New rootstock trials at the Mach Foundation

Tommaso Pantezzi - Fondazione E. Mach (IT)
Cherry Times technical-scientific committee

Cherry cultivation in Trentino Alto Adige represents a small part of the national panorama, with an area of about 250 ha; however, it represents an interesting crop for provincial fruit growing and has spread in some hill areas such as Valsugana, valle di Non, and Bleggio, but also in the Adige valley with altitudes ranging from 200 m asl to 900 m asl.

Since the 1990s, the new plantings have taken the form of specialised cherry orchards with progressive thickening, rain cover and later anti-insect, with medium-late varieties such as Kordia and Regina, and with dwarfing rootstocks, primarily Gisela 5.

Within the province, the Mach Foundation is involved in both consultancy and experimentation on this crop, and experimental cherry orchards have also been planted in experimental farms to investigate certain issues.

For this reason, in 2015 a rootstock trial was planted in Trentino parallel to one in Alto Adige and Valtellina following the same experimental scheme.

In the Pergine Valsugana farm of the Mach Foundation, at an altitude of 550 m above sea level in Trentino, Kordia plants were grafted on 14 different rootstocks of different vigour (table 1) at a distance of 1.8 m on the row and 3.7 m between rows. The experimental scheme adopted was randomised blocks with four repetitions of five plants per rootstock. Data on vigour (trunk section area), production (kg/plant) and average fruit weight were collected annually from the three plants central to the repetition. Quality parameters were evaluated for each repetition.

After eight years of cultivation, there were some significant differences in vigour, measured as trunk cross-section: the weakest rootstock was confirmed as G3, followed by G5 and W720, while an increasing gradation was observed in the others until arriving at the most vigorous, which is so far P4.

Figure 2: Gisela 3 proved to be a dwarfing and highly efficient rootstock.

As far as production per plant is concerned, significant differences were observed in the cumulative production achieved in the first five years of production from 2018 to 2022, with important differences also being the different ability to enter production. The rootstocks that appeared most productive so far were G6, G12, G17. The latter had a particularly high production in 2022, a season characterised by a very high fruit set. Other rootstocks of lower vigour, such as G5, W720 and G3, had a slightly lower cumulative production, but usually more constant over the years.

Figure 3: Gisela 6 was the most productive rootstock in the trial.

Figure 4: Among the most vigorous rootstocks, the best results were obtained with Gisela 17.

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