Rootstock influence on vigour and generative potential of young sweet cherry trees

Abstract

The main goal of breeding and testing of rootstocks for sweet cherry is to obtain small and productive trees and to improve precocity. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of six rootstocks on vigor and productive characteristics of young sweet cherry trees. The experimental orchard is situated at the Experimental farm “Radmilovac”, of the Faculty of Agriculture (near Belgrade). Three sweet cherry cultivars: ‘Kordia’, ‘Karmen’ and ‘Regina’ were grafted on six rootstocks: Prunus mahaleb L. seedlings, ‘Colt’, ‘Ma×Ma 14’, ‘Gisela 6’, ‘Gisela 5’ and ‘Oblačinska’ sour cherry. During a two-year period (2015-2016) the following characteristics were studied: scion diameter above the grafting union, rootstock diameter under the grafting union, length and diameter of shoots, height of the tree and the number of spurs per tree. The results showed different influence of rootstocks on the tree vigor, spur formation and precocity. The average diameter of the scion in all tested cultivars was the largest on the Mahaleb rootstock. The largest average number of spurs per tree in the second year was recorded on cherry trees grafted on the rootstocks ‘Gisela 6’ and ‘Oblačinska’ sour cherry (28 and 23 respectively). The lowest average number of spurs (6) was found on trees grafted on the rootstock ‘Colt’.