ISHS Acta Horticulturae 825: I Balkan Symposium on Fruit Growing
GROWTH AND FRUITING OF THE SWEET CHERRY TREES TRAINED IN THREE DIFFERENT WAYS UNDER NON-IRRIGATION CONDITIONS |
| Authors: | V. Lichev, G. Govedarov, A. Papachatzis |
| Keywords: | Prunus avium, training systems, central leader, Spanis bush, winter pruning, summer pruning |
| Abstract:
The experiment was conducted during the period 2002-2007 on trees of the sweet cherry cultivars 'Stella' and 'Bigarreau burlat' on P1 rootstock (seedling of Prunus mahaleb L.). The trees were planted in March 2002 in the experimental field of the Agricultural University in Plovdiv at distances of 5,5 х 3,5 m and were grown under non-irrigation conditions. For the sake of crown training three variants were examined: 1 – Central leader, by winter pruning for heading and thinning (control); 2 – Central leader, by summer pruning for pinching, heading and thinning; and 3 – Spanish bush. It has been established that, at the end of the 6th vegetation of the 'Stella' cultivar, the control trees had the most vigorous growth, the most dwarfing were those trained as Spanish bush. This tendency was also manifested by 'Bigarreau burlat', but only concerning the height of the trees (reaching about 3 m and allowing harvesting without ladders). Even with respect to trunk thickness, the trees trained as Spanish bush surpassed insignificantly the remaining variants. This comparatively big trunk thickness of the trees trained as Spanish bush was probably due to the biological characteristics of the cultivar 'Bigarreau burlat', characterized by more vigorous growth and stronger tendency to branching than 'Stella', which, combined with the double heading of the one-year-old shoot every year, had led to hampering the growth of the trees in height, on behalf of the lateral development and thickening of the trunks. By the 6th vegetation, the control had the highest yield (kg/tree) in both cultivars, which insignificantly exceeded the remaining variants. However, assessing the yield in kg/m3 of the crown volume in 'Stella', the trees trained by the Spanish bush system had a priority, whereas in 'Bigarreau burlat' the differences between the variants were insignificant. The fruit size in the separate variants did not differ significantly. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
