Effect of winter and spring frost on the freezing injury of peach and almond cultivars

Abstract

The susceptibility of peach, nectarine and almond cultivars to winter and spring frosts was studied during 2012 year at two sites (Experimental farm 'Radmilovac' of the Faculty of Agriculture in Belgrade, and the Institute 'PKB Agroekonomik' in Padinska Skela). At the site 'Radmilovac', winter frost (-20.7°C on 9 February) caused the average injury of 25.4%, 26.6%, and 13.4% of flower buds in peach, nectarine and almond respectively. Spring frost (-2.4°C on 10 April) caused the average injury of 60.4%, 75.6%, and 72.1% of fruitlets in peach, nectarine and almond respectively. The lowest frost injury had peach cultivars 'Redhaven', 'Romestar', and 'Autumn Glo', nectarine cultivars 'Maria Lucia' and 'Caldesi 2000', and the almond cultivar 'Icar'. Despite of the occurrence of both winter and spring frosts, these cultivars gave an optimal crop load. At the site Padinska Skela, where absolute minimum temperature in the winter was -28.3°C (9 February), and in the spring was -5.1°C (10 April), there were no yield at all in peach, nectarine and almond cultivars.

Tokom 2012. godine na dva lokaliteta (Ogledno dobro 'Radmilovac' Poljoprivrednog fakulteta u Zemunu i Institut PKB Agroekonomik, Padinska Skela) ispitivana je osetljivost sorti breskve, nektarine i badema na zimske i pozne prolećne mrazeve. Na lokalitetu Radmilovac gde je apsolutna minimalna temperatura tokom zime iznosila -20,7°C (9. februara), a tokom proleća -2,4°C (10. aprila) je ispitivano devet sorti breskve, 12 sorti nektarine i deset genotipova badema. Neke sorte breskve, nektarine i badema, i pored izloženosti niskim temperaturama, su imale optimalno opterećenje rodom. Na lokalitetu Padinska Skela gde je apsolutna minimalna temperatura tokom zime iznosila -28,3°C (9. februara) a tokom proleća -5,1°C (10. aprila) kod svih ispitivanih genotipova je u potpunosti izostao rod.