Cyclanilide treatments increase lateral branching of apple and pear nursery trees

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of different cyclanilide (Cyc) and Perlan (Pr) doses on formation of lateral branches on apple [Golden Delicious (GD) and Starking Delicious (SD)] and pear (Deveci and Williams) nursery trees grafted on seedling rootstocks. Except for 5 mg L-1 Cyc in Deveci pears, all Cyc concentrations applied in this study increased significantly the number of lateral branches on both apple and pear trees in nursery. In GD apple, while control trees had 2.5 lateral branches, the trees treated 100 mg L-1 Cyc had 12.7 lateral branches per trees. Except for 250 mg L-1 in GD apple, all other Pr treatments did not cause a significant increase in the number of lateral branches on apple and pear trees. Crotch angles of SD apples decreased significantly with 750 mg L-1 Pr treatments. The 250 and 500 mg L-1 Pr treatments significantly reduced number of lateral branches of Williams pears. It was concluded based on present findings that entire Cyc doses could be used as an efficient tool to increase the number of lateral branches in apples and pears; high Cyc doses could also be used to reduce the first branch height in both apple cultivars and Deveci pears.