The influence of some external factors important for the rooting of semi-hardwood and hardwood peach cuttings planted in a mist propagation unit with a bottom heat bench were investigated. Cuttings from 1-year-old trees had relatively higher rooting percentages after storage at 2-4ºC for 2 and 3 months, while cuttings from 11-year-old trees had the highest rooting percentage at the first planting. Cold storage appeared to decrease rooting of the cuttings from 11-year-old trees significantly. The greatest length of semi-hardwood cuttings was 15-20 cm long. Hardwood cuttings collected from the middle of the shoot on 4 November gave the best results. Spring Crest, Arm King and GF677 had the highest rooting percentages (averaged across all levels), while the cultivars Andross, Flavour Crest and Katerina rooted poorly. The effect of 5 indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) concentrations on the rooting of peach hardwood cuttings was also tested. Generally, IBA concentration at rates of 2000 mg/L gave very good rooting.

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In this study, the adaptation of 49 quince (Cydonia oblonga)

Ten peach and nectarine (Prunus persica L. Batsh) cultivars: Arm King, Early Crest, Early Gem, Flavor Crest, May Crest, May Grand, Red Gold, Red Haven, Spring Crest and Sun Crest, were propagated by both hardwood cuttings (HC) and by bud grafting onto peach seedlings. Significant differences were observed for rooting among cultivars and applied IBA. Degree of blooming and yield were higher for HC propagated own-rooted trees when compared with budded trees in the first 6 years of fruiting. Budded trees increased in size faster than HC trees but were less productive. Yield, yield efficiency and fruit size were not only cultivar specific, but were also affected by the propagation method, being higher for own-rooted trees in most cultivars. Tree mortality was generally higher for budded trees. No significant differences were found in mineral absorption efficiency, time of blooming, fruit firmness, acidity and sugar level between own-rooted and budded trees. Results based on percent rooting of HC, yield, fruit size, growth and tree mortality suggest that own-rooted HC trees should be an acceptable tree type for commercial orchards, especially for the cultivars Sun Crest, Spring Crest and Red Haven.

ABSTRACT:The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different sources of iron, hormones and agrobacterium tumefaciens in the chlorophyll and iron concentration of the peach cultivars Katerina and Fire Blight. The results showed that the concentration of Fe in the leaves was significantly increased after spraying with FeSO 4 .7H 2 O (alone or in combination with KNO 3 , urea, citric acid or ascorbic acid) or with GA 3 + Kinetin. Soil applications with Fe-EDDHA also significantly increased the iron concentration in leaves. Chlorophyll (a/b) increased only in trees sprayed with citric acid or H 2 SO 4 60 days after application. SPAD chlorophyll measurements showed that Fe-EDDHA and FeSO 4 .7H 2 O + organic matter, applied as soil drench, significantly increased the chlorophyll concentration in leaves of Katerina even up to 120 days after application. Foliar treatments had no significant effect on the SPAD index. SPAD measurements also showed that the concentrations of chlorophyll in leaves of the rootstocks St. Julien 655/2 and wild seedling rootstocks were significantly lower than in GF677 and Antafuel. The rootstocks inoculated with the a. tumefaciens strain Ag-28 alone showed a significantly lower chlorophyll concentration than the uninoculated ones.