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Acta Hortic. 1139. ISHS 2016. DOI 10.17660/ActaHortic.2016.1139.35
Proc. III Balkan Symposium on Fruit Growing
Eds.: D. Milatović et al.
203
Comparative study of apple rootstocks ‘M9-T337’ and
‘Supporter 4 Pi 80’ with seven cultivars
S.G.Tabakov,A.I.YordanovaandP.V.Kaymakanov
AgriculturalUniversity–Plovdiv,DepartmentofFruitGrowing,Plovdiv,Bulgaria.
Abstract
Vegetative and reproductive characteristics of apple rootstocks ‘М9-Т337’ and
‘Supporter 4 Pi 80’ budded with the cultivars ‘Breaburn Fenbra’, ‘Gala Venus-Fengal’,
‘Golden Delicious clone В’, ‘Pinova’, ‘Red Delicious Hapke’, ‘Red Delicious Redkan’ and
‘Rubinfuji Romf. 811’ were compared in the intensive orchard planted at the density
of 2380 trees ha-1 (3.5×1.2 m) in the period 2008-2011. Trees were formed as tall
spindle. It was found that, with the exception of the cultivar ‘Pinova’, rootstock
‘Supporter 4 Pi 80’ induced a greater trunk-cross section area, higher trees and
greater crown volume to the tested cultivars in comparison with ‘M9-T337’ rootstock.
A higher yield per unit area was obtained on ‘Supporter 4 Pi 80’ rootstock compared
to ‘M9-T337’ budded with low vigorous cultivar ‘Red Delicious Redkan’, whereas ‘M9-
T337’ was superior on this parameter in combination with cultivars ‘Breaburn
Fenbra’, ‘Gala Venus-Fengal’, ‘Red Delicious Hapke’ and ‘Rubinfuji Romf. 811’.
Keywords:apple,rootstocks,vigor,productivity,fruitweight,yield
INTRODUCTION
There are a large number of apple cultivars with different growth and productivity
habits.Thereforeit isnecessary tostudy their interaction withknownandnewlyselected
clonalrootstocks(Kviklys,2002).Treevigor,beginningoffruitbearing,treeproductivityand
quality of the fruits depend on the choice of proper rootstock (Webster, 1993). ‘М9’ and
‘М26’arestillmainlyusedrootstocksinEuropeanapplefruitgrowing(Oraguzieеtal.,2003;
CzynczykandJakubowski,2007).Continuousbreedingworkforavoiding their
disadvantagesiscarriedoutworldwide.‘Supporter4Pi80’(M9×M4) was selected in
Germanyanditwasclassifiedassemi‐dwarfingappleclonalrootstock(Fischer,2001;Autio
еtal.,2005).CommercialnurseriesinFrancefirststartedtouseit.
Theaimofthepresentstudywastotesttheinteractionbetween little‐known
rootstockPillnitzer‘Supporter4Pi80’(M9×M4)withthecultivars‘BreaburnFenbra’,‘Gala
Venus‐Fengal’,‘GoldenDeliciouscloneВ’,‘Pinova’,‘RedDeliciousHapke’,‘RedDelicious
Redkan’and‘RubinfujiRomf.811’comparingwiththewidelyspreadrootstock‘М9‐Т337’in
anintensiveorchard.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The orchard was planted nearby the village of Plodovitovo, Plovdiv region in the
autumnof2006atthedensityof2380treesha‐1(3.5×1.2m).Theapplecultivars:‘Breaburn
Fenbra’, ‘Gala Venus‐Fengal’, ‘Golden Deliciousclone В’,‘Pinova’, ‘Red DeliciousHapke’,‘Red
DeliciousRedkan’and‘RubinfujiRomf.811’werebuddedon‘M9‐T337’and‘Supporter4Pi
80’rootstocksandthenurserytreeswerefeathered(class9+).Nopruningwasappliedafter
planting.Theexperimentwassetupinarandomizedblockdesignwithfourreplicationsand
fourplantsperplotineachvariant.Thetreesweredripirrigatedandsod‐mulchsystemwas
appliedbetweentherows.Thesoilintherowswasmaintainedwithherbicides. Pest and
diseasecontrol,aswellasfertilizationfollowedthe local recommendationsforcommercial
orchards. Trees were formed as tall spindle. During the period 2008‐2011 the following
parameterswereevaluatedattheendofeachvegetation:trunkdiameter(at15cmabove
aE-mail: aiyordanov@abv.bg
204
thegraftunion),treeheight,crownvolume,meanyieldha‐1fortheperiod,cumulativeyield
ha‐1fortheperiod,cropefficiency–totalyieldcm‐2 oftrunk‐crosssection area(TCSA)for
2011andtotalyieldm‐3ofthecrownvolumefor2011.Thedatawerestatisticallyprocessed
usingavarianceanalysisandTukey’stestat5%levelofsignificance.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The vigor induced by the rootstocks is usually estimated accordingtothetrunk
diameterortrunk‐crosssectionarea(TCSA).Mostresearchersconcludethattherootstocks
withgreatervigorfavortheformationoftreeswiththickerstem (Kosina, 1988; James,
1997).Ourdataconfirmtheseobservations.Attheendofthestudy, cultivars budded on
‘Supporter4Pi80’hadalargerTCSAincomparisontothatbuddedon‘М9‐Т337’(Table1).
