Morphological traits of 'Granada' peach nursery trees from rootstocks of two production systems

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of the use of rootstocks from clonal and seed production systems on the morphology of nursery peach trees of cultivar Granada. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with five treatments ('Granada' scion grafted onto five rootstocks) and five replicates. The rootstocks from clonal production were the 'Okinawa' peach plant and the GKM-ELD-10-70, EF-SAU-10-78, and EF-SAU-10-87 peach genotypes kept in pots. The rootstocks from the seed production system came from peach seed of some scion varieties (mixed pits) used for canning production and propagated in a nursery field system. Shoot and root morphological variables were evaluated. The rootstock production system did not affect root volume. However, the nursery trees of the clonal rootstocks system kept in pots showed a higher percentage of water in the roots. The clonal rootstocks in the potted system do not affect most of the morphological traits of 'Granada' peach nursery trees; however, they induce a homogeneous root system and delay leaf abscission, besides not requiring root pruning.