Monday, February 25, 2013

Bummer: Although the globe hasn't warmed since apples in India allegedly tasted sweet, global warming has now allegedly made them taste sour

Arunachal apples losing taste due to climate change
Itanagar: Popular for its sweetness, apples produced in the Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh are now gradually losing their taste and even turning sour as a result of climate change.
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For optimum growth and fruiting, apple trees need 100-125 cm of annual rainfall, evenly distributed during the growing season.

In the last few years, there has been an unprecedented increase in the intensity of rainfall as well as cloudbursts in the north-eastern state. Farmers of the remote Mechuka valley in West Siang district, a few kms away from the China border, complain that 15-20 years ago the apples they produced were sweet, but now the fruits taste sour.

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