Implications of Changing Climate on Productivity of Temperate Fruit Crops with Special Reference to Apple

Copyright: © 2015 Rai R, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Winter chill is essential for most of the plants that fall dormant in the winter in order to avoid frost damage and do not resume growth until a certain amount of winter chill has accumulated for fulfilling their chilling requirement. Climate change is likely to affect chilling requirement of temperate fruit crops significantly and therefore, the opportunity to meet this requirement will be reduced as the climate becomes warmer. Increase in average global temperature would move the existing plant species and varieties to new latitudinal belts with favourable climates. It is, therefore, possible that crops that are used to be productive in one area may no longer be so or the other way round. The resultant of these climate changes are clearly apparent in the shifting of apple cultivation from lower elevations to higher altitudes in India. Insufficient chilling greatly influences flower initiation and fruit colouration along with deterioration in fruit texture and taste. Further, the lack of proper chilling is also posing serious problems like scab disease, premature leaf fall and infestation of red spider mite in apple. High temperature and moisture stress is increasing sunburn and cracking in apple, apricots and cherries in the higher altitudes. Insufficient chilling reduces pollination, fruit set and ultimatel