A Sweet Cherry Planting System Comparison Involving Virus
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A SWEET CHERRY PLANTING SYSTEM COMPARISON INVOLVING VIRUS EFFECTS WITH MULTIPLE GENOTYPES By JOSEPH BRETT ADAMS This thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of The requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HORTICULTURE WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture December 2008 To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the thesis of JOSEPH BRETT ADAMS find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. ___________________________________ Chair ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to thank Dr. Matthew Whiting for his willingness and help in selecting a topic in the fruit tree industry that is relevant to my future and my family business as well as the industry as a whole. His excitement for the researched topic has made this thesis an enjoyable experience and his willingness to work with a distant student has been much appreciated. I would also thank Dr. Ken Eastwell for all the help and time spent analyzing the ELISA and PCR results. I also thank Dr. Mohan Kumar for serving on my committee and his knowledge of the subject. Thanks to Dr. Richard Alldredge for his help in analyzing the data statistically. Also I give thanks to the staff working with Ken Eastwell in the ELISA and PCR labs, for helping me through the painful process of hundreds of sample testing. Thanks to the laborers at the WSU irrigated research station for taking care of the orchard plots and supplying the labor hours for planting and harvesting the trees. A special thanks to Willow Drive Nursery for the equipment, time, labor, plant materials, field space, and supplies for this research project. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Gisela and the Northwest Nursery Improvement Institute for the resources and funding donated to this research and my degree. Most of all I would like to thank my wife and kids for having much patience and support for there father as he completed these seven years of college and this advanced degree. Their love and support supplied the necessary energy to continue on when times where difficult. At the end of the day, I did it all for them. Finally, I would thank my uncles and father at the family farm for supporting me and pushing me through this degree. If it wasn’t for them it probably would have never happened. iii A SWEET CHERRY PLANTING SYSTEM COMPARISON INVOLVING VIRUS EFFECTS WITH MULTIPLE GENOTYPES Abstract By Joseph Brett Adams, MS Washington State University December 2008 Chair: Matthew D. Whiting New sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) orchards are planted at high tree densities using precocious size-controlling rootstocks to improve economic returns and labor efficiency. Growers are seeking alternative planting strategies to reduce high costs of establishing these systems. This research project evaluated the feasibility of a sleeping eye (dormant graft) planting system compared to the traditional nursery tree (two year grown) for multiple genotypes. Graft survival and growth data were collected in 2006 and 2007 for ‘Bing’, ‘Chelan’, and ‘Tieton’ grafted on Mazzard (P. avium L.), MxM® 60 (P. avium x P. Mahaleb), and Gisela®6 (P. cerasus x P. canescens) in 2006. Graft success was 24% greater for nursery trees vs. sleeping eyes. In 2006 the nursery trees were larger than the transplanted sleeping eye trees but in 2007 growth of sleeping eye trees exceeded that of the transplanted nursery trees. Tree growth was delayed in the first orchard year irrespective of planting system. Using virus-infected budwood reduced graft success significantly but did not affect tree vigor. Preliminary economic comparisons suggest that start up costs for a two acre sleeping eye block would be $1,865 to $1,092 less than costs for planting standard nursery trees. iv In a separate experiment I investigated the role of the position of a bud within a budwood stick in graft success and tree growth. ‘Bing’ and ‘Tieton’ buds were alternately grafted to a rootstock Mazzard and Gisela®6 for survival and growth observations or analyzed by ELISA and PCR for virus titer. Bud position had a significant effect on tree survival. The basal three buds were 63% more likely to result in a tree loss - ca. 50% of the buds that didn’t produce trees were floral. There were significant difference in growth between rootstocks, seasons, scion varieties, and bud positions. Further, there was no clear relationship between the diameter of the bud stick at the point of bud removal and the growth of grafted trees in the subsequent year, irrespective of genotypes. Virus titer could not be assessed due to the timing of sample collection. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................iii ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................iv LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................ix CHAPTER 1 – SWEET CHERRY INDUSTRY OVERVIEW ......................................1 1.1 – Introduction.................................................................................................1 Sweet cherry industry ....................................................................................1 Nursery tree industry......................................................................................7 Prunus dwarf virus .........................................................................................11 1.2 – Problem Statement......................................................................................12 1.3 – Objectives ...................................................................................................13 1.4 – Literature cited............................................................................................14 CHAPTER 2 – THE ROLES OF BUD POSITION AND VIRUS TITER ON GRAFTING SUCCESS AND GROWTH............................................28 2.1 – Abstract.......................................................................................................28 2.2 – Introduction.................................................................................................29 2.3 – Materials and Methods................................................................................32 2.4 – Results and Discussion ...............................................................................36 2.5 – Literature cited............................................................................................40 CHAPTER 3 – EVALUATING GRAFTING AND GROWTH IN A PLANTING SYSTEM ESTABLISHMENT COMPARISON WITH VIRUSES AND VARIOUS SWEET CHERRY ROOTSTOCKS AND CULTIVARS ...............................................................................................................53 3.1 – Abstract.......................................................................................................53 vi 3.2 – Introduction.................................................................................................54 3.3 – Materials and Methods................................................................................57 3.4 – Results and Discussion ...............................................................................60 Survival.......................................................................................................60 2006 growth ................................................................................................63 2007 growth ................................................................................................69 Conclusion ..................................................................................................73 3.5 – Literature cited............................................................................................74 APPENDIX......................................................................................................................89 Preliminary economic comparison ......................................................................90 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 – Total boxes shipped by variety for the Northwest in 2006 and 2007, ‘Rainiers’ reported in 15 pound equivalents and all others reported in 20 pound equivalents; n.a. is data not available (BJ. Thurlby, NWcherry).........................19 Table 3.1 – Final tree height, trunk diameter, and survival in 2006 for each of the 36 rootstock/cultivar combinations. Data are reported as means of 10 replications. Data are grouped by planting system and the virus status of the bud wood. Trees were budded in fall, 2005 at Willow Drive Nursery in Ephrata, Washington.....78 Table 3.2 – Final tree root dry weight, scion dry weight, and total lateral extension growth in 2006 for each of the 36 rootstock/cultivar combinations. Data are reported as means of 10 replications. Data are grouped by planting system and the virus status of the bud wood. Trees were budded in fall, 2005 at Willow Drive Nursery in Ephrata, Washington..........................................................................79 Table 3.3 – Final tree trunk diameter, root dry weight, scion dry weight, and total lateral extension growth in 2007 for each of the 36 rootstock/cultivar combinations. Data are reported as means of 10