RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CHERRY ROOTSTOCK RESEARCH

Prunus avium and P. mahaleb have been the main sources for rootstocks for sweet and sour cherry production. Improvement of seed sources for uniform rootstock production was earlier the main topic.

The need for smaller trees has lead to interest for rootstock breeding. It was not easy to find dwarfing genotypes within the established species, which may be the main reason for the interest in a wide range of Prunus species as sources for dwarfing rootstocks. However, incompatibility became one of the major problems to solve during the selection work.

Over the last 3 to 4 decades much rootstock breeding and research have been done. Many Prunus species are included in the selection and breeding and numerous interspecific hybrid seedlings have been tested for their potential as dwarfing and productive rootstocks. Colt was the first hybrid rootstock to gain importance in Europe and is now the standard rootstock used in some cherry producing regions.

The Gembloux selections Inmil, Damil and Camil have been included in several trials and will be dealt with.

The biggest programme maybe the breeding of interspecific crosses in Giessen, Germany. From this programme Gisela 1, Gisela 5, Gisela 10 and Gisela 4 were introduced and many others with potential are tested in several countries.

The German Weiroot selections of P. cerasus origin have proved to be of interest. The same is the case for the French Edabriz.

The Bohemian P-HL series seem to contain potential rootstocks, as well as the Pillnitzer series Pi-Ku. In recent Danish work on P. cerasus a rootstock series named DAN has been selected. All selections are more dwarfing than Colt and most of them have higher specific productivity.

Beside the primary interest in vigour and specific productivity, many characteristics such as cold tolerance, nematode and replant disease resistance, PNRV tolerance, effect on flower quality and compatibility maybe important for the choice of new rootstocks.

Many promising rootstocks are now available for research and a new European rootstock trial is under propagation and will include Colt and Damil as standards. The following clones are included: P-HL-A, P-HL-B, hexaploid Colt, Pi-Ku 4.20, Pi-Ku 4.83, Weiroot 10, Weiroot 158, Weiroot 53, Gi 195/1, Gi 195/20, Gi 107/1, Gi 497/8, Gi 148/13, Gi 148/1, Gisela 5, Gi 148/8, Gi 154/7, Gi 475/10, Gi 209/1, Gi 523/02, Gi 318/17, Edabriz, MaxMa 14, MaxMa 60 and MaxMa 97.

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