Evaluation of Vegetative Growth Parameters of Almond Varieties (Prunus Amygdalus L.) at Holleta, Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Abstract

The study's goal was to evaluate almond cultivars' vegetative growth performance and adaptability under Holetta conditions. The trial was carried out at the Holetta Agricultural Research Center with four almond varieties arranged in RCBD and three times replicated. Ferraduel had the highest tree height of 129.58 cm in the first growing season of 2011, followed by Desmayo (108.75 cm), Ferragnes (96.17 cm), and Marcona (95.56 cm). The Ferraduel variety has the highest recorded height except in 2014 and 2015. Annual growth differed significantly between years, with 2015 recording the most (42.7 cm) and 2013 following closely after (32.8 cm). The cross-sectional area of a tree trunk increased in general as the growth season progressed. In 2011, Marcona had the lowest TCSA (2.04 cm 2 ), whereas Ferragnes (86.58 cm 2 ) had a much lower TCSA in 2016. The exponential canopy stretch was somewhat limited from 2012 to 2013. The growing season 2016 has the most main branches, followed by the growing season 2013, with the values of 3.44 and 3.14, respectively. While the 2014 growing season had the fewest major branches, followed by the 2015 growing season with values of 2.19 and 2.58, respectively. Across all growing seasons, the Desmayo variety exhibited the highest branching height. With increasing tree height, TCSA and canopy stretch grow linearly. It also shows non-linear positive correlations of 0.43 and 0.35 with yearly growth rate and branching height, respectively.