Majallah-i ̒Ulum-i Bāghbānī (Oct 2023)
Investigation of the Effective Factors on the Success of Sweet Cherry Top-working in Razavi Khorasan Province
Abstract
Introduction Iran is undoubtedly one of the most important and potential areas of fruit production in the world due to having diverse climatic zones and also the existence of different cultivars and rich germplasm for many horticultural products. Meanwhile, cherries are very important because of their good taste, high nutritional value and short ripening period. Despite the relatively high production, Iran ranks 46th among cherry exporting countries, which can be attributed to the non-uniformity of cultivars in orchards and mixed cultivation of several cultivars, lack of attention to the incompatibility of cherries and the lack of suitable pollinizer, the drought, the lack of availability of cultivars and rootstocks suitable for climate and soil changes, pest damage, etc. At present, in Khorasan-Razavi province, Takdane cherry trees have not yield well, which experts have sometimes attributed to self-incompatibility or lack of proper pollinizer. The gardener spends a lot of money to build a orchard that is not profitable; Therefore, instead of cutting down the trees, it is suggested to do grafting and in one turn, to replace the cultivars of your orchards with cultivars suitable for the region, which have good yield, quantitative and qualitative characteristics, and are self-fertile. Top-working is a new approach to increasing the productivity of old orchards, rejuvenating and changing their varieties. With this aim, a research was conducted in Razavi Khorasan province over three years. Matherial and Methods This project was carried out in three regions of Chenaran, Neishabur and Torghabeh Shandiz and included three independent experiments. After the growth of scion, the degree of adaptation and percentage of grafting success, vegetative growth of scion, beginning of fruiting, yield, and economic evaluation were investigated. In the first experiment, in order to determine the type of grafting and the cultivar on the success and percentage of grafting, a factorial experiment was used in the form of a randomized complete block design in three replications and each replication included 3 transplants. The first factor was grafting type in two levels (bark grafting and cleft grafing) and the second factor was cultivar in three levels (Stella, Sweetheart and Sunburst). In the second experiment, the evaluation of the effect of tree age and type of grafting on success percentage of grafting was carried out. In order to carry out this stage of the factorial experiment, two factors were used. The first factor was tree age at two levels (10 and 20 years) and the second factor was the type of graft (bark grafting and cleft grafing) used. In the third experiment, the effect of nurse branch and cultivar on the percentage of grafting success was investigated. This stage was a two factorial experiment where the first factor was the presence or absence of the nurse branch and the second factor was the cultivar in three levels (Stella, Sunburst, Sweetheart), used. Result and Discussion The results of first experiment showed that the Sunburst cultivar with the highest percentage (86.8%) and the Stella cultivar had the lowest percentage (64.3%) of grafting success. This result is consistent with the reports of Soleimani et al. (2008) who found that the success percentage of different cultivars were significantly different from each other. Also, cleft grafting had a higher percentage than bark grafting. Therefore, cleft grafting was more successful at 65% than bark grafting at 13%. These results are consistent with the findings of Mahmouzadeh (2012), who reported that the cleft graft had a higher percentage of success other than bark grafting. The results of second experiment showed that as the age of the tree increased, the percentage of grafting decreased greatly. The grafting percentage was about 68% in young trees and 8% in trees over 25 years old. Based on this, it is not recommended to perform branch grafting in old trees. The results of third experiment showed that the maintenance of the nurse branch in the cherry tree does not have a significant effect on grafting. The grafting percentage was about 78% in trees without nurse branches and about 63% in trees with nurse branches. Based on this, it is not recommended to keep the nurse branch in the cherry branch. Analysis of variance of the simple and mutual effects of year and branching location on grafting percentage of cherry trees was significant at 1% level and it was found that the percentage of grafting was higher in the second year than the first year due to the skills of transplanters. Also, the percentage of graftng success in Torghabeh and Shandiz, was higher than Chenaran and Neishabur. These results are in agreement with the findings of Mng'omba et al. (2010) who reported that grafting success largely depends on the skill of the transplanters, is consistent. Conclusion In general, Top-working in sweet cherry trees is recommended in order to change the variety of the orchard and also, improve the productivity of the orchard.
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