Abstract:
The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of planting density and rootstocks on the yield performance of 'Royal Gala' and 'Fuji' apple trees. The experiment was carried out from 1996 to 2007 with the apple cultivars Royal Gala and Fuji, in the São Joaquim region, in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Treatments consisted of two rootstocks (M9 and M26), and three planting densities (1,667, 2,500, and 5,000 plants per hectare), in a 2x3 factorial arrangement, with six treatments for each cultivar. A randomized complete block design was used, with four replicates. Increasing planting densities increases yield and decreases production and number of fruit per tree, regardless of the cultivar. Moreover, higher planting densities reduce tree vigor (expressed by trunk transverse section) and fruit weight. Induced yield by M26 is greather than that by M9, but the latter produces larger fruit, possibly due to the lower crop load of the trees on this rootstock.
Index terms:
Malus domestica; high density; vigor control; modern orchards; dwarfing rootstocks.
