Deciduous fruits in Nepal - Apple

Both high chilling and low chilling cultivars of apple are cultivated in Nepal. The principal high chilling cultivars are Red, Royal and Golden Delicious, Mc Intosh, Jonathan, Rome Beauty, Granny Smith, Richared, Golden Spur, etc. Among all these cultivars the Delicious group covers a major area as their fruit quality is excellent. The mid chilling cultivars are Katza, Red June, Cox Orange Pippin, Crispin and Summer Pippin. The low chilling cultivars are Anna, Vered, Tropical Beauty, Winter Banana etc.

Rootstocks:

Crab apple (M. baccata) seeds are used extensively for raising rootstocks for apple in Nepal. Edy Mayal which is commonly found in the wild is also being used on a limited scale as a rootstock. Clonal rootstocks such as M9, M26, M27 of the Malling series and MM101, MM106, MM111 of Malling Merton series have been introduced to a few horticultural stations and are used for propagation on a very limited scale.

Production Areas:

High and mid chilling cultivars are mostly grown in an altitude range of 1800 - 2800 m.a.s.l, where chilling is more than 1000 hours; low chilling types are cultivated at elevations as low as 1200 m.a.s.l. and where chilling is 600-1000 hours. As far as elevation is concerned, apple can be grown throughout mid and high mountain areas from Eastern to the far Western region; however, due to high humidity and heavy rainfall during the growing period the most suitable areas for quality apple production are confined to the mid and far Western region where dry to semi humid conditions exist.