ISHS Acta Horticulturae 160: III International Symposium on Research and Development on Orchard and Plantation Systems
ECONOMIC APPRAISAL OF ORCHARDS OF COX'S ORANGE PIPPIN APPLE ON M.9 AND MM.106 ROOTSTOCKS |
| Authors: | J.E. Jackson, G.C. White, C. Duncan |
| Abstract:
In contrast to the exclusive trend to intensive planting in some European countries, English fruit growers are continuing to plant semi-intensive Cox orchards on MM.106 rootstocks as well as high-density orchards on M.9. Previous economic analyses of these systems have been based on selected commercial orchards or commercially-derived model systems. In the present paper comparative experimental results are presented. n the first experiment a conventional single-row bush tree orchard on MM.106 (606 trees/ha) was compared with single-row orchards on M.9 with the trees either pruned as bush forms (1000 trees/ha or as spindlebushes (1428 trees/ ha). Yields in this trial were rather better than the average of commercial production but not outstanding. The orchard on MM.106 was slower to come into crop than those on M.9 but final yield levels, averaging around 20 tonnes per ha, were comparable. Up to year 8 the orchards on M.9 produced more profit and higher internal rates of return than the orchard on MM.106. However, projecting plateau yields forwards to complete a 25-year orchard life showed the orchard on MM.106 to give the highest overall rate of return on capital although only marginally so. Profits per hectare were highest on the spindlebush orchard on M.9. In the second experiment a modern, single-row system on MM.106 with 667 trees/ha and centre-leader tree form was compared with a double-row spindlebush system on M.9 with 2000 trees/ha. Both orchard systems came into production very quickly and though early yields were higher in the M.9 orchard the lower establishment costs of the MM.106 orchard resulted in a much more rapid attainment of break-even (in the fourth year as compared with the seventh). Plateau yields on the M.9 plots were consistently higher than on the MM.106 plots, averaging over 30 tonnes/ha, and total output value and profit per hectare were also higher. In terms of return on capital, i.e. internal rate of return, the semi-intensive orchard on MM.106 was, however, more profitable both up to year 8 and also over a projected orchard lifetime of 25 years. In general, therefore, earlier studies showing the advantages of the semi-intensive orchard on MM.106 in terms | |
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