The overall effect of research years, rootstocks, and cultivars on the morphological attributes of pear trees

Abstract

This research was conducted to determine the combined effect of 3 factors including rootstocks, cultivars, and research years on the morphological characteristics in Samsun/Türkiye ecological conditions in the research years of 2021 and 2022. Eight rootstocks consisting of quince BA29 (BA29), quince A (QA), FOX9, FOX11, OHxF333, OHxF87, FAROLD40, and European pear seedlings were used in the study, while the cultivars were 'Santa Maria', 'Williams', and 'Deveci'. The study results revealed the significance of the combined factors on all leaf characteristics of European pear. While rootstock diameter, scion diameter, tree length, and trunk cross-sectional area showed insignificant variations. It was determined that the canopy characteristics of ‘Williams' pear cultivar in combination with the FAROLD40 and OHxF333 in the research year 2022 were higher than other combinations, while the same combination was obtained with lower values in the case of other morphological characteristics. Generally, all the morphological attributes were obtained higher in the rootstocks and cultivars combination in the research year of 2022. In conclusion, the genetic capacity of rootstocks, cultivars, and variations of the climate situations in two consequent research years, resulted in variations in the morphological attributes of pear trees.