Introduction Apple is a temperate fruit grown at a height of 7000-9000 feet. In India apple based industries form the backbone of the economy of the two major producing states of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. India at present however, has a very minimal share in the total world apple production.   Area Of Cultivation In India, apple is mainly grown in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and the hilly areas of Uttar Pradesh. Small quantities of apples are also grown in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim, Mizoram and Bihar.

Varieties
Apple varieties fall into two categories: diploids and tripolids. Diploids have plenty of good pollen and are self-fruitful. Triploids are self-unfruitful and become productive only when pollinated by using suitable pollenizer varieties. Even self-fruitful varieties have to be interplanted to get commercial crops through cross-pollination. Varieties selected for interplating should sufficiently overlap in their blossoming periods. Some of the important varieties in various states are listed below: Himachal Pradesh: `Red Delicious’, `Golden Delicious’, `Worester Pearmain’, `Newton Wonder’ (all diploids), `Cox’s Orange Pippin’ (triploid), `King of Pippins’ (No. 13), `Starking (Royal) Delicious’ and `Richard’. Kashmir Valley: `Red Delicious’ (diploid), `Baldwin’ (triploid) `Ambri Kashmiri’, `White Dotted Red’ and `Blood Red’. Simla Hills: `Beauty of Bath’ (triploid), Red Delicious’, `Jonathan’, `Rome Beauty’ (all diploids), `Early Shanburry’, `Red Astrachan’, `Red Sudeley’, `Stayman Winesap’, `Winter Banana’ and `Yellow Newton’. Kumaon Hills: `James Grieve’, `Jonathan’, `Rome Beauty’ (all diploids), `Blenheim Orange Pippin’, `Delicious’, `Early Shanburry’, `Golden Pippin’, `King of Pippins’, `Rymer’ and `Winter Banana’. Kulu Valley: `Ben Davis’, `Red Delicious’, `Golden Delicious’, (all diploids), `Cox’s Orange Tippin’, `Blenheim Orange’, `Baldwin’ (all triploids), `Red Astrachan’, `King of Pippins’ `Yellow Newton’ and `Granny Smith’. Nilgiri: `Rome Beauty’ (diploid) and `Irish Peach’.

Propagation And Planting
Most of the apple cultivars especially of the delicious group and its spur types and colour strains need adequate cross pollination for optimal yields. Research on the proportion and distribution of pollinizers has indicated that 20-25% pollinizers are adequate for delicious group of varieties. In marginal conditions where fruit set is adv.