Effects of different combinations used for apple nursery tree with interstock on quality and physiology

This study has been conducted to determine the effects of different variety/interstock/rootsock combinations on some morphological and physiological characteristics in apple nursery trees. For this purpose, Fuji (strong) and Red Chief (spur) apple varieties have been grafted at four different grafting heights (5 cm, 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm + 30 cm interstock) using three different interstock/ rootstock combinations (MM106/M9, MM106/seedling, M9/seedling).Although two grafting were made, nursery production with interstock was realized in the same duration with the classical method. The nursery survival was between 82.50% (Red Chief/M9/seedling) and 94.58% (Red Chief/MM106/M9). Increasing the grafting height resulted in a decrease in shoot length. Grafting at 30 cm gave the 15% shorter shoots in Red Chief and 7% shorter shoots in Fuji than those of grafting at 5cm. M9 interstock produced small size nursery tree than the MM106 interstock 13% in Red Chief and 6% in Fuji variety. According to the combinations, shoot lengths were ordered as seedling> MM106/seedling> MM106> M9> M9/seedling> MM106/M9. Additionally more uniform nursery plants were obtained from grafted at the ground level. It has been observed that interstock/ rootstock combinations and varieties are influential on the diameter growth of grafting components and interstock diameter grew more than other grafting components in the applications in which M9 was used as the interstock. It has been determined that the effects of interstock, grafting height and variety on lateral branching formation were significant. Increasing the grafting height resulted in an increase the lateral branching formation. In the MM106 interstock with 30 cm grafting height combination lateral branch number was 3.05 branches/tree in Fuji, while it was 0.98 branches/tree in Red Chief variety. In general, interstocks increased the formation of sucker. However, a negative relationship has been found between interstocks and the number of sucker. There was no sucker in the nursery trees grafted at the height of 30 cm. There were no significant differences among the interstock/rootstock combinations in terms of the total carbonhydrates, C:N ratio, chlorophyll density and some nutrient contents. However, it has been determined that varieties have significant effects on these parameters.