The selection of vegetative rootstocks for stone fruits

Abstract

Modern stone fruit cultivation involves the use of selected vegetative rootstocks, primarily those exhibiting lower vigour. Countries that have long experience in vegetative rootstock selection show that the genetic resources for this type of selection can be primarily found in the germplasm of polycultural varieties. Serbia has a large fund of domestic cultivars and genotypes of stone fruits of the Prunus genus, which can be presumably used in the development of high-quality vegetative rootstocks. Breeding of vegetative rootstocks from autochthonous genetic material has been unjustifiably neglected in Serbia. The present paper examines the possibility of vegetative rootstock selection in 15 genotypes of autochthonous plums of different species of the Prunus genus, being as follows: Prunus domestica L., Prunus cerasifera Ehrs., Prunus insititia L. and Prunus spinosa L. Plum vegetative rootstocks were propagated by mounding as a type of vegetative propagation. Some species of the Prunus genus differed in regenerative capacity. The rooting potential was very low in genotypes derived from P. cerasifera Ehrh. (2.61% and 2.66%), as well as in those originating from P. insititia L. (1.85-4.17%). Relatively good regenerative ability was exhibited by the genus P. domestica L. Of the ten investigated genotypes, three genotypes did not produce rooted shoots, whereas seven genotypes showed a highly variable percentage of mother bushes responding to rooting, ranging from 7.14% to 100%.