Rootstocks of Corylus colurna L. for nursery production

Abstract

The paper presents long-term results on seed germination of the Turkish hazelnut and growth indicators of one-year-old seedlings grown in 2004. The genotypes selected from the location Futoški park (B1, B 4, B5, B7, B8 and B9) exhibited high seed germination in the experimental year and they formed dense stands in the rows. Growth indicators of one-year-old seedlings of the Turkish hazelnut differed significantly in dependence of the genotype and they were more advanced than those reported in the papers from an earlier test period. When they received intensive cultivation measures, primarily irrigation and nutrients application, the genotypes B8 and B9 could be used as rootstocks for grafting hazelnut cultivars already in the first year of cultivation. Nevertheless, the genotypes were grafted in late March 2007, with the objective of producing high-grafted hazelnut trees. At the end of the vegetation period, the percentage of graft taking ranged from 82% (Corylus avellana 'Atropurpurea') to 92.79% ('Rimski'), which indicated a high affinity of the rootstocks and the scions used.