PEACH AND NECTARINE EARLY CROPPING IN RELATION TO IN-ROW SPACING

‘Redhaven’ peach and ‘Independence’ nectarine were grown at 850, 1150, 1450, 1750 and 2050 trees/ha by varying the in-row spacing from 2.35 to 0.98 m.

Peach tree productivity was directly related to tree density.
The 2nd to 5th year cumulated yield increased from 51.5 to 72.7 t/ha with increasing plant density.
However, the rise in yield diminished as the plant density increased.

The better performance of close spacing as compared to the wider one was due to the earlier cropping and to the higher tree efficiency under the same canopy volume per hectare at the fifth year.

At full crop stage (5th year) the in-row spacing did not affect fruit set and fruit mass.

II International Peach Symposium

C. Vitagliano, R. Testolin, E. Peterlunger

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1989.254.34