Agrobiological and economic aspects of the selection of apple varieties for intensive plantations

Abstract

Goal. To evaluate the best apple varieties in terms of immunity to scab, productivity, marketable quality of fruits, and efficiency of cultivation in plantations on the rootstock of M9. Methods. Field: to monitor the growth of plants; measuring-weight: to determine the biometric indicators, yield, and marketable quality of fruits; analysis of variance using the AgroStat program: to determine the reliability of experimental data; calculation-comparative analysis: to determine the economic efficiency. Results. The study was conducted in 2018–2024 in apple plantations (planting in 2017) at the Institute of Horticulture of the NAAS. The strength of growth, the peculiarity of fruiting, the yield, and the marketable quality of the fruits of 3 varieties of apple tree with immunity to scab at different densities of the trees in the trellis-dwarf garden were studied. The feasibility of choosing a variety for creating intensive plantations was economically justified. In various designs of the garden, the growth productivity index of trees of the Dmiana variety was 0.75 and 0.72 kg per 1 cm2 of the cross-sectional area of the stamp, which, respectively, was 37.5–60.8 and 60.0–72.2% more than that of the Skifske zoloto and Florina varieties. The average yield of plantations of the Dmiana variety for 7 years was 49.5–62.6 and 8.8–23.3% more than that of these varieties. Investments in the creation of plantations of Skifske zoloto and Dmiana paid off in the 4th year, and Florina — in the 5th and 6th year of fruiting. Coefficient of variation of profit for 7 years of fruiting in different designs of a garden was for Skifske zoloto 0.85 and 0.7, Dmiana — 1.13 and 1.02, Florina — 1.62 and 1.60, which testified to the different economic reliability of grades for production. Conclusions. In trellis-dwarf plantations, the best indicators (high commodity quality of fruits, low level of periodicity of fruiting, stable growth of profit) were demonstrated by the variety Skifske zoloto. The Dmiana variety provided the best rapidity and average yield. However, the pronounced frequency of fruiting of the Dmiana variety did not guarantee a stable profit. That is why, for industrial production, it is necessary to develop effective measures to reduce the level of periodicity of fruiting.