Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
of such varieties is not an easy task. In extreme cases the well-suited fruits
crops presently may have to be replaced with newer crops in the new envi-
ronments. In areas where current temperature is below optimal for specific
crops, there will be a benefit, but in areas where plants are near the top of
their optimal range, yields will decrease. Even a minor climate shift of
1-2 °C could have a substantial impact on the geographic range of these
crops. As fruit crops are perennial, moving production areas is not so easy.
2.3
COLD TEMPERATURE
The occurrence of frost due to change in climate is a major threat to fruits
grown under the subtropical conditions of North-western India. Occur-
rence of cold wave in from west to eastern India during 2002-2003 caused
severe damage to fruit plantations (Samra et al., 2003). The level of dam-
age was much higher in mango (40-100%) and litchi (30-80%). Similarly,
other evergreen fruits like guava, Kinnow and Ber were also affected, re-
sulting in reduced fruit size with poor fruit quality. Among various mango
varieties, the mortality was highest in Dashehari, followed by Amrapali
and the Langra was least affected in Northern states of India. In Utta-
ranchal, two years old mango plantation recorded 80 percent mortality
while the severity of damage was lesser with age of trees. The extent of
injury in different fruit plants was in order of mango>papaya>banana>lit
chi>pomegranate>Indian goose berry. The cold wave affect to fruit trees
was greater in low-lying areas where cold air settled and remained for
a longer time on ground. Contrarily to response of evergreen plants, the
deciduous fruit plants likepeach, plum, apple and cherry gave higher yield
due to extended chilling hours in 2003.
Similarly, in 2007-2008, the temperature dipped down and frost oc-
curred in many parts of Punjab due to 'Western disturbances' that caused
freeze and chilling damage to various fruit plants particularly the mango
(Gill and Singh, 2012). The damage was significantly high in frost prone
belts of submontane parts of Punjab where most of the mango plantations
were damaged severely. The magnitude of extent of injury varied from
50-100 percent irrespective of the age of fruit trees. Symptoms of cold
injury damage included drying of shoots up to 2-3 meters from tips and
entire upper tree plant foliage was killed with bark cracking and stripping.
Furthermore, the old and young grafted mango trees were more vulner-
able to frost than seedling plants. The extent of frost damage on various
