Vegetative and generative characteristics of 20 apple (M. domestica Borkh.) cultivars

Abstract

Ten new apple cultivars, three promising Slovene and two American hybrids in comparison with five standard cultivars were studied in a trial orchard in Brdo pri Lukovici. The tree height, the crown width and the trunk cross-sectional area, measured at the end of the fifth growing season, the cumulative yield of the first four years of full cropping and the cumulative yield efficiency for the same period are presented in the article. On the basis of the Ward's cluster analysis of three variables (tree height, crown width and trunk cross-sectional area), four groups of cultivars were determined. Due to large differences in tree vigour, significant differences were found between the cumulative yield per tree and the cumulative yield efficiency of some cultivars. A high cumulative yield efficiency was observed for cultivars Jerseyred, Šampion, Gala, Arlet, MB 9486 and NY 61345-2. The lowest cumulative yield efficiency was found for cultivars Čadel, Jonathan and Delbard Jubilé.