Naturally spreading and natural apple dwarfs in the forest-steppe zone of the Southern Urals

Abstract

The article presents tests of natural creeping apple trees and natural dwarfs, carried out in the in the conditions of the Orenburg region. There were from 50 to 100 trees in the experiment in each variant. Vigorous standard plantations were used as control. The aim of the research was to test natural creeping apple trees, natural dwarfs against the background of standard varieties bred in the South Urals (Chelyabinsk), as well as to determine their prospects for intensive horticulture in the extreme conditions of the region. The preservation of plantings for all variants of the experiment for 20 years of research is high and amounted to 92-99 %, their condition was estimated at 4.5-5.0 points. The highest yield was noted for natural dwarfs (457.2 c/ha), the smallest yield was obtained on vigorous standard plantings (control) – 238.7 c/ha. Naturally creeping apple trees in terms of productivity were higher than control by an average of 25 %. Of the naturally creeping varieties, the most productive were the varieties Podsnezhnik (348.3 c/ha), Chudnoe (335.2 c/ha), the least productive were the varieties Plastun and Kovrovoe (255.1 and 262.5 c/ha, respectively). On the natural dwarfs, the most productive variety was the variety Brat Chudnogo (461.2 c/ha). In the control, the most productive varieties were the varieties Symbol (295.9 c/ha) and Nadezhda (270.5 c/ha), less productive were the varieties Pamyat Zhavoronkova and Fevralskoe (208.0 and 224.1 c/ha, respectively). Low-growing plantations, in particular layer and natural varieties of the Urals, are distinguished by their early maturity and, in general, higher productivity per unit area. The highest labor costs are accounted for by natural dwarfs (485.4 person-day/ha) and the lowest in vigorous plantings (317.4 person-day/ha). This has a positive eff ect on the profit and rentability of production.