The effect of new rootstocks with hypersensitivity resistance to Plum pox virus ‘Docera 6’ and ‘Dospina 235’ on the growth and yield of young plum trees

In the field experiment, two plum cultivars ‘Jojo’ (absolutely sharka resistant) and ‘Čačanska Lepotica’ (sharka tolerant) grafted on the Plum pox virus (PPV) resistant clonal rootstocks ‘Docera 6’ and ‘Dospina 235’, were compared to trees on ‘Wavit’ (‘Čačanska Lepotica’) and ‘Weiwa’ (‘Jojo’) as a control.
The trees were planted in the spring of 2013 on gray-brown podzolic soil with a spacing of 4.0×2.5 m at the experimental orchard in Dąbrowice (Central Poland). During the first three years after planting, tree growth (expressed as trunk cross-sectional area and total length of one-year-old shoots), yield, fruit weight, and tree health status were recorded.
The vegetative trait measurements showed that on average trees of both cultivars grafted on ‘Docera 6’ were the most vigorous.
In terms of trunk cross-sectional area and length of one-year-old shoots, ‘Dospina 235’ gave similar trees compared to ‘Weiwa’ or ‘Wavit’. Depending on rootstock/cultivar combination, the mean cumulative yield tree^-1 ranged from 9.5-17.2 kg.
The highest cumulative yields for the years 2014-2015 were obtained from ‘Jojo’ trees grafted on ‘Weiwa’, while the lowest yield was harvested from ‘Čačanska Lepotica’ on ‘Docera 6’. The ‘Čačanska Lepotica’ had the largest fruit on ‘Wavit’, and the smallest on ‘Dospina 235’. The ‘Jojo’ trees on ‘Docera 235’ produced larger fruits than the trees on other rootstocks.
No root suckers were found in the experiment as well as no visible symptoms of PPV on trees were noted.

XI International Symposium on Plum and Prune Genetics, Breeding and Pomology

M. Sitarek, A. Machlańska

cultivar, vigor, fruiting, fruit quality, health status

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1260.31