Occurrence of Virus Vector Nematodes in Disturbed, Undisturbed and Neglected Apple Ecosystems of Kashmir, India

摘要

Fruits as a back bone of horticulture are grown over an area of 5.50 mha in our country with a production of over 55 million metric tones per year. Our country accounts for 10% of the total world production. Among various fruits, apple being the pre-dominant temperatefruit of India accounts for about 3% of the total fruit production of the country. India stands 8th in apple production in the world but ranks at 53rd position in terms of productivity. In India average productivity of apple is nearly 6-8 tones/ha, whichis lower than the averageyield of advanced countries, e.g. Belgium (46.22 tones/ ha), Denmark (41.87 tones/ha) and Netherland (40.40 tones/ha). Among the temperate fruits in Jammu and Kashmir, apple ranks first covering 43.30% area and 80.18% production respectively (Anon, 2008).