AbstractApple is one of the important temperate crops cultivated worldwide. The phenological stages that are highly responsive to the changing climatic conditions have a significant impact on crop production. This study observed the variations in phenophases in apple crop at different altitudes along with the yield and quality response curves to highlight the changes occurred under current climatic conditions in the Jammu & Kashmir UT. Two districts under the study were Baramulla and Shopian with the elevations ranging 1612–2054 m amsl and 1630–2084 m amsl, respectively. Comparison of three commercial apple varieties (Red Delicious, Royal Delicious and Golden Delicious) at different altitudes revealed that flowering occurred earlier in lower elevations. Duration of flowering ranged from 13–17 days in district Baramulla and from 16–22 days in district Shopian. However, fruit set and yield were found highest at higher elevations than at lower elevations. Fruits from lower altitudes were heavier and larger in size compared to higher altitudes. The fruits from higher altitudes had higher fruit chemical characteristics viz. TSS, total sugar content and TSS/ acidity ratio. Between the two districts, fruits from Shopian have better fruit quality traits as compared to the fruits from Baramulla. The CO2 concentration was recorded higher during winter months in both the districts. Overall, temperature showed slightly increasing trend (2.15 %) and rainfall showed decreasing trend (9.59 %) over the last four decades. Climate change seems to be inevitable, thus increase in atmospheric temperature have adverse effects on apple crop production which may result in shifting of apple cultivation belt to higher elevations in the valley. The correlation analysis revealed that temperature positively influenced RD and RYD yields, while rainfall had a negative effect and CO2 exerted a moderate positive impact, indicating differential crop responses to environmental factors.
Mohan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.