**2.8 Propagation and rootstocks**

Plums are generally propagated through hardwood cuttings. In case rootstocks are to be used, budding and grafting methods are employed for its propagation. Plum is raised on seedling rootstock of wild apricot (Zardalu) and *Prunus cerasifera.*

#### **2.9 Raising of rootstocks**

The rootstocks can be raised either through seeds or through cuttings.


### **2.10 Rootstock**

Plums are propagated vegetatively by budding and grafting on rootstocks. These can also be propagated by hardwood cutting and by leafy softwood cuttings

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

under intermittent misting. Cuttings taken from hardwood and semi hardwood are treated with IBA (2000–5000 ppm) for better rooting. For raising the seedlings, the seeds of wild apricot are stratified under alternate layers of moist sand for 45–50 days at temperature 3–5°C to break the rest. The stratified seeds are sown in nursery beds 6–10 cm deep in row 25–30 cm apart with a distance of 10–15 cm from seed to seed. The seedlings attain graftable size in a year. In Punjab, own-rooted plants of Kala Amritsari are generally used for planting. Clonal rootstocks of plum are multiplied commercially by layering. It has been observed that most of clonal rootstocks of plum are difficult to root. Application of 2500 ppm IBA to stool shoot helps to improve rooting. Clonal rootstocks are also propagated by hardwood cuttings. The hardwood cutting should be taken during dormant season and dipped in 2500 ppm IBA solution for 30 seconds. Then these cutting are planted in mist

Seedling as well as clonal rootstocks which are 0.8–1.2 cm in thickness are grafted in February with tongue and cleft method of grafting. The seedling which do not attain graftable size in February, they should be budded with T- and chip methods of budding in June–July. For grafting the scion, wood should be collected from healthy, disease-free, true to variety trees during January. The scion wood is collected from 1-year-old shoots. They are packed in moist sphagnum moss, which are properly labelled for variety. These bundles of scion wood are stored in cold storage or buried deep in the soil at shady place till grafting is done. The best time of grafting of these fruits is February in lower elevation and in March at higher elevations. Chip budding can also be done in March, July and September.

The rooted cuttings can be directly used without budding. The cuttings taken from subapical portions planted after dipping in IBA and callusing for about a month give higher percentage of success. The time of preparation of cutting is from

Budding by shield or T-method is performed in April and July–August. The plants budded becomes saleable after 1 and a half year. The propagation by cleft and tongue grafting is performed when the stock and scion are still dormant. Cleft

pits. Fill the pits with top soil and well-

grafting is generally performed when the stock is thicker than the scion.

rotten FYM before planting. Square system of planting is adopted with 6 m spacing. Provide irrigation soon after setting plants in pits and staking. Avoid

Planting of plum is done in December–January when the plant is in dormant conditions. Before planting, the bushes and weeds on the site of an orchard should

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

propagation chamber for rooting.

**2.11 Propagation of scion**

**2.12 Vegetative propagation**

the end of December to the end of January.

They are planted in January in 1 m3

**2.13 Planting and planting density**

*2.12.1 Hardwood cuttings*

*2.12.2 Budding and grafting*

*2.12.3 Planting operations*

water stagnation.

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

under intermittent misting. Cuttings taken from hardwood and semi hardwood are treated with IBA (2000–5000 ppm) for better rooting. For raising the seedlings, the seeds of wild apricot are stratified under alternate layers of moist sand for 45–50 days at temperature 3–5°C to break the rest. The stratified seeds are sown in nursery beds 6–10 cm deep in row 25–30 cm apart with a distance of 10–15 cm from seed to seed. The seedlings attain graftable size in a year. In Punjab, own-rooted plants of Kala Amritsari are generally used for planting. Clonal rootstocks of plum are multiplied commercially by layering. It has been observed that most of clonal rootstocks of plum are difficult to root. Application of 2500 ppm IBA to stool shoot helps to improve rooting. Clonal rootstocks are also propagated by hardwood cuttings. The hardwood cutting should be taken during dormant season and dipped in 2500 ppm IBA solution for 30 seconds. Then these cutting are planted in mist propagation chamber for rooting.

