The effects of some quince rootstocks on vegetative growth and frui̇t quality in high density planted hafi̇f çukurgöbek loquat cultivar

This study was carried out in the loquat orchard in the research area located at Tayfur Sökmen Campus, Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay, Turkey in 2018-2019. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different quince clone rootstocks on phenological characteristics, vegetative growth and fruit quality of Hafif Çukurgöbek loquat cultivar. In the trial, Hafif Çukurgöbek loquat cultivar budded on Quince-A, Quince-C and BA-29 rootstocks, and planted at 1.0 m x 0.5 m inter and intra-row spacing, respectively, was used. In addition to phenological observations of cultivar/rootstock combinations, vegetative growth conditions and fruit pomological properties were determined. In order to determine the fruit quality, a total of 50 fruits were taken from each cultivar/rootstcock combination and physical and chemical measurements and analyzes were carried out including fruit weight (g), fruit dimensions (mm), seed weight (g), flesh/seed ratio (%), total soluble solids (TSS) (%), titratable total acidity (TA) (%), pH. Fruit ripening was the earliest in BA-29 rootstock in both years. The effect of rootstocks on flowering and fruit set rates differed by years. Quince-A rootstock yielded the lowest value in the ratio of fruit harvested in both years, and Quince-C and BA-29 gave close values to each other. It was determined that the highest values in terms of fruit weight and fruit sizes were obtained from the plants of Quince-C rootstock and followed by the plants of BA-29 rootstock; and the lowest values were obtained from the plants of Quince-A rootstock. Quince-C rootstock yielded higher values in terms of seed number, seed weight and flesh/seed ratio than the other two rootstocks. Differences between the rootstocks in terms of these characteristics were found to be statistically significant. BA-29 and Quince-A rootstocks had similar values in terms of total soluble solids, while Quince-C rootstock had the lowest value. Differences between the rootstocks in terms of titratable total acidity and pH were not found to be statistically significant. Quince-C rootstock gave higher values in terms of annual shoot length, scion and rootstock diameter compared to Quince-A and BA-29 rootstocks. The differences between the rootstocks in terms of vegetative parameters were found to be statistically significant at 1% level. The data obtained from this study show that it is possible to use quince rootstocks as dwarf rootstocks in loquat cultivation. 2020, 66 pages Key Words: Loquat, quince rootstocks, fruit quality, vegetative growth