Performance of the apple cultivar ‘Golden Delicious’ grafted on five rootstocks in Northern Greece

Abstract

The performance of the apple cultivar ‘Golden Delicious’ was investigated in Northern Greece on five rootstocks: (i) seedling, (ii) (Malling) M 7, (iii) (Malling-Merton) MM 104, (iv) MM 106, and (v) MM 109. Trunk circumference was highest when scions of cv. ‘Golden Delicious’ were grafted on MM 109 rootstock and seedling. The highest photosynthetic rate was measured for scions grafted on seedling although it was not significantly different from that of MM 109. Flesh firmness, pH of juice, soluble solids content and titratable acidity at harvest and after storage of fruits for 4 months were not significantly different among the rootstocks. Production efficiency of cv. ‘Golden Delicious’ was higher when grafted on MM 106, intermediate on M7, MM 109 and MM 104, and lowest on seedling. Based on fruit weight and production efficiency measurements MM 106 and M 7 rootstocks were more appropriate for the region of Northern Greece.

Keywords:

• Fruit quality
• Malus domestica
• mineral uptake
• photosynthetic rate
• production efficiency