Rootstocks Influence Morphological and Biochemical Changes in Young ‘Red Fuji’ Apple Plants

摘要

Dwarfing rootstocks are important germplasm resource for high density plantings to get maximum production potential. Thisstudy was conducted to examine the effects of different rootstocks on growth morphology, hormones, minerals andcarbohydrate concentrations among different scion/rootstock combinations of an apple cultivar ?Red Fuji?. The resultsindicated that ?Red Fuji?/?M-9? had lower growth vigor based on their lower node number, shorter internode length andprimary shoot length and reduced trunk diameter of scion. Nutrient analysis showed that ?Red Fuji?/?M-9? had a lower mineralelements concentration such as phosphorous (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) in the leafcompared with ?Red Fuji? apple grafted onto ?M-26?, ?Chistock-1? and ?Baleng? rootstocks that likely reduced the growth rate.Further, we observed that ?Red Fuji?/?M-9? had a lower concentration of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellic acid (GA 3 )and zeatin riboside (ZR) and higher abscisic acid (ABA) concentration in the roots compared with ?Baleng?, ?Chistock-1? and?M-26?. The starch contents were also higher in the leaf and root of ?Red Fuji? apple grafted onto ?M-9? rootstock comparedwith more vigorous rootstocks. Preliminary correlation analysis and factor analysis showed that primary shoot length, plantheight and scion trunk diameter (tree morphology index), starch content in the leaf, indole-3-acetic acid, zeatin riboside,gibberellic acid, abscisic acid, P, calcium (Ca) and iron (Fe) contents in the roots can be considered as main morphological andbio-chemical parameters influenced by different rootstocks. This study concluded that morphological parameters (lower plantheight), lower hormonal ratio (IAA+GA 3 +ZR)/ABA), lower mineral (P, K and Mg) and higher starch content could be used asindices for selection of dwarfing apple rootstocks.