Threat of pest infestation looms over apple orchards in Kashmir

Threat of pest infestation looms over apple orchards in Kashmir

Shopian: Despite apple growers in the Kashmir Valley spending Rs 700-800 crore yearly on pesticide sprays, orchards in the region face a pest infestation.

The leaf miner infestation in apple orchards, mostly reported in the southern parts of the Himalayan region has left a number of apple growers frustrated and staring at losses.

Threat of pest infestation looms over apple orchards in Kashmir

The novel pest, which was first detected in 2021 in the Zainapora belt in south Kashmir, 55 kilometres from Srinagar, has spread to a number of apple orchards in Shopian, Anantnag, Kulgam and Pulwama districts, the top apple producing regions in the UT.

According to apple orchardists, the insect pest known as Apple Leaf Blotch Miner (ALBM) destroys leaves after forming a circular blotch on them. “Apart from destroying the leaves, the pest has affected tree productivity and crop quality in different apple farms.”

Growers, who have been grappling with losses over the past several years, mainly due to Covid-19, climate change, the entry of cheaper Iranian apples, and various diseases attacking the orchards, said that scheduled fungicide and insecticide sprays had failed to eradicate the pest (leaf miner).

“Despite spraying insecticides several times, there has been no effect on the pest so far. We are spraying more pesticides than ever since the pest was found in our orchards, The pests or disease requires recommended insecticides due to which our expenses have also increased,” said Mubashir Ahmad Bhat, an apple grower in Chitragam village of Zainapora, the epicentre of the outbreak.

Threat of pest infestation looms over apple orchards in Kashmir

Bhat, 33, added that the pest has attacked around 40 percent of his apple orchard and spread around 40 kanals. “The pest has spelt doom for the apple farms here. After harming the leaves with yellow spots, the pest lays web layers from one branch to another, followed by the trunk and then even inserts its body into the fruit. During the harvest season the white insects appear like butterflies and frustrate apple pickers. The insects also cause allergies to people working in orchards.”

Experts blame the introduction of the new, high-density varieties imported from European countries for the outbreak of the disease. “Since the Centre is importing high-density plant material and rootstock from Italy, the Netherlands and other countries, there is the possibility that this material has transmitted the pest. The trees are not quarantined properly due to which a lot of pests reach the orchards of Kashmir,” said a senior scientist at Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST Kashmir), on condition of anonymity.

Mohammad Ashraf Wani, a fruit grower and former president of Fruit Mandi Shopian, Kashmir’s apple town, told Moneycontrol that after the new pest was found in orchards and that apple growers in Kashmir are now using 65 pesticides a year. “In Kashmir, only 40-45 diseases have been reported in apple farms compared to 400-500 in European countries. The plant material should be quarantined not in Kashmir but only around ports, so that pests do not reach the orchards and lead to an outbreak of a disease,” said Wani.

This is not the first time that orchardists in the region have faced an infestation. The aphid, San Jose scale and European red mite have been among the notorious pests found in apples in the orchards of the Valley from time to time, creating an alarming situation for Kashmir’s apple industry.

Mariya Dar, head, agronomy at Orchardly, a Kashmir-based agricultural start-up, told Moneycontrol that the pest may have spread due to the newly introduced planting material brought from other parts into the Valley.

“In the beginning, growers took leaf miner as a fungal disease and sprayed different forms of fungicides available in the market. The treatment was done wrongly because it was an insect attack rather than a pathogen attack.

Scientists, while visiting the affected orchards, found worm-like creatures inside the blotches. The spots were caused by pests known as leaf blotch miners, which are larvae of a brown-coloured moth, Leucoptera malifoliella.”

The 29-year-old agronomist explained that during the spring season, the insect reaches the adult stage and lays eggs on the leaves “A week later the eggs hatch and the larvae emerge and enter the leaf. It feeds below the leaf epidermis, creating the blotches, due to which a leaf's photosynthetic ability is affected. The constant feeding might also trigger leaf fall due to which a tree does not get enough food and ultimately the quality of the fruit gets compromised.”

“While visiting the apple orchards last week I observed the larva emerging from the blotch, suspending from the leaves and traveling down the tree stem to find shelter in the orchard debris or tree bark, where it pupates and matures into adults. The cycle gets repeated as the adult lays eggs again, causing further leaf damage.”

The officials noted that dispersal of the blotch leaf-miner to new areas takes place through infested fruits, bud or graft wood, besides plant material.

The department of horticulture, Kashmir and SKUAST Kashmir claimed to have initiated a programme and strategy for damage assessment and management of the pest.

The strategy includes not just identification of pest hotspots, but also its spread channels as well as containment and eradication measures to prevent an outbreak.

Dr Tariq Rasool, associate professor at the division of plant pathology at SKUAST Kashmir, told Moneycontrol that in order to keep the pests at bay, growers in unaffected areas should follow SKUAST’s advisories. “If the leaf miner is not controlled, it can engulf the whole valley within the next 5-8 years. A grower should know what, when and how to spray pesticides.”

Rasool warned that the new pest is always dangerous and has a tendency to spread rapidly. “Every insect sucks the nutrients from the trees and if we allow insects to reproduce, they will cause serious problems to the apple farms in the Valley.”

Advanced Centre for Horticulture Development (ACHD), Zainapora, where the pest was reported for the first time, has low infestation this year due to prolonged precipitation followed by timely pesticide spraying.

But the pest has struck orchards in nearby Anantnag district. For example, Bilal Ahmad Bhat, 30, an apple grower in Bhijbehra, was shocked to see the leaves of apple trees in his orchards turning yellow. “The pest has reached our orchards and not many growers have any idea about this disease. So far, the pest has hit around 10-20 percent of the trees in my orchard. I am deeply worried about the crop colour, size, and the effect of pests on the fruit-set,” said Bhat, who owns 6 kanals of apple orchards.