ISHS Acta Horticulturae 903: IX International Symposium on Integrating Canopy, Rootstock and Environmental Physiology in Orchard Systems
BREEDING OF APPLE ROOTSTOCKS IN POLAND - THE LATEST RESULTS |
| Authors: | E. Zurawicz, P. Bielicki, A. Czynczyk, B. Bartosiewicz, M. Buczek, M. Lewandowski |
| Keywords: | i>Malus × domestica, selection, fruit yield, relative vigor, productivity index |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.903.13 |
| Abstract:
In the years 1998-2006, two separate field experiments – in the Experimental Orchard in Dąbrowice (central Poland) and the Experimental Fruit-Growing Station in Brzezna (southern Poland), were carried out to assess the fruit-growing value of seven vegetative rootstocks for apple, bred at the Institute of Pomology and Floriculture in Skierniewice. The rootstocks included: P 61, P 62, P 63, P 64, P 65, P 66 and P 67. Based on earlier, interim results, the rootstocks were divided into three groups according to their growth vigor: very dwarf, dwarf and semi-dwarf. A standard rootstock of a corresponding growth vigor was assigned to each group; they were: P 22, M.9 EMLA and M.26, respectively. The value of the studied rootstocks for fruit-growing was assessed on the basis of the growth and yielding of apple trees of three cultivars - ‘Jonagold’, ‘Elstar’ and ‘Redkroft’, which had been grafted on those rootstocks, including the standard rootstocks. Two basic parameters of the trees were assessed, i.e. growth vigor and productivity of the cultivars grafted on the rootstocks being evaluated. Tree growth vigor was determined by the trunk cross-sectional area (TCSA) and crown volume, while tree productivity was assessed on the basis of fruit yield per cm2 of trunk cross-sectional area (kg/cm2) and per m3 of crown volume (kg/m3). The most valuable were found to be rootstocks P 66 and P 67. In both experiments, all the cultivars growing on these rootstocks produced yields similar to those produced on the standard rootstock M.26, despite the fact that the trees on these rootstocks grew significantly less vigorously than the trees on M.26, adopted as standard for this group of rootstocks. Both productivity indices of the trees on these two rootstocks were also significantly higher than those of the trees on M.26. It is known from earlier experiments that the P 66 rootstock has medium susceptibility to fire blight, while P 67 has low susceptibility to that disease. Both rootstocks have been put on the Polish National List of Fruit Plant Varieties. | |
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