Rootstocks used for temperate fruit trees in Turkey: an overview.

Abstract

Most of the fruit tree orchards in Turkey are grafted onto rootstocks, except chestnuts and cornelian cherries, which are generally propagated by seeds. The main rootstocks used by Turkish growers for temperate fruit trees nowadays are: wild apple seedlings, M.9 and MM.106 for apples; wild pear, in particular Pyrus eleagrifolia L. seedlings for pears; wild peach seedlings for peaches; wild plum seedlings for plums; seedlings of Mazzard and Mahaleb, very recently clonally propagated Gisela 5 and Gisela 6 rootstocks for cherries; Juglans regia L. seedlings for walnut; wild almond seedlings for almond; wild apricot seedlings for apricot. The level of clonal rootstock use for temperate fruit tree species is not satisfactory in Turkey. However, in recent years the number of orchards established with clonal rootstocks, in particular for apples and cherries, has been increased in the country. In this paper the current status of rootstock use for temperate fruit trees in Turkey is reported.