Exceptionofthisparameterisonly‘Pinova’wherethedifferencewasinsignificant.
Table1. Vegetativecharacteristicsoftestedscion‐rootstockcombinationsat the endofthe
studiedperiod.
Variants Trunk-cross
section area (cm2)
Tree height
(cm)
Crown volume
(m3)
Breaburn Fenbra
M9-Т337 13.82 256.25 2.02
Supporter 4 Pi 80 30.71 297.00 3.02
LSD0.05 9.54 7.83 0.50
Gala Venus-Fengal
M9-Т337 19.94 307.50 4.42
Supporter 4 Pi 80 29.07 344.00 5.01
LSD0.05 5.73 8.06 0.65
Golden Delicious clone В
M9-Т337 23.22 328.75 4.53
Supporter 4 Pi 80 30.97 349.75 4.80
LSD0.05 6.16 30.49 0.97
Pinova
M9-Т337 23.35 330.00 5.27
Supporter 4 Pi 80 34.67 338.50 6.23
LSD0.05 17.72 26.16 1.56
Red Delicious Hapke
M9-Т337 24.66 338.75 7.83
Supporter 4 Pi 80 39.42 370.75 9.91
LSD0.05 4.16 23.92 1.71
Red Delicious Redkan
M9-Т337 20.03 307.5 4.04
Supporter 4 Pi 80 27.59 325.50 4.72
LSD0.05 4.62 14.05 0.56
Rubinfuji Romf. 811
M9-Т337 24.52 340.00 5.86
Supporter 4 Pi 80 41.91 381.75 8.18
LSD0.05 3.58 30.23 1.27
Ithastobenotedthatrootstock‘М9‐Т337’verystronglyreducestheTCSAtothe
cultivars ‘Breaburn Fenbra’ and ‘Rubinfuji Romf. 811’. At the sametimethesecultivars
buddedon‘Supporter4Pi80’havevaluesofTCSAcommensuratewith these to theother
studied cultivars. This confirms the assertion of Crassweller et al. (2001) for great
individuality in the scion‐rootstock interaction. Overall, these results confirm that
‘Supporter4Pi80’inducesgreatervigor.
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Sizesofthetrees(height,width,volumeofthecrown)indifferent scion‐rootstock
combinationsareimportanttodeterminetheoptimalplantingdensities.Theheightoftrees
buddedonrootstock‘Supporter4Pi80’isgreaterattheendofthestudiedperiodcompared
tothesebuddedon‘М9‐Т337’,buttheresultsarenotasstraightforwardasin trunk‐cross
section area. Concerning cultivars with moderate growth and greatproductivity,suchas
‘GoldenDeliciouscloneВ’and‘Pinova’nosignificantdifferenceonthisparameterwasnoted.
Inallothertestedcultivarstherootstock‘Supporter4Pi80’formedhighertrees.Regardless
ofstatisticalsignificance,thedifferencesbetweenthetworootstocks combined with the
differentcultivarsareinsignificantinpracticalterms.
Thepropensityof‘Supporter4Pi80’toinducestrongervigortothebuddedcultivars
isdemonstratedintermsofthevolumeofthecrownaswell.Thisinfluenceisnotsignificant
onlyinthecombinationswiththecultivars‘GoldenDeliciousclone В’ and ‘Pinova’. The
highest values of crown volume were recorded on cultivars ‘Red Delicious Hapke’ and
‘RubinfujiRomf.811’buddedon‘Supporter4Pi80’.
Table2.Yieldoftestedscion‐rootstockcombinationsattheendofthestudiedperiod.
