Evaluation of peach rootstocks

The main objective for this project is: To evaluate high potential rootstocks and make recommendations to the peach industry.

Six trials have been planted in different climatic and abiotic conditions where different soil textures and plant-parasitic nematodes occur. All trial layouts were randomised complete-blocks designs with 10 replications.

ˈAlpineˈ trees on well drained sandy soils (90%) in a low chill region performed well on the rootstock Flordaguard, but Atlas and Cadaman also performed significantly better compared to Kakamas seedling. Atlas and Cadaman may perform even better in higher chilling requirement regions and for late cultivars. Flordaguard is not suitable for calcareous and wet soils and where high numbers of ring nematodes occur.

ˈAlpineˈ trees performed excellent in medium potential (17.7% silt and clay), calcareous soil with high numbers of ring nematodes on the rootstocks Atlas, Garnem, Cadaman and Filenem.

ˈArtic Starˈ trees performed well on high potential (43% silt and clay), calcareous soil with low nematode numbers on the rootstocks Atlas, Viking, Garnem and Monegro. The rootstocks Garnem, Monegro and Cadaman grow extremely strong in these soils and need more summer pruning.

ˈSummer Sunˈ peach trees on pear replant soil (29% silt and 23%clay) performed well on the rootstocks Atlas, Viking, SAPO 778 and Guardian.

ˈCascadeˈ peach trees on Garnem and Atlas performed well on high clay (17.55 %) soil with high numbers of root-lesion nematodes. GF 677 and Garnem are more prone to infection with fungal diseases compared to Atlas.

On high risk, sandy soil (5.7% silt and clay) with periodic high-water tables and moderate ring nematodes. ˈSummertimeˈ peach trees are predisposed to fungal diseases. A high number of dead or dying trees occur on all rootstocks due to Leucostoma and Botryosphaeria infections. This high-risk soil must be drained and managed as recommended before it can be considered for peach rootstocks.

Soil texture, climatic and abiotic conditions as well as plant-parasitic nematodes play an important role in rootstock performance in terms of yield, fruit weight as well as tolerance to stress conditions. Several excellent rootstocks for peach growing are available for specific situations to complement high performing cultivars. The rootstocks Flordaguard, Atlas, Garnem, Cadaman, SAPO 778, Viking and Guardian resulted positively during several years of statistical evaluation in different situations. Flordaguard is recommented for well drained, sandy soils and very low chill regions. It is resistant to root-knot, but sensitive to high numbers of ring nematodes. It is sensitive to wet and calcareous soils. In sandy soils not suitable for Flordaguard, Atlas and even Cadaman can take their place. In Calcareous soils we have GF 677, Atlas, Viking, Garnem and Cadaman. GF 677, Garnem and Cadaman are prone to fungal infections when ineffective irrigation or poor drainage occur. On replant soil with high numbers of root-lesion nematodes, the rootstocks, Atlas and Garnem can be considered. In high clay soil the rootstocks, SAPO 778, Atlas, Viking, Garnem and Guardian are available after considering all the pros and cons.