Source: UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA submitted to NRP
ROOTSTOCK AND INTERSTEM EFFECTS ON POME-AND STONE-FRUIT TREES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0203372
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
NC-140
Project Start Date
May 1, 2005
Project End Date
Jan 1, 2009
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
200 D.W. BROOKS DR
ATHENS,GA 30602-5016
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
ORCHARD SYTEM MUST BE DESIGNED TO MEET THE SPECIFIC NEEDS OF EACH FRUIT CROP. IN PAST YEARS. THE FREE-STANDING, CENTRAL-LEADER SYSTEM HAS BEEN VERY PROFITABLE FOR NORTH AMERICA,PARTICULARLY WITH THE WEAK,SPUR-TYPE DELICIOUS CULTIVAR.AS LABOR BECAME MORE EXPENSIVE AND THE LIST OF PROFITABLE CULTIVARS STARTED CHANGING RAPIDLY,SOME NORTH AMERICAN GROWERS BEGAN CONVERTING TO SMALLER, HIGH-DENSITY ORCHARD SYSTEMS.ALSO,TREE RESPONSE UNDER A PARTICULAR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN DIFFERENT AREAS IN NORTH AMERICA CAN VARY GREATLY.THIS PROJECT WILL TEST ROOTSTOCKS UNDER SEVERAL NORHT AMERICAN CLIMATES AND THAT MODIFICATIONS OF TRAINING AND PRUNING TECHNIQUES BE DEVELOPED TO MATCH LOCAL GROWNING CONDITIONS. THIS PROJECT WILL TEST ROOTSTOCK UNDER SEVERAL NORTH AMERICAN CLIMATED AND THAT MODIFICATIONS OF TRANING AND PRUNING TECHNIQUES BE DEVELOPED TO MATCH LOCAL GROWNING CONDITIONS
Animal Health Component
70%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
70%
Developmental
30%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
20311141020100%
Goals / Objectives
THE NC-140 REGIONAL RESEARCH PROJECT IS DESIGNED TO ADDRESS A NUMBER OF HIG-PRIORITY AREAS WITHIN THE NORTH CENTRAL REGION AS WELL AS OTHER PARTS OF NORTH AMERICA. THIS PROJECT SEEKS TO ENHANCE ECONOMICALLY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES IN TEMPERATE FRUIT PRODUCTION BY FOCUS ON ROOTSTOCKS. SPECIFICALLY IT SEEKS 1) TO EVALUATE THE FIELD PERFORMANCE OF POME-AND STOME-FRUIT ROOTSTOCKS IN VARIOUS ENVIRONMENTS AND UNDER DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, AND TO OPTIMIZE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN FOR SUCH EVALUATIONS; 2) TO ASSESS AND IMPROVE ASEXUAL PROPAGATION TECHNIQUES OF POME- AND STOME-FRUIT ROOTSTOCKS: 3) TO DEVELOP AND IMPROVE POME-AND STOME-FRUIT ROOTSTOCKS THROUGH BREEDING AND GENETIC ENGINEERING, AND TO ACQUIRE NEW ROOTSTOCKS FROM WORLDWIDE SOURCES; 4)TO UNDERSTAND THE DEVELOPMENTAL AND ABIOTIC STRESS PHYSIOLOGY OF ROOTSTOCK/SCION INTERACTIONS IN POME-AND STONE-FRUIT TREES.
Project Methods
TO EVALUATE PERFORMANCE OF ROOTSSTOCK MATEIAL IN DIFFERENT CLIMATIC AND EDAPHIC ENVIRONMENTS, CURRENT REPLICATED AND RANDOMIZED UNIFORM TRAILS WILL BE MAINTAINED, AND NEW TRIALS WILL BE ESTABLISHED ACROSS NORTH AMERICA AS PART OF THE NC-140 PROJECT. PROMISING NEW AND EXISTING ROOTSTOCKS AND MULTIPLE GENETIC SYSTEMS POSSESSING DESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS HAVE BEEN OR WILL BE SELECTED. THEY WILL BE EVALUATED WITH RESPECT TO PRECOCITY, PRODUCTIVITY, SIZE CONTROL, ANCHORAGE, SUCKERING, PEST RESISTANCE, ADAPTABILITY, AND PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY. THESE TRIALS WILL BE MAINTAINED AND DATA WILL BE COLLECTED ACCORDING TO SPECIFIC UNIFORM GUIDELINES ESTABLISHED BY THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE. FOR EACH TRAIL, DATA TO BE COLLECTED WILL INCLUDE A PREPLANT SOIL TEST,WEATHER,ROOT SUCKERING,TREE GROWTH AS MEASURED BY CHANGES IN TRUNK CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA,TREE HEIGHT,CANOPY SPREAD,PRECOCITY,YIELD,AND FRUIT SIZE. TRIALS WILL BE CONCLUDED AFTER 10 GROWING SEASONS. IN ADDITION,LABORATORY,GREENHOUSE,AND FIELD STUDIES WILL EVALUATE THE PROPAGATION CHACTERISTICS OF EXISTING AND NEW ROOTSTOCKS AND DEVELOP IMPROVED MEANS OF ASEXUAL PROPAGATION FOR DIFFERENT MATERIALS.E.G.,IMPROVED TISSUE CULTURE ESTABLISHMENT AND HARDENING OF MATERIALS AFTER TISSUE CULTURE; IMPROVED HARDWOOD AND SORTWOOD CUTTING TECHNIQUES AS WELL AS ENHANCING SEED GERMINATION AND IMPROVING THE STOOLBED-PROPAGATION PERFORMANCE. TRADITIONAL BREEDING PROGRAMS WILL PURSUE IMPROVED ROOTSTOCKS FOR APPLES,PEARS,CHERRY, AND PREACHES. TOLERANCE OF ROOTSTOCKS AND MULTIPLE GENETIC SYSTEMS IN RELATION TO PATHOGENIC ORGANISMS WILL BE INVESTIGATED THROUGH EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE OF TREES IN TRIALS. STUDIES WILL BE CONDUCTED TO ELUCIDATE DEVELOPMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY AND STRESS TOLERANCE OF FRUIT TREES AND INFLUENCED BY NEW AND EXISTING ROOTSOCKS. BASIC ROOTSTOCK PERFORMANCE DATA WILL BE COLLECTED AS PART OF THE EVALUATION OF ROOTSTOCKS IN THE TRIALS,E.G.,THE COLD HARDINESS OF ROOTSTOCKS AND THE INFLUENCE OF ROOTSTOCK ON SCION COLD HARDINESS; THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BLACKHEART INJURY IN APPLE AND YIELD DECLINE; THE RELATIVE SENSITIVITY OF APPLE ROOTSTOCKS TO SOIL COMPACTION; THE PERIODICITY OF ROOT GROWTH OF APPLE ROOTSTOCKS; GRAFT-UNION STRENGTH OF APPLE ROOTSTOCKS; NUTRITIONAL STRESS RELATED TO ORCHARD-FLOOR MANAGEMENT ON APPLE; AND THE RELATIVE SENSITIVITY OF APPLE ROOTSTOCKS TO DROUGHT.

Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The 2001 and 2002 peach rootstock trials were terminated in 2006 in all locations in North America. A report was presented at the International Rootstock Symposium in Hungary in 2006 entitled Performance of Prunus rootstocks in 2001 NC-140 peach trial (Sodininkyste Ir Darzininkyste 25(3):327-333). A final report is in submission to the Journal of the American Pomology Society. In addition the Peach Physiology trial was terminated in 2006 and that report is in preparation. A new peach rootstock trial is scheduled for planting during February 2009. The apple trial has identified at least one very promising rootstock out of the Geneva rootstock series that gives adequate dwarfing with appropriate precosity in northeast Georgia. It has survived well since its planting in 2003. PARTICIPANTS: This project is performed in collaboration with other peach and apple rootstock testing sites in North America, represented among the NC-140 Multi-State Project members (http://www.nc140.org). TARGET AUDIENCES: The outcomes of these trials are targeted to the tree fruit nursery industry that ultimately serves the tree fruit growers of North America.

Impacts
It was determined that none of the peach rootstocks tested in the 2001 and 2002 trials could survive on peach tree short life (PTSL) replant sites, but the VVA1 and Penta rootstock appear promising with dwarfing and semi-dwarfing characteristics, respectively. They survived well in non-PTSL replant sites and produced excellent yields without reducing fruit size. These trials were conducted at standard spacings and horticultural trials at more dense spacings are required to adequately test the capacity of these rootstocks to support production of the scion variety. More time is needed to make conclusions about the impact of the apple rootstock trial.

Publications

  • Reighard, G., T. Beckman, R. Belding, B. Black, J. Cline, W. Cowgill, R. Godin, M. Kaps, T. Lindstrom, D. Ouellette, L. Stein, K. Taylor, C. Wqalshm, M. Whiting, and T. Robinson. 2006. Performance of Prunus rootstocks in 2001 NC-140 peach trial. Sodininkyste Ir Darzininkyste 25(3):327-333.
  • Reighard, G., J. Anderson, R. Andersen, W. Autio, T. Beckman, T. Baker, R. Belding, G. Brown, P. Byers, W. Cowgill, D. Deyton, E. Durner, A. Erb, D. Ferree, A. Gaus, P. Hirst, M. Kaps, N. Miles, F. Morrison, S. Myers, D. Oullette, R. Perry, C. Rom, W. Shane, B. Taylor, K. Taylor, C. Walsh, and M. Warmund. 2004. Eight-year performance of 19 peach rootstocks at 20 locations in North America. Journal of the American Pomological Society 58:174-202.


Progress 01/01/05 to 12/31/05

Outputs
Four rootstock trials are underway in Georgia. Two peach rootstock trials assess the usefulness and adaptivenes of several dwarfing, semi-dwarfing and standard rootstocks for peach. Several hold promise if used on non-replant sites. A third peach project is part of a national modeling study to assess a number of tree growth parameters relative to several climatic parameters. The fourth trial is an apple trial that is conducted in collaboration with NC State University and University of Tennessee. This trial assesses dwarfing and semi-dwarfing apple rootstocks. All trials are in progress. Reports of each will follow in the next 3 to 7 years.

Impacts
It is expected that the apple and peach rootstock trials will identify one or two candidate rootstocks for each crop that will be useful in the Southeast. The modeling study should produce a peach model that will help anticipate the success of peach cultivation in various climates or possibly how climate might be modified (i.e. irrigation) to make cultivation more viable or economical.

Publications

  • As of 2006, reports of each trial will follow in the next 3 to 7 years.