ROOTSTOCK INFLUENCE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF FLOWER BUDS IN TWO APPLE CULTIVARS

During the period from the year 2002 to the year 2004 the influence of the seedling and some clonal rootstocks on the development of flower buds in the apple cultivars Golden Resistant and Starkrimson, have been studied. The study also included own-rooted trees of the cultivar Golden Resistant. The influence of rootstocks was weak and inconstant according to years. The flower bud formation of own-rooted plants was similar to that in the grafted trees. A tendency for later reaching the sum of leaf-like appendages, the so-called 'critical number' necessary for the onset of the morphological differentiation of buds, is present in the trees overloaded with fruit.