SHOOT GROWTH INCREMENTOF FRUIT TREES AND THEIR PRODUCTIVITY DEPENDING ON IRRIGATION METHODS

Determining the increment of annual tree shoots depending on the influence of environmental factors and irrigation methods is a relevant topic from scientific and practical points of view. It should be noted that there is no information or recommendations for growers on irrigation by various methods, especially modern (drip) irrigation, on areas of perennial trees when grown on rocky and poor soils under the conditions of Northern Tajikistan. The growth and development of tree shoot length shows the vigor and the state of tree productivity. The data of research on determining the number of annual shoots and their growth in apricot trees of the Mirsanjali and Boboi varieties over four years of research depending on the irrigation method (traditional ridge-and-furrow and drip methods) are discussed. The average number of one-year shoots on one tree was from 74.3 to 105.7 for the Mirsanjali variety, and from 74.5 to 110.0 for the Boboi variety. In the Mirsanjali variety, despite the short shoot length of 36.6 cm on the first year of research (control, 2018), on the fourth year it reached increment of up to 4.6 cm (45.9 cm, 2021) which under drip irrigation was 39.9 cm and up to 8.4 cm (48.3 cm), respectively. High results were obtained for the Boboi variety; they were higher under ridge-and-furrow irrigation where 37.5 and up to 2.5 cm (43.0 cm) were obtained, and accordingly under drip irrigation - 40.2 cm and up to 5.5 cm (45.7 cm). In all variants, both in terms of the number of one-year shoots (from 10.9 to 17.9 pieces) and in terms of length (from 3.8 to 5.3 cm), the results were higher than the control variant under drip irrigation.