Influence of soil management treatment on root systems of apple trees
2008
Surikova, V., Latvia State Inst. of Fruit-Growing, Dobele (Latvia) | Karklins, A., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Inst. of Soil and Plant Sciences | Rubauskis, E., Latvia State Inst. of Fruit-Growing, Dobele (Latvia) | Skrivele, M., Latvia State Inst. of Fruit-Growing, Dobele (Latvia) | Berlands, V., Latvia State Inst. of Fruit-Growing, Dobele (Latvia)
The aim of this research was to clarify root distribution of apple trees on the dwarf rootstock B 9 depending of soil management treatment. The investigation was done on the base of an existing trial planted in 1997 with cultivar `Melba`, at 1.5 x 4 m distances. In the strips the trial had the following soil management treatments: control, sawdust mulch and fertigation. For characterizing of root distribution, trenches were dug near the trees perpendicular to the row of trees, 1.2 m deep, 2.6 m long and 0.8 m wide. The roots were coloured to identify them and differentiated by size, and counted using a frame with 0.15 x 0.15 m pixels. It was found that the main mass of apple tree roots (80 % of them) on dwarf rootstock B 9 were distributed depending of soil management treatment – in treatments with mulch and fertigation till 0.30 depth, in control till 0.45 m depth. However, in horizontal direction of both sides from the tree trunk it was till 0.75 m for all treatments – no significant differences. The total amount of roots differed also depending of soil management treatment – there were significantly more roots in the treatment with mulch comparing with control.
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