Induction of lateral branching in sweet cherry cultivars in nursery

Abstract

The study was carried out on one-year-old trees of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) cvs. Siahe Mashhad and Dovomras in nursery for improving lateral shoot formation and increasing the tree quality. In the first experiment, heading back at 0, 40, 60 and 80 cm above ground and in the second experiment, Arbolin® (BA + GA3) application (0, 5, 15, 25 ml l-1) was investigated. Young trees were treated two times with foliar sprays of Arbolin at 7-day intervals in mid-June. A factorial experiment was laid out in a completely randomized block design with three replications where each plot had 10 trees. Results showed that all treatments increased the number of laterals in comparison to control. The cultivars had different response to the treatments. Heading back at 60 cm was the best treatment for improving total number of lateral shoots. The number of lateral shoots enhanced with application of higher concentrations and two application of Arbolin on both cultivars. Arbolin treatment (25 ml l-1 × 2 times) had significant effect on the number and length of lateral shoots than heading back treatments.