit should be 20–25.

when they are still hard as they ripen in storage or transit.

**1.19 Manuring and fertiliser application**

Thinning is more desirable on mature trees making small annual growth than on young vigorous plants. Thinning may also be another resort when good-sized uniform fruits are needed for canning and fancy trade. Hand thinning and chemical thinning can be done. While doing hand thinning, first shake the branches in order to dislodge the fruits which are likely to drop off naturally. If there is still surplus fruit, then start thinning from top to bottom of the branches. The distance from fruit to fruit after thinning on the shoots should be between 10 and 15 cm, and the

Peach fruits are harvested quickly when ready for harvest. Fruits are picked

**Particulars Himachal Pradesh Punjab Uttaranchal** FYM (kg/tree) 60 25 10 N (g/tree) 500 500 300 P2O5 (g/tree) 250 120 300 K2O (g/tree) 600 500 500

Irrigation is very essential for harvesting the peaches of better size and quality.

A sufficient moisture in the soil before the emergence of leaves and flowers is required for proper fruit set and growth. Frequent irrigations are needed during the fruit development. Lack of irrigation, particularly, during dry and hot summer, results in fruit drop and reduced fruit size and quality. In the hills, at least two to three irrigations and, in plains, weekly irrigation should be given during the fruit development period. In general, for quality fruit production, irrigation at 80% of field capacity is recommended. Orchard soil management and weed management are done during the initial 3–4 years after planting; the intercrops like peas, beans, tomato, cabbage, zinger and *Colocasia* are grown in between the peach trees; and basin area is mulched with hay or alkathene mulch. In fully grown tees, sod grasses are grown in vacant areas, and basin area is mulched with suitable mulch materials. Weedicides like simazine and atrazine at 2.0 kg/ha, terbacil at 0.8 kg/ha as pre-emergence and paraquat at 4.0 litre/ha and glyphosate 4.32 kg/ha as post-emergence herbicide proved to be most effective to control the

Heavy flowering and fruiting are the characteristic features of peach trees resulting in small-sized, poor-quality fruits and reduction of flowering in the subsequent season. Hence for production of quality fruits, crop regulation through thinning is essential in peach. The criteria for fruit thinning in peach are based on leaf to fruit ratio and spacing between fruits per tree. Generally 30:40 leaves per

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

**1.18 Thinning of fruits**

**1.20 Harvesting**

**1.21 Irrigation**

weeds in peach orchards.

**1.22 Crop regulation**
