PRELIMINARY STUDY REGARDING THE GROWTH AND YIELDING PROCESSES OF TWO ARONIA MELANOCARPA CULTIVARS IN THE PEDOCLIMATE CONDITIONS OF MARACINENI-ARGES AREA

Abstract

The present paper studies the growth and fruiting processes of two Aronia melanocarpa cultivars, ‘Melrom’ and ‘Nero’, in the pedo-climatic conditions of the Muntenia (Arges) area, Romania. On average, over the whole experience, the ‘Merlom’ cultivar recorded a bush volume of 0.72 m3, annual vegetative growth of 0.38 m3, productivity of 1.88 kg of fruit per plant, and a ratio between fruit yield and the annual vegetative growth of 6.54 kg/m3. In the ‘Nero’ cv., the volume occupied by the aerial part of the bush was 1.98 m3, with an annual vegetative growth of 0.43 m3, an yield of 3.14 kg of fruits per plant, and, reported to the annual vegetative, fruit production was 10.64 kg/m3. Although the volume of the aerial part of the plant and the fruit production per plant were significantly higher in ‘Nero’ cultivar, ‘Melrom’ was noted by a larger ratio of fruit production to the unit volume of the aerial part of the plant, of 3.28 kg/m3. As resulted from our study, both cultivars presented valuable yielding potential.