Rain,snow bring cheer to Himachal

Snowfall in the upper reaches,including Shimla,Kinnaur and Kullu,would not only moderate the day and night temperatures but would provide the much-needed chilling conditions to apple,cherry,pear and peach orchards.

With a consequent dip in the temperatures,the threat of pre-mature blooming and erratic flowering in the orchards,particularly in the apple growing belt of the region,too,has somewhat lessened.

“The rains and snowfall would certainly help in meeting the chilling conditions required by apple orchards and hopefully lessen the chances of early flowering in the apple-growing belts of the state,” said Dr K R Dhiman,Vice-Chancellor,Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry,Nauni.

He said the region did not experience heavy snowfall during the current winter thereby preventing exposure of deciduous fruit orchards to chill.

Dhiman hoped that if rain and snowfall occurred repeatedly up to mid-April,it would help in checking erratic flowering in the orchards. Further,it would also help fruit to set in the orchards and would meet the water requirements of stone fruit and apple orchards.

Notably,apple,pear,cherry,plum,apricot and peach fruit plants need a dormant period for development and an exposure of at least 900 to 1600 hours chill with a minimum of seven degrees Celsius for bumper crop. This year owing to less rains and snowfall,the apple orchards witnessed only 1300 hours of chill.

Professor and the head of department of Fruit Sciences of Varsity,Dr D R Gautam,said the fresh spell of snowfall would act as a cushion in meeting the soil moisture requirements in the apple-growing belt.

Current showers in the tropical and sub tropical zones have also amplified hopes of a better yield of rabi crops like wheat,gram,barley,mustard and other traditional crops in rain-fed areas. For,the rains had even enhanced the average relative humidity factor and soil moisture in the region.

“Although the five month-long drought-like conditions had already destroyed 80 to 90 per cent of rabi crop in rain-fed areas but current showers would,besides moderating the soil temperature,would affect tilling of late varieties of wheat,barley and mustard,” said former head of Kandaghat Krishi Vigyan Kendra Dr A S Kashyap The current rains will also be helpful to all rabi crops,especially leafy vegetables,he added.

On the other hand,Kisan Sabha president Pyare Lal felt that late rains would not help the farming community,as prolonged dry spell had already caused heavy damage to rabi crops across the state.

Due to drought-like conditions,the farmers in around 80 per cent rain-fed areas haven’t carried out farming activities in the absence of the needed soil moisture.