ASPECTS OF APRICOT TREE CULTURE AS RELATED TO THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE FRUIT TREE GROWING

Apricot tree plantations represent 15% of orchards in Romania, thus the apricot has an important place amongst the range of fruit tree species cultivated.

The Research Station for Fruit Tree Growing - Baneasa is a principal research centre which conceived and implemented a research program on genetic resistance to apricot diseases (1980 – 1997). In 1997, this centre began a system of integrated cropping management for the apricot, its main focus being the introduction of biological materials resistant to the pathogenic fungi Monilinia laxa (Aderh et Ruhl), Stigmina carpophila (Lev.) M.B.Ellis, Cytospora cincta Sacc. and Alternaria tenuissima, as well as the Plum Pox virus, that is particularly damaging in Romania. Also introduced were a number of phytosanitary treatments using exclusively non-polluting compounds, use of insecticides harmless to beneficial entomofauna, systems of soil tillage not inducing soil biodegradation and systems of natural soil fertilisation. Genetic modelling of tree architecture was also undertaken, so as to optimise the light interception by tree crowns, (with positive benefits to photosynthesis and differentiation of floral buds), to optimise formation of fruiting buds, to minimise pruning, and the associated problems of disposing or recyling of prunings.

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