SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF THE LITHUANIAN INSTITUTE OF HORTICULTURE AND LITHUANIAN UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE. SODININKYSTË IR DARÞININKYSTË. 2006. 25(3). 51–56.

IMPACT OF ROOTSTOCKS ON COLUMNAR APPLE TREE GROWTH IN A NURSERY

Dalia GELVONAUSKIENË, Bronislovas GELVONAUSKIS, Audrius SASNAUSKAS Lithuanian Institute of Horticulture, LT-54333 Babtai, Kaunas distr., Lithuania. E-mail: [email protected]

There were investigated 24 columnar apple selections and 2 cultivars ‘Arbat’ and ‘Ostankino’ in a nursery at the Lithuanian Institute of Horticulture. The two latter cultivars and selections M38-35, M38-33, M38-2, M38-15, No. 376-100 and No. 385-380 were released in Russia and 16 hybrids (No. 23733, No. 23753, No. 24217, No. 24218, No. 24219, No. 24220, No. 24271, No. 24583, No. 24599, No. 24637, No. 24690, No. 25134, No. 26075, No. 26094 No. 26148, No. 26325) – at the Lithuanian Institute of Horticulture. Cultivars and selections were budded on rootstocks P 60, B.396, M.26, MM.106, B.118 and ‘Antonovka’ seedlings at the height of 10–12 cm above soil and 7–10 trees were used for evaluation. Apple trees were spaced at 0.25 x 0.9 m. Tree height and stem diameter were measured and number of shoots were calculated in the first and second year in the nursery. Significant differences of rootstock impact to tree height, stem diameter and shoot number were determined. The smallest trees were on rootstocks P 60 and B.396. Apple tree stem diameter on rootstocks B.118 and MM. 106 were the largest. The highest number of shoots was measured on trees grown on rootstocks M.26, MM.106 and B.118. Six selections did not raise shoots on any used rootstock.

Key words: lateral branches, rootstocks, tree height, trunk diameter.

Introduction. A columnar apple tree growth habit for the first time was described by Lapins (1969, 1976) in Canada. The obtained results showed that this trait is controlled by a single dominant gene, Co (Lapins, 1969, 1976). Nowadays donors of Co gene are involved in an apple breeding programs in Russia, Latvia, Belgium, Great Britain, USA, Bulgaria and other countries (Êè÷èíà, 1988; Drudze, 2000; Meulenbroek et al., 1999; Tobutt, 1985; Kelsey and Brown, 1992; Djouvinov, 1994). Donors of columnar growth habit were involved in crosses at the Lithuanian Institute of Horticulture in 1988. It was determined that tree height, trunk diameter, number of shoots and other tree characteristics depend on rootstock (Inomata et al., 2003, 2005). Rootstocks influence apple tree productivity, fruit weight and firmness (Lauri and Lespinasse, 1993; Lauri, et al., 1995; Kvilys, 2002; Inomata et al., 2003, 2005). Results obtained by researchers in France and Japan showed that apple trees with common habitus are more productive and biennial bearing is not so evident than it is typical for trees with columnar type habitus.

51 Materials and methods. There were investigated 24 advanced selections and 2 columnar-type apple cultivars ‘Arbat’ and ‘Ostankino’ at nursery of the Lithuanian Institute of Horticulture. Latter two cultivars and selections M38-35, M38-33, M38-2, M38-15, No. 376-100 and No. 385-380 were received in Russia and the rest 16 selections (No. 23733, No. 23753, No. 24217, No. 24218, No. 24219, No. 24220, No. 24271, No. 24583, No. 24599, No. 24637, No. 24690, No. 25134, No. 26075, No. 26094, No. 26148, No. 26325) were received at the Lithuanian Institute of Horticulture. ‘Arbat’ was used as a donor of columnar growth habit. Columnar apple cultivars and selections were grafted on rootstocks P 60, B.396, M.26, MM.106, B.118 and Antonovka seedlings. Trees were planted at the spacing of 25 x 90 cm in a nursery. There were evaluated 7–10 plants per cultivar or selection in the nursery. Tree height, trunk diameter and shoot (length more than 3 cm) number was evaluated in the first and second year of tree growth. Trees were fertilized and sprayed with pesticides according to the technology applied at the Lithuanian Institute of Horticulture. Results. Average height of trees of 26 apple cultivars and selections on different rootstocks varied from 66 cm to 76 cm at the end of the first year (Fig.). The highest trees were on rootstocks ‘Antonovka’ seedlings and B.118. Trees were significantly lower on rootstocks B.396 and P 60 than it was measured on previous two rootstocks. Two years old apple trees grafted on ‘Antonovka’ seedlings were significantly higher than on trees grafted on dwarf rootstocks. The lowest trees were on rootstocks B.396 and P 60.

