Performance of Various Apple Cultivars at Murree Hills of Pakistan (original) (raw)

Fruit species and cultivars within species are greatly different in their performance in terms of color, taste, fruit size, fruit weight, fruit yield and TSS depending upon agro-climatic conditions. The present study was carried out at Hill Fruit Research Station, Sunny Bank, Murree, Pakistan to evaluate the field performance of nine apple cultivars; Sky Spur, Red Chief, Sparton, Ida Red, Starking Delicious, Kandhari, Red Golden, Nugget and Golden Russet. The apple cultivar Kandhari proved to be an early maturing (late July); Sky Spur, Starking Delicious and Sparton were mid season (mid August) maturing cultivars; Red Golden, Nugget and Golden Russet were late maturing cultivars. Sky Spur, Nugget and Starking Delicious performed significantly better compared to other cultivars regarding the number of fruit per plant, fruit weight per plant & total soluble solids, and may be recommended for commercial cultivation in northern areas especially in Murree hills of Pakistan.