ARCHITECTURAL ANALYSIS OF VEGETATIVE GROWTH OF 2-YEAR-OLD ‘VAN’ SWEET CHERRY TREES GROWN ON TWO ROOTSTOCKS UNDER VARIED NUTRIENT REGIMES

‘Van’ sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) was grown on Inmil (GM 9) and ‘Mazzard’ (F.12/1) rootstocks under seven different nutrient regimes over two seasons.
In the nutrient solutions N and P were varied to modify tree vigour, in addition to the vigour effects of rootstock.
Variables were calculated that describe the growth of the main axis and the length and position of branches.
These were used to calculate architectural differences between trees using multivariate data analysis.
The branched trees were grouped architecturally by cluster analysis and the correlations described using discriminate analysis.
In general, trees on F.12/1 were more branched than on Inmil.
This is particularly true for sylleptic branching in the first year.
Similarly, more branching is observed on more vigorous nutrient regimes.
The effect of vigour on branching is discussed in relation to the plasticity of tree architecture within a genotype.

V International Cherry Symposium

D. Andersone, H. Wustenberghs, J. Keulemans, I. De Wit, N.C. Cook

Prunus avium, apical dominance, nursery trees, shoot growth

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2008.795.113