Fig. Impact of different rootstocks on average tree height of 26 apple cultivars and selections

Pav. Ávairiø poskiepiø átaka 26 koloniniø obelø veisliø ir selekciniø numeriø medeliø vidutiniam aukðèiui PA – ‘Antonovka’ seedlings / PA – ‘Paprastojo antaninio’ sëjinukai.

Tree height, trunk diameter and shoot number of apple cultivars and selections trees with columnar type habit on six rootstocks is presented in Table 1. Significant

52 differences were estimated between cultivars and selections for above noted traits. The height of two-year-old trees of eight selections was 100 cm or less. It varied from 88 cm to 100 cm.

Table 1. Mean value of traits of apple cultivars and selection trees on six rootstocks 1 lentelë. Obelø veisliø ir selekciniø numeriø sodinukø, augintø su ðeðiais poskiepiais, vidutiniai augimo rodikliai

Trunk diameter Shoot number Height / Aukštis, cm Cultivar Kamieno skersmuo, mm Ðakø skaièius Veislë, selekcinis numeris 2000 2001 2001 2001 M38-35 57 88 11 0.6 No. 0833 59 90 11 1 No. 24220 49 93 12 0 M38-33 51 93 12 0 No. 24583 61 94 12 0 No. 0749 52 96 13 0 M38-2 62 96 10 1.4 M38-15 52 100 11 0 ‘Ostankino’ 72 112 12 0.3 No. 24271 56 115 12 0 No. 376-100 59 117 12 3.5 No. 385-380 71 122 12 0.1 No. 24599 69 125 12 0.3 No. 26148 64 126 11 0.7 No. 25134 79 139 12 1.8 No. 24637 74 143 11 1.2 ‘Arbat’ 67 147 12 1 No. 24218 73 147 13 0.2 No. 24217 83 151 10 1.4 No. 26325 87 151 11 2.4 No. 24690 83 156 11 0.9 No. 26075 88 162 11 4.8 No. 24219 84 176 11 1.9 No. 23733 99 178 10 0.9 No. 23753 103 181 11 1.2 No. 26094 98 187 12 1.2

LSD05 / R05 18.2 31.7 0.8 1.1

53 The average tree height of 8 selections was higher than 150 cm and varied from 151 cm to 187 cm. Trunk diameter of cultivars and most selections was 11–12 mm. The highest diameter (13 mm) was detected for No. 0749 and No. 24218, the lowest (10 mm) – for M38-2, No. 24217 and No. 23733. The highest trunk diameter of trees of investigated cultivars and selections was determined on rootstocks B.118 and MM.106, 13 mm and 12 mm, respectively (Table 2). The average shoot number per tree depends on genotype, because 6 selections grafted on Antonovka seedlings and 5 dwarf rootstocks did not have shoots (Table 1). Other selections and two cultivars grew shoots and its number varied from 0.1 to 4.8. The significantly highest shoot number was calculated for selections No. 26075 (4.8) and No. 376-100 (3.5). On the other hand, shoot number was influenced by rootstock as well (Table 2). Apple cultivars and selections had the highest shoot number (1.8) on rootstock M 26. The lowest shoot number (0.4) was estimated on apple trees grafted on rootstock B.396.

Table 2. Impact of rootstocks on mean value of traits of apple cultivars and selection trees 2 lentelë. Poskiepio átaka obelø veisliø ir selekciniø numeriø sodinukø vidutiniams augimo rodikliams 2001 m.

Rootstock / Poskiepis Trait / Požymis LSD05 / R05 PA* B.118 MM.106 M.26 B.396 P 60 Trunk diameter / Kamieno 11 13 12 11 11 11 0,8 skersmuo, mm Shoot number / Ðakø skaièius 0,7 1,4 1,4 1,8 0,4 0,6 0,6 * ‘Antonovka ’ seedlings / ‘Paprastojo antaninio’ sëjinukai