#### **2.11 Propagation of scion**

Prunus

a.Prunes. Fruit is oval in shape with bulging ventral side and compressed bilaterally. It is blue or purple in colour, high in sugar content which makes itself suitable for drying without removal of pit. All prunes are plums but all plums are not prunes.

b.Reineclaude and green gage plum. This is a hybrid between *Prunus domestica* and *Prunus insititia*. Fruit is greenish yellow in colour and round in shape having yellow skin and flesh. Important varieties are Golden Drop, Green

c.Lombard plum. The colour of fruit is purplish red. Varieties are Lombard

2.*Prunus salicina* (Japanese plum). It originated in China but introduced in Japan from where it is disseminated around the world. Plant is more vigorous, productive, precocious and resistant to diseases than European plum. The fruits are large and heart shaped with pronounced apex. A few cultivars are oblate or

3.*Prunus insititia.* This is a small European plum which is hexaploid in shape and grows wild in Europe and Western Asia. Plums of this species are known as Damson and Mirabelles. Fruits are small and purple (Damson) and yellow (Mirabelles). Plants are small and compact and forms excellent hedge rows.

California Blue, Washington, French Prunes, Early Italian, Stanley, Grand Duke,

Beauty, Methley, Santa Rosa, Kelsey, Mariposa, Satsuma, Burbank Red Beaut,

Plums are generally propagated through hardwood cuttings. In case rootstocks are to be used, budding and grafting methods are employed for its propagation. Plum is raised on seedling rootstock of wild apricot (Zardalu) and *Prunus cerasifera.*

The rootstocks can be raised either through seeds or through cuttings.

a.Through seeds. Stones are extracted from ripe fruits and sown during

b.Stem cuttings. Stem cuttings are planted in beds in row at a distance of 15 cm in rows which are 30 cm apart. The rooted cuttings are budded in the following

Plums are propagated vegetatively by budding and grafting on rootstocks. These can also be propagated by hardwood cutting and by leafy softwood cuttings

November in rows. Light irrigation is provided after sowing.

May–June or grafted in December–January.

Varieties are Italian prunes, Giant prune and President.

gage and Golden transparent.

and Victoria.

**2.6 European plum cultivar**

**2.7 Japanese plum cultivar**

**2.8 Propagation and rootstocks**

**2.9 Raising of rootstocks**

round.

Victoria, Damson.

Fronteir.

**90**

**2.10 Rootstock**

Seedling as well as clonal rootstocks which are 0.8–1.2 cm in thickness are grafted in February with tongue and cleft method of grafting. The seedling which do not attain graftable size in February, they should be budded with T- and chip methods of budding in June–July. For grafting the scion, wood should be collected from healthy, disease-free, true to variety trees during January. The scion wood is collected from 1-year-old shoots. They are packed in moist sphagnum moss, which are properly labelled for variety. These bundles of scion wood are stored in cold storage or buried deep in the soil at shady place till grafting is done. The best time of grafting of these fruits is February in lower elevation and in March at higher elevations. Chip budding can also be done in March, July and September.

#### **2.12 Vegetative propagation**

#### *2.12.1 Hardwood cuttings*

The rooted cuttings can be directly used without budding. The cuttings taken from subapical portions planted after dipping in IBA and callusing for about a month give higher percentage of success. The time of preparation of cutting is from the end of December to the end of January.

#### *2.12.2 Budding and grafting*

Budding by shield or T-method is performed in April and July–August. The plants budded becomes saleable after 1 and a half year. The propagation by cleft and tongue grafting is performed when the stock and scion are still dormant. Cleft grafting is generally performed when the stock is thicker than the scion.

#### *2.12.3 Planting operations*

They are planted in January in 1 m3 pits. Fill the pits with top soil and wellrotten FYM before planting. Square system of planting is adopted with 6 m spacing. Provide irrigation soon after setting plants in pits and staking. Avoid water stagnation.

#### **2.13 Planting and planting density**

Planting of plum is done in December–January when the plant is in dormant conditions. Before planting, the bushes and weeds on the site of an orchard should be properly cleared off. It is advisable to plough the plantation area. In hilly area, terraces should be kept inwards to facilitate soil conservation. The orchard area should be properly laid out about 2 months before planting. In sloppy land, layout of an orchard should be done with contour or terrace system, while in a flat land, square system is followed.

