International Journal of Horticulture 2015, Vol.5, No.15, 1
-
6
1
Research Report
Open Access
Morphological and Pomological Evaluation of Almond (
Prunus dulcis
) Cultivars
under North West Himalayan Region of India
Kumar D., Ahmed N.
Division of Fruit Crops, ICAR-Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Old Air Field, Rangreth, Srinagar-190007, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Corresponding author email
International Journal of Horticulture, 2015, Vol.5, No.15 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2015.05.0015
Received: 27 Aug., 2015
Accepted: 17 Sep., 2015
Published: 24 Nov., 2015
Copyright
© 2015
Kumar et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Kumar D., Ahmed N., 2015, Morphological and pomological evaluation of almond (
Prunus dulcis
) cultivars under north west Himalayan region of India
International Journal of Horticulture, 2015, Vol.5, No.15 1-6 (doi
Abstract
The main aim of this study to evaluate nine almond cultivars for morphological, flowering, nut yield and quality traits
under north western Himalayan region of India. The results of four year pooled data indicated that maximum TCSA (152.02 cm
2
) and
canopy volume (11.53 m
3
) were recorded in Non Pareil variety of almond. Earliest bud burst, flowering and fruit set were recorded in
Makhdoom cultivar and late bud burst, flowering and fruit set were recorded in California paper Shell cultivar of almond.
Significantly highest cumulative nut yield (19.66 kg/tree and 12.28 t/ha) was recorded in Pranyaj cultivar of almond. Highest nut
weight (3.90 g) and kernel weight (2.06 g) was recorded in IXL cultivar of almond. Nut size, kernel size and ratio were maximum in
California Paper shell. Minimum shell weight (0.55 g) and shell thickness (1.38 mm) were recorded in Merced cultivar of almond
under North West Himalayan region of India.
Keywords
Almond; TCSA; Canopy volume; Nut yield; Quality
Introduction
Almond
(Prunus dulcis
Batsch) belongs to family
Rosaceae is one of the important nut crops of
temperate region of India, mainly grown in Kashmir
valley. In India it is grown over an area of 23,200
hectares with an annual production of 16,300 tonnes
and productivity 0.7 t/ha as compared to other almond
producing countries such as UAE (33.3 t/ha),Jordan
(7.73t/ha), Lebanon (5.82 t/ha) , Afghanistan (4.99
t/ha), USA (4.85 t/ha), Turkey (3.23t/ha), Kazakhstan
(3.12t/ha), China (3.08t/ha), Israel (3.0t/ha) and Chile
(2.89t/ha), respectively (FAO, 2010). Almond kernels
are concentrated sources of energy with a significant
share of fat, protein and fibre. Fats are primarily non
saturated, mostly oleinic and linoleic fatty acids. Non
saturated fatty acid is an important in maintaining low
cholesterol levels in the blood and significant amount
of micro-nutrients (Aslanta et al., 2001). The kernel
contains between 5.93-7.27 % water, 8.03-8.13 % ash,
53.67-54.26 % oil, 23.03-23.98 % protein, 4.15-5.29%
total sugars, 1546-1685 mg/100 g K, 253-259 mg/100
g P, 640-678 mg/100 g Ca, 447-494 mg/100 g Mg,
24.30-25.80 ppm Cu, 76.33-80.50 ppm Zn, 54.83-65.33
ppm Fe and 37.67-37.83 ppm Mn (Aslanta et al.,
2001). Kernel taste inheritance in almond reported by
Vargas (Vargas et al., 2001).Commercial almond
production in India is low considering the demand and
economical potential. However, domestic demands is
increasing every year, with the result, the country
is importing almond to the tune of more than Rs.1500
crores annually. The almond cultivars play an
important role in improving the production and
productivity under Kashmir condition. The improved
indigenous almond cultuvars such as Makhdoom,
Shalimar and Waris and exotic cultivars such as Non
Pareil, IXL, Pranyaj, Primorskij, Merced and
California Paper shell are performing well under
Kashmir condition. Evaluation of almond variety
in Karaj (Damvar and Hassani, 2006) for yield and
quality traits. Regional almond variety evaluation in
California (Lapinen et al., 2002).The plant growth
habit and fruiting behaviour vary in different cultivars
of almond. Keeping this in view, an attempt was made
to evaluate the performance of different almond
cultivars under North West Himalayan region of India.
Materials and Methods
Experimental layout
The experiment was conducted at ICAR-Central
Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Old Air Field,
Rangreth, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir during
2008-09 to 2012-13 to study the performance of
