Influence of the Exposed Length of Rootstock on Vegetative Growth and Productivity of ‘Sansa’ Apple Trees Grafted on M.7 or M.9

Abstract

M.7 rootstock is moderately resistant to fire blight. However, M.7 is generally too vigorous for high-density apple systems, but it can be grafted onto cultivars that exhibit weak tree growth, such as ‘Sansa’. This study investigated the vegetative growth, yield, and fruit quality of ‘Sansa’ apple trees grafted on M.7 or M.9 root-stocks to assess the feasibility of establishing domestic high-density apple systems using M.7 and to determine the optimum exposure length for rootstocks. Trees were planted with exposed rootstock lengths of 5, 10, and 15 cm. The vegetative growth of apple trees grafted onto M.7 was greater than that of M.9 and vegetative growth tended to decrease as the exposed length of root-stock increased. However, the differences in yield per tree, average weights, soluble solids contents, and titrat-able acidity due to the rootstock and its exposure length varied. The accumulated yield over a 10 year period and the yield efficiency of M.7 were lower than that of M.9 and the yield efficiency tended to decrease as the exposed length of rootstock increased. When apple trees were grafted onto M.9, biennial bearing and tree vigor weakening occurred if the exposed length of the root-stock was over 10 cm. Conversely, when apple trees were grafted onto M.7, vegetative growth was excessive if the exposed length of rootstock was below 10 cm. Based on the results from this study, the optimum M.7 and M.9 exposure lengths for ‘Sansa’ were 15 cm and 5 cm, respectively.