EFFECT OF PLANTING DENSITY ON VEGETATIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF APRICOT TREES

The study was carried out in the period of 1994 – 1998 on the basis of a trial with 17 varieties, 3 different planting distances, 2 pruning systems and 3 levels of fruit thinning.
The planting distances were 6.00 x 5.00m, 6.00 x 4.00 m and 6.00 x 3.00m.
Trees with the first pruning system were pruned manually every year, but the second one – by special machines.
As a result of the investigation the following conclusions might be deduced: The increase in apricot tree number from 333/ha to 555/ha reduces the crown volumes from 18.48 m to 14.56m in the mechanized variant and from 14.73m to 11.38m in the manual variant.
The closing of apricot trees results in a great crown intertwining when their pruning is mechanized.
The crown intertwining of the varieties ‘Early orange’, ‘Roxana’, ‘Delmast’ and ‘Silistrenska compotna’ is comparatively in a small scale.
At this connection the enumerated above varieties are more suitable for dense planting.

XII International Symposium on Apricot Culture and Decline

P.M. Marinov, M.D. Chokoeva

Prunus armeniaca, pruning, growth, spacing, variety, rootstock

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2006.701.116