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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Geneva, New York » Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #359831
Research Project: Development of Biotic and Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Apple Rootstocks

Location: Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU)

Title: Long-term performance of 'Gala', 'Fuji' and'Honeycrisp' apple trees grafted on Geneva rootstocks and trained to four production systems under New York State climatic conditions

Author
item REIG, GEMMA - Cornell University
item LORDAN, JAUME - Cornell University
item SAZO, MARIO - Cornell University
item HOYING, STEPHEN - Cornell University
item FARGIONE, MICHAEL - Cornell University
item REGINATO, GABINO - Cornell University
item DONAHUE, DANIEL - Cornell University
item FRANCESCATTO, POLIANA - Cornell University
item Fazio, Gennaro
item ROBINSON, TERENCE - Cornell University

Submitted to: Scientia Horticulturae
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2018
Publication Date: 7/1/2019
Citation: Reig, G., Lordan, J., Sazo, M.M., Hoying, S., Fargione, M., Reginato, G., Donahue, D.J., Francescatto, P., Fazio, G., Robinson, T. 2019. Long-term performance of 'Gala', 'Fuji' and'Honeycrisp' apple trees grafted on Geneva rootstocks and trained to four production systems under New York State climatic conditions. Scientia Horticulturae. 244:277-293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2018.09.025.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2018.09.025

Interpretive Summary: Modern apple orchards are planted in high density systems that can have different types of architectures and densities. In this experiment we evaluated ten apple rootstocks, four high density systems: Slender Pyramid (SP) (840 trees ha-1), Vertical Axis (VA) (1284 trees ha-1), Slender Axis (SA) (2244 trees ha-1), and Tall Spindle (TS) (3262 trees ha-1) to see which system performed better with rootstocks tested. Tall Spindle systems were the best overall with regards to productivity and fruit quality (color) whereas rootstocks G.11, M.9 and G.41 were the most productive.

Technical Abstract: In 2006, two 1-ha orchard trials were established at each of two sites (Dressel farm in Southeastern New York State and VandeWalle farm in Western New York State) to compare seven Geneva® rootstocks (‘CG.4210’, ‘G.11’, ‘G.16’, ‘G.41’, ‘G.30’, ‘G.210’, and ‘G.935’) with one Budagovsky (‘B.9’) and three Malling rootstocks (‘M.9T337’, ‘M.26EMLA’ and ‘M.7EMLA’) as controls. ‘Gala’ and ‘Fuji’ were used as scion cultivars at Dressel farm and ‘Gala’ and ‘Honeycrisp’ as the scion cultivars at VandeWalle farm. At each location trees were trained to four high density systems: Slender Pyramid (SP) (840 trees ha-1), Vertical Axis (VA) (1284 trees ha-1), Slender Axis (SA) (2244 trees ha-1), and Tall Spindle (TS) (3262 trees ha-1). Location, rootstock, and training system, interacted to affect growth, production and fruit quality of each scion cultivar. ‘Gala’ trees from VandeWalle farm were smaller but more productive than those from Dressel farm. In general, the largest trees (in trunk cross sectional area: TCSA) were SP on ‘M.7’ rootstock and the smallest were TS on ‘B.9’ and ‘G.11’. Cumulatively, yield was lowest for trees on SP with ‘M.7’. However, the highest values were on TS with ‘G.11’ for ‘Fuji’, TS with ‘G.41’ for ‘Gala’, and TS with ‘G.16’ and ‘M.9’ for ‘Honeycrisp’. Independent of the cultivar, trees on SP with ‘M.7’ had the highest number of root suckers. When comparing systems which had the same rootstocks, TS trees were the least vigorous ones, but much more productive although, fruit red color was slightly reduced compared to the lower density systems. When comparing dwarfing rootstocks common across several systems, generally, ‘G.16’ trees were the largest, however ‘G.11’, ‘G.41’ and ‘M.9’ were the most productive for ‘Fuji’, ‘Gala’ and ‘Honeycrisp’, respectively.