Productivity and amarketable gualities of apple tree fruits of the Golden Delicious variety on low growing rootstocks depending on pruning

One of the main agrotechnical activities carried out in the garden is tree pruning. When studying the variety-double combinations of apple trees in certain environmental conditions, it is necessary to take into account the strength of growth, the density of fouling, the type of branching, the structure of fruit formations, which depends on the varietal characteristics and technologies of growing plantations. The author presents the results of studying the parameters of the influence of the degree of pruning of Golden Delicious apple trees grafted on low-growing rootstocks SK-7 and M-9, depending on the rootstock, on growth processes, productivity and marketable qualities of apple fruits. The reaction of plantings to pruning was determined depending on the biological characteristics of the variety and on the degree of branch removal and their orientation. With an increase in the intensity of pruning, the leaf surface area per fruit on the rootstock SK-7 was 180–750 cm², on the rootstock M-9 — 172–619 cm², respectively. The yield of apple trees from one tree on the rootstock SK-7 was 13.2 kg with a minimum shape, 11.4 kg with an average, 10.5 kg with a maximum, and 11.4 kg, 9.5 kg and 7.7 kg on the rootstock M-9, respectively. The average weight of fruits grafted on the rootstock SK-7 increased by 1.9 times, and on the rootstock M-9 — by 1.3 times. It was noted that the life cycles of trees on the low-growing dwarf rootstock SK-7 were 10–12% higher than on the rootstock M-9.