ISHS Acta Horticulturae 632: XXVI International Horticultural Congress: Citrus and Other Subtropical and Tropical Fruit Crops: Issues, Advances and Opportunities
EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT PLANTING DENSITIES ON THE VEGETATIVE GROWTH, YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITY OF LOQUAT |
| Authors: | A.A. Polat, C. Durgac, O. Kamiloglu, O. Caliskan |
| Keywords: | High density, productivity, vegetative growth |
| Abstract:
The Turkish Mediterranean region has the most suitable ecological conditions for growing loquat. In 1999, 97% of total loquat production of Turkey was from the coastal zone of the Mediterranean region. This study was conducted in Hatay, which is located in the eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, and was aimed to research the advantages of high density over conventional planting densities. Gold Nugget, Sayda and Hafif Çukurgöbek loquat cultivars were propagated by budding at the Horticulture Department, Agriculture Faculty, Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey, in 1996. These young trees were planted at three different planting distances (3x3 m, 3x6 m and 6x6 m) and pruned to an open-centre system in an experimental orchard in May 1997. Phenological observations, pomological characteristics, yield per tree and per unit area were determined. With increasing planting density, yields per tree decreased while cumulative yields per hectare increased. According to the three year data, the highest cumulative yield (yield/tree and yield/hectare) was obtained from Hafif Çukurgöbek with 9.15 kg/tree and 1882 kg/hectare, respectively. The highest cumulative yield per unit was obtained with the 3x3 m spacing (7165kg/ha), followed by 3x6 m and 6x6 m with 4056 kg/ha and 2200 kg/ha, respectively. | |
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