Evaluation of crab apples for pollination

Eight flowering crab apples namely Malus robusta, Malus, floribunda, Malus georgious, Malus EM Wilson, Snowdrigt, Manchurian, Redflush and Golden Hornet were tested in various apple growing situations of Kotkhai area for their growth, flowering and fruit set responses to Delicious cultivars. All the crab apples under study, except Malus robusta and Malus E M Wilson were observed slow growing with compact and spreading habit. In branch grafting of M robusta on primary or secondary branches, it was found to overgrow the main tree. In respect to flowering behaviour, Manchurian and Redflush are very early in flowering but their bloom of ten coincides with king bloom of Delicious. Snowdrift is an excellent annually flowering crab with pronounced effect on fruit set, though it is also litde early in bloom. M georgious, M E M Wilson, M floribunda have the bloom period almost coinciding with the Delicious, whereas Golden Hornet is late like Golden Delicious. Golden Hornet and Snowdrigt had high flower bud intensity (0.86 and 0.70 respectively). Highest fruit set (152.2 per 100 spurs) was recorded in Snowdrift pollinated Delicious trees. It was followed by Manchurian (104 per cent). Malus robusta and M floribunda had the least response on fruit set.