Department of Horticulture, H.P., Simla
Leaf analysis survey of apple orchards in eleven concentrated orchard pockets of Himachal Pradesh was conducted during the years 1975 to 1979. Of the nine essential elements studied as many as six elements viz. N, P, K. Ca, Mn and Zn were found deficient in apple orchards in Himachal Pradesh. The extent of deficiency was in the order Zn>P>K>N> Mn > Ca, of course varying from locality to locality.
It addition to this quite an appreciable percentage of orchards were low in N, P, K, Ca, Cu and Zn which revealed that there is hidden hunger for these elements in the apple plants. Low concentration of N, P and K is ascribed to inadequate application of these elements to shallow apple orchard soils where leaching losses are quite high. Deficiency/hungersigns of Zn, Cu and Mn are either due to the inherently poor fertility status further aggravated by continuous depletion or due to the high availability of Fe and Mg in these soils. However, further investigations are needed to pinpoint the causes of these deficiencies.
