VEGETATIVE HABITS OF MICROPROPAGATED PLUM CULTIVARS IN THE PERIOD BEFORE BEGINNING OF FRUITING

Micropropagated and grafted trees of the plum cultivars ‘Čačanska lepotica’, ‘Reine-Claude d’Althan’, ‘Black Star’ and ‘Santa Rosa’ were planted in the spring of 2004 in an orchard.
The own-rooted planting material was propagated at the Laboratory of the Fruit Growing Institute – Plovdiv and further grown in a nursery following a two-year production cycle.
The same cultivars were grafted on the seedling rootstock Dzhanka 4 (Prunus cerasifera) and produced by the conventional technology.
The aim of the study was to establish the growth habits of the own-rooted micropropagated trees in comparison with those of the conventionally produced ones.
Every year after the end of vegetation, the following characteristics were measured: above-ground tree height, stem thickness and annual increment.
At the end of the third vegetation, the micropropagated trees of the cultivars ‘Čačanska lepotica’, ‘Black Star’ and ‘Santa Rosa’ had lower values, compared to the grafted trees.
The former were lower in height, thinner at the place of measurement and, respectively, the total annual increment was smaller.
The growth of the own-rooted micropropagated trees of ‘Reine-Claude d’Althan’ was different when compared to the other three cultivars.
Their stem thickness, height and total annual increment had higher values than those characteristics of the trees of the control variant.

I Balkan Symposium on Fruit Growing

S.K. Popov, K.M. Kornova

plums, in vitro, own-root, behaviour, growth, orchard

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.825.80