Impact of Climate Variability on Apple Production in Shopian District, Jammu and Kashmir

Decreased productivity of Apple orchards in the recent years has become a serious concern of the growers in Jammu and Kashmir particularly Shopian District. The apple yield has shown continuous fluctuations from last five years in the district, although the area of cultivation has steadily increased from 19770 hectares in 2008-09 to 21595 hectares in 2014-15. The factors which influence yield are climate, soil, cultivars, rootstocks, spacing and cultural management practices. Whereas all these factors influencing yield are manageable, the climate factors are beyond the control. The appearance of certain diseases and pests in epidemic form has also adversely affected apple production in recent years. The outbreak of pre- mature leaf fall and apple scab disease in the last five years remained persistent problem of the apple growers. Apple production and meteorological data during the past 9 years indicates great role of abnormal climatic factors during flowering and winter chilling requirements in lowering apple production. Among all the climatic factors rainfall during flowering seems to be most crucial factor in apple crop productivity in the study area. Parveez Ahmad Rather"Impact of Climate Variability on Apple Production in Shopian District, Jammu and Kashmir" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-2 | Issue-2 , February 2018, URL: http://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd8311.pdf http://www.ijtsrd.com/economics/other/8311/impact-of-climate-variability-on-apple-production-in-shopian-district-jammu-and-kashmir/parveez-ahmad-rather