#### **2.14 Training and pruning**

Plums are generally trained on the open-centre system or to modified central leader system depending upon the varietal growth habits. The varieties with spreading habits of growth as in Japanese plum should be trained to open-centre system. In HP open-centre system is followed irrespective of variety. However, in the plains, where plenty of sunlight is available, trees should be trained in the form of modified central leader system with four to five scaffold branches.

#### **2.15 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 five scaffold branches which are well spaced and have wide angle should be selected, and the remaining branches are removed.

The central leader is also completely removed. The planting distance varies according to the varieties, rootstocks and fertility of soils. Plums are generally planted at a distance of 6 m × 6 m. In high-density plantation, the plum plants raised on semi-dwarfing clonal rootstocks should be planted at 4 m × 4m in distance. Pits of 1 m × 1 m × 1 m size are dug in October–November. Pits should be filled with fertile top soils mixed with 40 kg of well-rotten FYM and 1 kg of single super phosphate. To avoid any damage from insects, the pits are drenched with 10 litres of chlorpyrifos (4 ml/L) solution. The graft union should be kept 10–15 cm above the ground level at the time of planting to avoid any scion rooting. Young plants should be watered regularly, and basin area is mulched with 15-cm-thick dry grass.

The selected branches are headed back to ¼ 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 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.

#### **2.16 Pruning**

In plums, thinning and heading back of shoots are two basic components of pruning. Most of the plum varieties bear on spurs on 2-year-old woods. The life span of these spurs is 5–6 years. It is necessary to prune for some spur renewal each season. The extent of pruning is done such a way to induce an annual shoot growth of 25–50 cm. In bearing plum trees, 25–30% thinning of shoots and 50–75% heading back of shoots are suggested for proper fruiting. At the time of pruning, dead, diseased and broken branches should be pruned off.

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

Plum requires adequate amount of nutrients for better growth and quality fruits.

Plum is mostly grown under rainfed conditions. However, in order to produce fruits of good size and better quality, irrigation is essential. Various methods of irrigation are adopted to irrigate plum orchards, but in hill basin, drip irrigation methods are more popular and are widely used and recommended. After fruit setting, the plum trees are irrigated at weekly intervals and six to eight irrigations which are recommended for higher production of quality fruits in Santa Rosa

In plum orchard, sod culture and mulching of tree basin area with hay mulch or black alkathene mulch are the most common methods of orchard floor management. During pre-bearing stage, intercropping with legumes and vegetables is also practiced in orchards planted in flat and less sloppy land. The weed removal manually is one of the practices employed in the orchards besides inter cultivation and cover crop growing. In rainy seasons, the weeds in plum orchard are controlled with the post-emergence sprays of glyphosate at the rate of 800 ml/

Generally plum tends to bear heavy crops and bear undersized fruits of low quality, and thinning, therefore, is necessary to increase the fruit size and uniformity in colour and to stimulate flower initiation for the regulation of next year's crop. Various methods such as ,manual, mechanical and use of chemicals are used, but chemical thinning has superiority with respect to thinning cost, fruit size and quality. NAA at 20 to 40 ppm sprayed after petal fall resulted in good

It has been observed that plum usually ripen unevenly over the tree. Fruits, therefore, are harvested in two or three pickings, and it is very important to find out the exact stage of picking when they are mature. Among various indices of maturity, most commonly used are flesh firmness 5.9 ± 0.45 kg, days from full bloom (94 ± 3), TSS 13.5–14.5 and TSS acidity ratio 1.2:1.5. The fruits are harvested with stalk intact avoiding any skin injury. Fruits are very delicate and perishable; therefore picking baskets should be lined with soft material on the inner surface. Immediately after plucking the fruits should be kept under the shade of the tree to

Application of manures and fertilisers depends upon soil fertility, type of soil, topography, age of tree, cultural practices and crop load. The requirement of fertilisers varies from region to region. The farmyard manure along with full dose of P and K should be applied during December and January. Half dose of N is applied in

spring before flowering and the remaining half a month later.

**2.19 Orchard floor management and weed management**

**2.20 Crop regulation and quality improvement**

**2.21 Maturity, harvesting and yield**

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

**2.17 Nutrition**

**2.18 Irrigation**

plum.

hectare.

fruit thinning.

remove field heat.