Discussion. Two-year-old apple trees height on dwarf rootstocks B.396 and P 60 were 30% lower than it was estimated for trees grafted on Antonovka seedlings. Differences of one-year-old trees grafted on above mentioned rootstocks were about 15%. Our results and results of Chinese researches (Dai Hong Yi et al., 1998) shows that dwarf rootstocks are efficient tool to control the height and shoot number of columnar type apple trees. The average height of smallest selections of two-year-old columnar apple trees on six rootstocks was 2.1 times lower than it was measured for strong grown selections (Table 2). Our results show that height of columnar type apple trees is influenced by rootstock. Trunk diameter is influenced by rootstock as well. The part of investigated selections did not develop shoots and used rootstocks did not influence expression of this trait. A tendency of dwarf cultivars or selections to have low number of shoots was emphasized (Table 1). It is shown by other researches that apple tree height and columnar type trees as well and shoot number is determined genetically (Decourtye, 1967; De Wit et al., 2004; Kenis and Keulemans, 2004). Conclusions. 1. Rootstocks influence the growth and trunk diameter of columnar type apple trees. The highest apple trees were recorded on rootstock Antonovka seedlings and the highest trunk diameter – on rootstocks B.118 and MM.106.

54 2. Shoots were not detected on trees of six selections (M38-33, M38-15, No. 24220, No. 24583, No. 24271, No. 0749) grafted on five dwarf rootstocks and Antonovka seedlings. The highest number of shoots was estimated for trees grafted on rootstocks M.26, MM.106 and B.118. Gauta 2006 07 04 Parengta spausdinti 2006 07 31

References

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55 14. Lauri P. E., Lespinasse J. M. The relationship between cultivar fruiting type and Fruiting branch characteristics in apple trees // Acta Horticulturae. 1993. 349: 259–263. 15. M eulenbroek B., Verhaegh J. and J a n s e J. Inheritance studies with columnar type trees // Acta Horticulturae. 1999. 484: 255–258. 16. Tobutt K. R. Breeding columnar apple at East Malling // Acta Horticulturae. 1985. 159: 63–68. 17. Êè÷èíà Â. Â. Ñàäû êîëëîííûõ ôîðì ÿáëîíè // Ñàäîâîäñòâî è âèíîãðàäaðñòâî. 1997. 1: 22–24.

SODININKYSTË IR DARÞININKYSTË. MOKSLO DARBAI. 2006. 25(3). 51–56.

POSKIEPIØ ÁTAKA KOLONINIØ OBELØ SODINUKØ AUGUMUI MEDELYNE

D. Gelvonauskienë, B. Gelvonauskis, A. Sasnauskas

Santrauka Lietuvos sodininkystës ir darþininkystës instituto medelyne tirti 24 selekciniai numeriai ir 2 koloninio tipo obelø veislës – ‘Arbat‘ ir ‘Ostankino‘. Pastarosios veislës ir selekciniai numeriai M38-35, M38-33, M38-2, M38-15, Nr. 376-100 ir Nr. 385-380 sukurti Rusijoje, 16 kitø selekciniø numeriø (Nr. 23733, Nr. 23753, Nr. 24217, Nr. 24218, Nr. 24219, Nr. 24220, Nr. 24271, Nr. 24583, Nr. 24599, Nr.2 4637, Nr. 24690, Nr. 25134, Nr. 26075, Nr. 26094 Nr. 26148, Nr. 26325) sukurta Lietuvos sodininkystës ir darþininkystës institute. Kuriant pastaruosius hibridus, kaip tëvinë forma panaudota ’Arbat‘ veislë, kuri yra koloninës vaismedþiø formos donorë. Buvo tirta po 7–10 medeliø, áakiuotø á poskiepius P 60, B.396, M.26, MM.106, B.118 ir Paprastojo antaninio sëjinukus 10–12 cm aukðtyje. Medeliai auginti 0,25 x 0,9 m atstumais. Pirmaisiais ir antraisiais augimo medelyne metais matuotas augalø aukðtis ir kamieno skersmuo ir suskaièiuotos ðakos. Nustatyta, kad poskiepiai ið esmës veikë koloniniø obelø veisliø ir selekciniø numeriø sodinukø aukðtá, kamieno skersmená ir ðoniniø ðakø skaièiø. Þemiausi buvo sodinukai su P 60 ir B.396 poskiepiais, storiausi – su B.118 ir MM.106 poskiepiais. Daugiausia ðakø iðaugino sodinukai su poskiepiais M. 26, MM.106 ir B.118. Ið tirtø 2 veisliø ir 24 selekciniø numeriø 6 selekciniø numeriø vaismedþiai ðoniniø ðakø neiðaugino në su vienu poskiepiu. Reikðminiai þodþiai: ðoninës ðakos, poskiepiai, vaismedþiai, aukðtis, kamieno skersmuo.

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