GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY OF ‘VAN’ SWEET CHERRY UNDER DIFFERENT SOIL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The orchard floor management study was carried out in an experimental ‘Van’ sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) orchard, established in the spring of 1991 at the Institute of Agriculture – Kyustendil, Bulgaria on a Chromic Luvisols, heavy loamy soil.
The best effects on yield and fruit size occurred with the orchard floor treatment of fallow, combined with green manure using a pea-rye mixture every third year and annual mineral fertilization with 10 g N/m². Under these conditions, yield increased by 18.4%; however, trunk cross sectional area was 12.5% less, though this did not influence the crown volume.
When the pea-rye mixture was grown as an intercrop, trunk growth increased by 16 to 22%, tree crown volume by 31 to 45% and yields were reduced by 20 to 34%. The yield reduction, however, was not due to a decrease in average fruit weight.

V International Cherry Symposium

V. Tasseva

Prunus avium, orchard floor management, fallow, green manure, fertilization, yield

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2008.795.120