Uman National University | today: 06/27/2025
| Author(s) |
Кіщак О. А., , , Кіщак Ю. П., , , |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Category | The Agronomy | ||
| year | 2025 | issue | Issue 106 Part 1 |
| pages | 46-54 | index UDK | 634. 23:631.559:631.3 | DOI | 10.32782/2415-8240-2025-106-1-46-54 (Link) |
| Abstract | The purpose was to conduct a comparative assessment of the productivity of different cherry orchard structures suitable for mechanised fruit harvesting. The study was carried out at the Institute of Horticulture of NAAS in a cherry plantation established in 2013 on the Antypka rootstock. During 2016–2023, under field conditions, orchard types with rounded crowns and a lowered fruiting zone (control) were studied in comparison with trees trained to spindle and triple-axis flattened crowns. Trees of the weak-growing varieties Turhenievka and Vstriecha were planted at a spacing of 4 × 2 m, while those of medium-high vigor, Igrushka and Kseniia, were spaced at 4.5 × 2.0 m. Methods. Field, laboratory, and statistical. Results. At the age of eleven, the weakest-growing trees were Turhenievka and Vstriecha, with heights ranging from 3.1 to 3.5 m, crown volumes of 7.3–9.9 m³, and trunk diameters of 10.0–12.6 cm, depending on canopy structure. On average, over the study years, trees with spindle and triple-axis flattened crowns required 1.2 to 2.2 times more pruning effort compared to the control, with the number of removed branches being 1.4 to 2.3 times higher. In terms of yield, plantations of all varieties with either a triple-axis flattened or rounded crowns showed the best performance, with yields ranging from 9.0–10.7 t/ha (Igrushka) to 16.8–20.0 t/ha (Kseniia). In the spindle crown variants, yields were 18.4–29.0% lower than in the aforementioned systems. Among the studied varieties, the highest yield of nearly 33 t/ha was recorded in 2023 for Kseniia in the rounded crowns with a lowered fruiting zone and a planting density of 1111 trees/ha. The marketability of the harvested fruit remained high across all variants, ranging from 95.0% to 97.8%. Conclusions. The study confirmed the feasibility of using a triple-axis flattened crowns for establishing resource-efficient, high-productivity cherry orchards suitable for mechanised fruit harvesting in the Forest-Steppe zone of Ukraine | ||
| Key words | cherry, crown shape, biometric parameters, yield, orchard design, mechanised harvesting | ||