ISHS Acta Horticulturae 696: VII International Symposium on Temperate Zone Fruits in the Tropics and Subtropics - Part Two
SIGNIFICANCE OF CRAB APPLES IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF APPLES |
| Authors: | D.K. Kishore, K.K Pramanick, S.K. Sharma |
| Keywords: | crab apple, rootstocks, germplasm, disease resistance |
| Abstract:
A number of crab apples have been found growing wild in the Himalayas. Botanically only two species of Malus have been identified viz. Malus baccata and Malus sikkimensis. At the IARI Regional Station for Horticulture at Shimla, India seven types of Malus baccata and two types of Malus sikkimensis from different agro-climatic regions have been collected. Significant differences for their botanical and horticultural traits have been observed. The crab apples from Shillong and Srinagar exhibited a very good propagation potential, showed a high degree of resistance to powdery mildew and apple scab, while that from Shillong produces semi vigorous trees and Srinagar produces very vigorous trees when used as rootstock. All the crab apples exhibited a considerably less chilling hour requirement as compared to the standard apple rootstocks M 9 and MM106. Thus, these crab apples are likely to improve the productivity of apple varieties in areas where the chilling requirement is not being fully met. The germplasm that holds promise for using rootstock viz., Malus baccata (Shillong), Malus baccata (Srinagar) etc. or in breeding programme for disease resistance or as pollinizers has been identified for the improvement of apple. | |
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