The Influence of some Climatic Conditions on the Yield and Fruit Quality of Replanted Apple Orchard

Abstract

The influence of climatic conditions on the growth and yield of apple trees can be modified by various factors such as the plant species, its condition as well as stress factors (for example, Apple Replant Disease). The aim of the study was to analyse the influence of air temperature and rainfall on the yield and fruit quality of replanted apple trees of the `Najdared` cultivar. Between 2015 and 2017 an experiment was conducted on apple trees growing on replanted soil and on crop rotation soil in western Poland. The relationship between the trees growing on the replanted soil and crop rotation soil in the years with changeable climatic conditions was analysed with canonical variate analysis based on transformation by linear combination and singular value decomposition. Our study confirmed the fact that air temperature and rainfall significantly affected the yield and quality of apples. The yield of the apple trees growing on the replanted soil was several times lower than the yield of the trees growing on the soil after crop rotation. A similar dependence was observed for the fruit quality characteristics. The previous use of the soil on which the apple trees grew caused differences in their reactions to the meteorological conditions. The occurrence of ARD caused a greater decrease in the yield of trees due to low temperature.