Alteration of Fruit Tree Nutrition Through Rootstocks

Abstract

Roots have a strong influence on plant composition, but differential ability to absorb nutrients is only part of a maze of interactions affecting mineral concentrations in plant tissues. Most reports on rootstock effects on mineral nutrition are based on leaf analysis, but all other tissues are involved. Rootstock and scion effects are reciprocal, and the influence of the scion can be as strong as that of the rootstock. Variation in distribution pattern, capability of nutrients to move across bud unions, environmental and soil factors, fruit load, and, above all, the genetic makeup of stock and scion are intimately involved. There is a large amount of literature on rootstock effects on scion composition, but generally other horticultural properties outweigh nutritional effects when a rootstock is chosen. This is especially true for the major elements. The main use of nutritional properties of rootstocks has been to avoid toxicities, especially those of Cl and B, which are difficult or impossible to avoid by other means, and to avoid deficiencies.