Effects of interstock (M9) length grafted onto MM106 rootstock on sylleptic shoot formation, growth and yield in some apple cultivars

Abstract

In this study, branching effects of interstock lengths (15 and 30 cm) of M9 on MM106 rootstock were tested on Golden Delicious and Granny Smith cultivars. In addition, vegetative growth and cumulative yield were determined between 2003 and 2010. The results showed that increased interstock length significantly decreased sapling and tree growth but increased lateral branching in both cultivars. The tallest trees were in the control (176.5 and 186.5 cm) and the shortest trees were in the 30 cm interstock length (147.5 and 162.6 cm) in Golden Delicious and Granny Smith, respectively. The highest number of lateral shoot was obtained from 30 cm interstock length in Golden Delicious (3.67) and Granny Smith (5.33) while there was no lateral shoot formation in the control. The highest cumulative yield was obtained from 30 cm interstock length as 21.77 kg tree -1 in Golden Delicious and 19.18 kg tree -1 in Granny Smith. The results suggested that M9 as a interstock have the potential to induce growth reduction, branching and early fruit bearing especially in sustainable and organic fruit production systems in apple.