NURSERY PERFORMANCE OF GN22 AND GF677 ALMOND ROOTSTOCKS

Traditional almond production is done by seed rootstocks in Turkey. In recent years, GF677 and GN22 clonal rootstocks are used in almond orchards which are set under irrigated conditions. However, nursery performance of these rootstocks remains unclear for both farmers and nursery holders. This study was conducted under unheated greenhouse conditions in Gaziantep between the years 2009 and 2011. Nine hundred cuttings of both GF677 and GN22 were used as material in this study. Three doses of IBA (indole-3-butyric acid), 250, 500 and 1000 ppm, were prepared for each rootstock. Studies on the rooting of cuttings were done in wet perlite on 15th November 2009. The best rooting occurred in 500 ppm IBA solution for GF677 with 78% rooting ratio and in 250 ppm IBA solution for GN22 with 97% rooting ratio. Grafting was done in three periods. The most success was obtained in March, followed by October and the lowest grafting success was seen in July. The best results for GF677 rooting were obtained for dipping into 500 ppm solution and grafting in March or October and for GN22, dipping into 250 ppm and grafting in the same periods were the best.