ROOT ARCHITECTURE OF APPLE TREES UNDER DIFFERENT SOIL CONDITIONS

Good tree architecture enhances stable, high yields of quality apples; similarly, appropriate root architecture supports the absorption and use of nutrients and water from the growing medium.
Lateral root numbers, densities and lengths of apple rootstock (Malus hupehensis Rehd.) declined in sandy soil, but increased in clay soil.
Lateral roots were well distributed on primary roots in sandy soil, while lateral roots were concentrated on the upper portion of primary roots in clay soil.
A manure application reduced the lengths and numbers of lateral roots relative to a clay soil, but they were higher than that in sandy soil.
A manure application to sandy soil shifted root architecture from “lateral roots well-distributed on primary root” to “lateral roots clustered on the upper portion of primary root”, with 65% of total lateral root numbers clustered on the upper portion of primary root.
Root length and lateral root numbers rose with increasing soil grain size.
Lateral root density was lower at soil grain size between 5 and 10 mm, and lateral root density and number of second order lateral roots were greatest at soil grain size between 0.5 and 1 mm.
As soil grain size increased, root architecture changed from “lateral roots clustered on the upper portion of primary root” to “long primary root with lateral roots well-distributed on it.”

XXVII International Horticultural Congress – IHC2006: International Symposium on Sustainability through Integrated and Organic Horticulture

Weiguo Fan, Hongqiang Yang

apple tree, sandy soil, clay soil, root architecture, soil grain size

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2008.767.47