Variants
Cumulative yield
cm-2 of TCSA
(kg)
Cumulative yield
m-3 of the crown
volume (kg)
Mean yield ha-1
for the period
2008-2011 (t)
Breaburn Fenbra
M9-Т337 5.66 38.66 45.905
Supporter 4 Pi 80 2.37 22.89 40.738
LSD0.05 0.16 6.89 3.559
Gala Venus-Fengal
M9-Т337 3.51 15.90 41.407
Supporter 4 Pi 80 2.31 13.17 38.825
LSD0.05 0.36 3.48 5.045
Golden Delicious clone В
M9-Т337 3.35 17.03 44.997
Supporter 4 Pi 80 2.72 17.66 50.120
LSD0.05 0.87 4.69 4.056
Pinova
M9-Т337 3.76 15.96 48.665
Supporter 4 Pi 80 3.08 15.37 56.954
LSD0.05 2.10 7.96 6.543
Red Delicious Hapke
M9-Т337 3.20 10.01 46.620
Supporter 4 Pi 80 1.56 6.29 36.166
LSD0.05 0.52 1.27 6.445
Red Delicious Redkan
M9-Т337 2.46 11.71 28.138
Supporter 4 Pi 80 2.05 11.90 33.222
LSD0.05 0.70 2.24 3.424
Rubinfuji Romf. 811
M9-Т337 3.71 15.36 52.634
Supporter 4 Pi 80 1.68 8.63 41.224
LSD0.05 0.56 4.16 8.961
Certainly,oneofthemostimportantcharacteristicsoftherootstocks is the
productivitytheyinduce to thecultivarsand theirability tokeep it for long time (Kviklys,
2002; Kosina, 2004; Vercammen, 2004). In recent years one of the most important
indicators of productivity induced by the rootstocks is crop efficiency coefficient (CEC)
206
(Autio and Anderson, 1998). The findingsofJames(1997)andKosina (1995) about
superiority of weaker rootstocks on this trait, were not observed in cultivars ‘Pinova’,
‘Golden Delicious clone В’ and ‘Red Delicious Redkan’ concerning total yield cm‐2ofTCSA,
wheretherewerenosignificantdifferencesbetweenrootstocks‘Supporter4Pi80’and‘М9‐
Т337’(Table2).
The data about crop efficiency per unit volume of the crown looksquitesimilarto
thosepresentedinthepreviousparameter.Theresultsoftheabovementioned authors are
confirmedin the fourothercultivarswhere‘М9‐Т337’showedahigher CEC. Regardingthe
vigorouscultivarsweassumethattherootstock‘Supporter4Pi80’cannotreducethevigor
enoughtocompetewith‘М9‐Т337’inthistrait.Inveryproductiveandmoderatelygrowing
cultivars further reduction of vigor was achieved due to the abundant cropping
preconditionedbythetypeofusedplantingmaterialandthedifferencesbetweenthetested
rootstocksbecomeinsignificant.
Figure1. Cumulative yield (t ha‐1) of apple cultivars grafted on two rootstocks for the
period2008‐2011.
Mostoften,treeswithlargercrownshaveahigheryieldtree‐1and smaller coefficient
ofproductivitythanthosewithsmallercrowns.Wethinkthatyieldperunitareaisthemost
reliable parameter of the productive capacity of certain scion‐rootstock combination.
Concerningthisparameter,thereisaproblemwhentreesdonotcovertheareaprovidedto
them in the trail and their number has to be calculated according to their crown sizes in
ordertoachievetheoptimumdensity(PepelyankovandTabakov,1997; Sadowski et al.,
2004). During the studied period the highest total yield was obtained on combination
‘Pinova’/‘Supporter4 Pi80’ andthe least on‘RedDelicious Redkan’/‘М9‐Т337’(Figure 1).
All scion‐rootstock combinations in this trail are highly productive.Theresultsfollowthe
mentioned tendency of ‘Supporter 4 Pi 80’ to interact well with moderately growing
cultivars‘Golden Deliciousclone B’ (whichconfirmsthe results ofSpahiu et al.,2013) and
‘Pinova’. The rootstock ‘Supporter 4 Pi 80’ induced significantly higher total yield per unit
areaincombinationwithweaklygrowingcultivar‘RedDeliciousRedkan’.Inthisparameter
207
‘М9‐Т337’ rootstock has advantage in combination with ‘Breaburn Fenbra’, ‘Red Delicious
Hapke’and ‘Rubinfuji Romf.811’, whereas thedifference between both rootstocks budded
with‘GalaVenus‐Fengal’wasinsignificant.
CONCLUSIONS
All tested cultivars except ‘Pinova’ budded onto ‘Supporter 4 Pi 80’ had significantly
highertrunk‐crosssectionareaincomparisonwith‘М9‐Т337’rootstock.‘Supporter4Pi80’
inducedgreatertreeheightandcrownvolumetothecultivars‘Breaburn Fenbra’, ‘Gala
Venus‐Fengal’,‘RedDeliciousRedkan’,‘RedDeliciousHapke’and‘RubinfujiRomf.811’.
Therootstocks‘Supporter4Pi80’and‘М9‐Т337’buddedwiththe tested cultivars
induced early start of cropping and a high and constant productivity. During the studied
periodsignificantlyhigheryieldperunitareawasobtainedonrootstock‘Supporter4Pi80’
budded with weakly growing cultivar ‘Red Delicious Redkan’ compared to ‘М9‐Т337’,
whereas the differences between both rootstocks in this trait with the very productive
cultivars‘GoldenDeliciouscloneВ’and‘Pinova’wereinsignificant.Concerningthecultivars
‘Breaburn Fenbra’, ‘Gala Venus‐Fengal’, ‘Red Delicious Hapke’ and ‘Rubinfuji Romf. 811’,
higheryieldwasobtainedon‘М9‐Т337’rootstock.
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