BIOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF MICROPROPAGATED PLUM CULTIVARS DURING THE INITIAL FRUIT BEARING STAGE: 1. GROWTH

The vegetative habits of the micropropagated plum trees of the cultivars ‘Čačanska lepotica’, ‘Black Star’, ‘Santa Rosa’ and ‘Pacific’, grown on their own roots in a plantation, were followed out.
The own-rooted trees were compared to conventionally produced, i.e., grafted on Dzhanka 4 (P. cerasifera Ehrh.) seedling rootstocks.
The aim of the investigation was to establish the growth characteristics of plum cultivars belonging to different species (P. domestica L. and P. salicina Lind.), produced in vitro without being grafted on rootstocks and to study the possibilities of their growing in industrial orchards on own roots.
The plantation was established in the fields of the Fruit-Growing Institute – Plovdiv in 2004 at a planting distance 5 х 4 m in the row and between rows, respectively.
The observations were made in the period of initial and rapidly increasing fruit-bearing (fourth-sixth year after planting). The results obtained showed poorer growth of the micropropagated trees, expressed in slower increase of the tree thickness (measured as a trunk cross-sectional area), the total annual shoot length increment and crown projection area.

II Balkan Symposium on Fruit Growing

S.K. Popov, K.M. Kornova

in vitro, own-root, behaviour, orchard, tissue culture trees, grafted trees, non-grafted trees

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2013.981.49