Evaluation of some pollinizers in commercial apple (Malus domestic Borkh.) cv. Red Delicious

The observations on flowering behavior and fruit set of the various pollinizer cultivars were compared with main cultivar ‘Red Delicious’. Among the various pollinizers and main cultivar ‘Red Delicious’, the flower bud initiation in the year 2002 and 2003 were started the earliest on 22nd March (Manchurian) and 21st March (Snowdrift), respectively and subsequent flowering remain continued till 19th April (Red Gold) in 2002 and 21st April (Red Delicious) in 2003. The mean bloom density varied from 39.32% (Golden Spur) to 82.35% (Snowdrift) in 2002 to 35.41% (Ty. Early Worcester) to 84.34% (Snowdrift) in 2003. The time of peak anthesis and anther dehiscence were observed at 11:00 hours and 14:00 hours of a day, respectively. Under all pollination methods, the crabs (Manchurian, Snowdrift and Golden Hornet) and commercial pollinizer Summer Queen exhibited excellent fruit set to ‘Red Delicious’. Among methods of pollination, the bouquet placement proved to be most effective in improving the fruit set to the main cultivar ‘Red Delicious’. Therefore, all the crabs as well as commercial pollinizer Summer Queen can be recommended for apple cv. Red Delicious as a pollinizer in improving the fruit set and subsequent yield.