ISHS Acta Horticulturae 734: VIII International Symposium on Plum and Prune Genetics, Breeding and Pomology
EARLY PERFORMANCE OF FOUR PLUM ROOTSTOCKS TO SIX EUROPEAN PLUM CULTIVARS GROWING IN A NORTHERN CLIMATE |
| Authors: | M. Meland, M.E. Moe |
| Keywords: | Prunus domestica L., rootstock, cultivar, high density, tree size, yield, fruit quality, yield efficiency |
| Abstract:
The performances of the plum rootstocks ‘Marianna’, ‘Pixy’ and ‘Wangenheim’, compared with ‘Saint Julien A’ as a standard, for the cultivars ‘Avalon’, ‘Edda’, ‘Excalibur’, ‘Jubileum’, ‘Reeves’ and ‘Victoria’ were assessed in a field trial in western Norway at 60° North. Trees were planted in spring 1999; the plant material was one-year-old whips, spaced 2.0 x 4.5 m and formed with a central leader as free spindles. Soil management was grass in the alleyways and herbicide strips 1-m wide along the tree rows. Tree vigour, yield, fruit size and yield efficiency were evaluated for the six subsequent years. Tree size was significantly affected by the rootstocks after six years growth. ‘Wangenheim’ produced the smallest and ‘Saint Julien A’ and ‘Pixy’ the largest trees as measured by trunk cross-sectional area, on average for the different cultivars. ‘Saint Julien A’ and ‘Pixy’ were the most productive rootstocks for the two cultivars. However, ‘Pixy’ produced significant larger yields per tree for the cultivar ‘Reeves’ than ‘Saint Julien A’. Trees on ‘Pixy’ were the most yield efficient for all cultivars with the exception of ‘Victoria’. The fruit sizes were in general large for all cultivars and became little affected by the different rootstocks. Fruit quality characterized by the content of soluble solids was in general high and did not differ between trees on the various rootstocks. The cultivar ‘Avalon’ had the highest contents of soluble solids. | |
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