2013 Volume 12 Issue 4 Pages 373-380
This study aimed to assess the effects of heading-back, lateral shoot pinching, culture soil, and gibberellin paste treatment on the growth of peach nursery stock for use in the tree joint training system. The main shoots of stock subjected to heading-back treatment at 100 cm above the ground were longer than those of untreated stock (controls). However, no difference in the trunk length was observed. Further, the treated stock were easy to bend and hard to break when training; thus, heading-back the treatment was considered a suitable propagation method for peach nursery stock to be used in the tree joint training system. Longer main shoots and trunks were observed in stock subjected to pinching treatment of the lateral shoot with up to 2 leaves than in those subjected to pinching treatment of the lateral shoot with up to 5 leaves. Thus, the pinching treatment with up to 2 leaves was considered a suitable raising method. Longer main shoots and trunks were observed in stock grown in Akadama compared to Masa soil. Therefore, Akadama soil was considered a suitable raising method. The main shoots and trunks of stock treated three times with gibberellin paste were longer than those of stock treated either once or twice. However, the lowest rate of fine roots was observed in stock treated three times with gibberellin paste. In contrast, the second longest main shoot and trunk of stock treated twice with gibberellin paste showed no difference in the rate of fine roots when compared with the controls. Therefore, treatment twice with gibberellin paste is considered a suitable raising method.
