Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Geneva, New York » Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #301056
Title: Apple rootstock evaluation for apple replant disease

Author
item KVIKLYS, D - Lithuanian Research Centre For Agriculture And Forestry
item ROBINSON, T - Cornell University
item Fazio, Gennaro

Submitted to: Acta Horticulturae
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/17/2015
Publication Date: 11/30/2016
Citation: Kviklys, D., Robinson, T., Fazio, G. 2016. Apple rootstock evaluation for apple replant disease. Acta Horticulturae. 1130:425-430.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Twenty-nine rootstocks from the Cornell-Geneva rootstock breeding program, some Budagovski rootstocks, M.9T337 and M.26EMLA were screened for apple replant disease (ARD) tolerance at Geneva, New York in 2008. Bench grafted rootstocks were planted in pots with two types of soil –clay loam and sandy loam collected from old orchard sites in the Lake Ontario region of New York State. Soil in half of the post of each soil type was pasteurized. During the season we measured scion shoot length, number of lateral branches and total branch length at biweekly intervals. At the end of the season we measured total leaf area, total plant, scion and root fresh weight, and dry weight of whole plants, scions, rootstock shank, large roots and fine roots. The clay soil gave better tree growth than the sandy soil but soil type did not influence rootstock tolerance to ARD. There were no interactions of rootstock and soil type on any measured variable except for trunk diameter. Trees grown in unpasteurized soil had earlier growth termination. There were three times more lateral branches per tree in the pasteurized clay soil than in the untreated soil. Scion dry weight appeared to be the most reliable measure of rootstock tolerance to ARD. A high number of Geneva rootstocks including G.30, G.11, G.202, G.41 and G.65 showed tolerance to ARD conditions by having similar scion dry weight whether the soil was pasteurized or not. Rootstocks CG.4002, M.9T337, B.9, CG.7707, CG.6040, B.490, CG.3007 and M.26EMLA were the most sensitive to ARD.