Morphological Evaluation of Pear cvs. Santa Maria, Williams, and Deveci Grafted onto Clonal and Seedling Rootstocks

Abstract

This research was conducted to determine the effects of quince clonal rootstocks [Quince BA29 (BA29) and Quince A (QA)], pear clonal rootstocks [FOX9, FOX11, OHxF333, OHxF87 and FAROLD40] and European pear seedling rootstocks on the morphological characteristics of 'Santa Maria', 'Williams', and 'Deveci' pear cultivars in Bafra (Samsun) ecological conditions in the research years of 2021 and 2022. Morphological characteristics, such as rootstock diameter (mm), trunk diameter (mm), trunk cross-sectional area (cm2), tree height (cm), crown dimensions (width, length, height and volume), leaf stalk length (cm), leaf stalk thickness (mm), leaf dimensions (width, length, area), annual shoot length (cm), node numbers and internode length (cm) were examined in the study. Results of the study revealed significant variation in the case of research years on most morphological attributes; generally, the values were higher in the research year 2022 than in 2021. It has been determined that the effect of rootstocks on all the morphological characteristics was significant except for leaf stalk thickness. The highest morphological values were obtained from OHxF333, FOX11, and FAROLD40 compared to the other rootstocks, and the lowest values were recorded in FOX9, OHxF87, and seedling rootstocks, respectively. Considering the cultivars' effect on the evaluated morphological traits, the highest leaf characteristics, and internode length in the annual shoots were acquired from the 'Santa Maria' cultivar, but all other attributes were higher in the 'Deveci' cultivar. The ' Williams ' cultivar recorded almost all the lowest morphological values. The highest trunk cross-sectional area was determined in the 'Deveci'/OHxF333 (38.63 cm2) and the lowest in the 'Williams'/FOX9 (4.95 cm2). The longest annual shoots were determined in the 'Deveci'/FOX11 (43.05 cm) and the shortest in the 'Williams'/Seedling (16.11 cm). The highest leaf area was observed from the 'Santa Maria'/BA29 (21.11 cm2) and 'Santa Maria'/FOX11 (20.95 cm2) combinations. According to the results of the research, it was determined that OHxF333 rootstock among the evaluated rootstocks performed morphologically better than the others. FOX9 and OHxF87 pear clone rootstocks showed very poor performance compared to other rootstocks.