Usefulness of Living Mulch in Rows in a Dwarf Pear, Pyrus communis L., Orchard

Sosna, Ireneusz; Fudali, Ewa

doi:10.3390/agriculture13112145

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…The presence of living mulches causes discomfort for fruit trees, which may result in reduced tree yield [22,24,26,27]. With the appropriate choice of both cover crops and agrotechnical methods, the competition of living mulch relative to the cultivated plant can be mitigated [7,22,28]. However, there is an impact on fruit quality [7,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Living Mulches or Environmental Conditions Have a Greater Impact on the External Quality of the Apple Fruit ‘Chopin’ Cultivar?

Licznar-Malanczuk,

Baluszynska

2024

Agriculture

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Research was carried out to assess the yield and quality of fruits from the new Polish apple tree ‘Chopin’—a ‘green peel’, scab-resistant cultivar under grass living mulch management. Blue fescue and red fescue were tested in experiment no. 1. In experiment no. 2, meadow grass and perennial ryegrass were used. Every species of grass was sown in two doses of 50 and 150 kg per ha. Herbicide fallow was introduced as a control in both experiments. Strongly variable temperatures and precipitations in the years of evaluation made it possible to estimate year—a function of variable environmental conditions—as an additional experimental factor. An unexpected effect of the presence of living mulch was its significant impact on the appearance of blush on the ‘green peel’ fruit. However, living mulches had little effect on weight and fruit size. Cool days during apple ripening enhanced the process of fruit skin red coloration. The effect of both agrotechnical and environmental factors on fruit quality was more visible in the case of less vigorous trees, which were more susceptible to experimental, stressful conditions. However, increasing the sowing dose of each grass seed did not influence red blushing, weight, or fruit size. An additional difficulty for the trees was the competition caused by the early germination of these living grass mulches, reinforced by the presence of Trifolium repens L.

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