Comparative studies on growth, flowering and fruiting behaviour of new introductions of peach cultivars with July Elberta under mid hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the different peach cultivars under mid hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh during 2010 and 2011. These cultivars differ in their growth, flowering and fruiting behaviour depending upon the prevailing climatic conditions. Maximum scion girth (38.16 and 41.70 cm), tree height (4.03 and 4.39 m), tree spread (3.25 and 3.61 m) and tree volume (22.32 and 29.99 m³) were observed with ‘July Elberta’ whereas minimum scion girth (30.54 and 34.63 cm) and tree height (2.81and 3.23 m) in ‘Early Elberta’, minimum tree spread (2.74 and 3.06 m) and tree volume (11.75 and 16.54 m³) in ‘Suncrest’ during both the years respectively. Study of both the years showed that ‘Glohaven’ produced the maximumannual shootgrowth((83.72and 85.82 cm) followed by ‘Suncrest’ and maximum leafarea (53.68 and 54.49 cm²) was recorded in ‘Early Elberta’ respectively. Cultivar Suncrest was observed earliest in bud swell, pink bud, full bloom and petal fall stages while Glohaven was late in bud swell, pink bud and full bloom stages but petal fall was late in ‘July Elberta’. Maximum flowering duration was observed in ‘July Elberta’ while minimum in ‘Glohaven’ followed by ‘Early Elberta’. Bloom density, fruit set, fruit drop and fruit retention varied between the cultivars during the years 2010 and 2011. Cultivar Glohaven was earliest to mature followed by ‘Suncrest’ and ‘July Elberta’ whereas ‘Early Elberta’ was late in maturity. Maximum yield and productivity were recorded in ‘Early Elberta’ and minimum in ‘July Elberta’.