Now, apple scab outbreak looms large in Himachal Pradesh
SHIMLA: Already reeling under the Covid crisis and untimely snow during spring season, the apple economy in Himachal is now staring at the possibility of an apple scab outbreak.
Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Forestry and Horticulture, in an advisory for apple growers, stated that the prevailing humid conditions, due to rains in the first fortnight of May, will provide a conducive environment for the growth of the fungi causing apple scab and other foliar diseases.
Apple scab affects the foliage, blossoms, and fruits of trees which leave dark spots and lesions on them and cause them to prematurely drop off or be deformed.
Lokinder Singh Bisht, president of the Progressive Growers Association said, “Incessant rains over the last few days and subsequent fall in temperatures were conducive for the incubation of scab, and many orchards where regular spray schedules were not being followed have seen an outbreak of scab. If regular sprays and proper sanitation methods are not followed, the disease is bound to turn into an epidemic.”
Scab is one of the most dreaded fungal diseases which reemerged in the state last year after almost two decades and gradually spread to the apple orchards and high hills of Theogh, Rampur Bushar and Kullu district, leading to a lean crop year.
While the oft repeated hailing across the main apple growing regions in Shimla, Kullu, Kinnaur and Mandi have destroyed major portions of the crop in the mid and high hills, the re-emergence of scab is posing another problem. Apart from that, Alternaria-leaf blotch fungi and mite eggs from overwintering in the debris has also been reported in the apple orchards in lower and middle belts of the state.
The department of plant pathology of Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni, had proposed to organise 24 group meetings of farmers in the apple growing districts of the state to create awareness about the disease management in apple crop. But due to the imposition of Covid curfew, the meeting had to be called off. The university has, however, created two Whatsapp groups — one of representative farmers and the other for horticulture extension officers from different districts — to communicate the advisory for farmers to be followed during May and June, 2021.