THE INFLUENCE OF LATE SPRING FROSTS ON APPLE VARIETIES PRODUCTIVITY IN INTENSIVE ORCHARDS
Abstract
The article presents the results of studies on apple varieties resistance to late spring frosts in intensive plantations. The aim of the study was to compare apple varieties resistance and the formation of a marketable crop after damage caused by late spring frosts. The studies were conducted with the apple varieties Renet Symyrenko, Golden Delicious, Red Yonaprinz, Red Delicious, Pinova, Fuji, Gala, Celesta, Delbarestivale, Ambrosia, Modi. It was found that the highest productivity was demonstrated by the Golden Delicious variety, which yield reached 38.1 t/ha, which indicates a relatively high adaptability to stressful conditions. The group of varieties with an average yield level (20–30 t/ha) was formed by Modi (29.0 t/ha), Red Jonaprinz (27.5 t/ha) and Pinova (23.3 t/ha), which characterizes them as moderately resistant to the effects of late frosts with partial preservation of generative potential. Most of the studied varieties formed a yield at the level of 10–20 t/ha: Gala (15.4 t/ha), Fuji (12.3 t/ha), Celesta (17.8 t/ha), Ambrosia (10.1 t/ha) and Renet Symyrenko (19.8 t/ha), which indicates a significant, but not critical, productivity suppression under the frost stress influence. The lowest yield indicators were recorded in the varieties Red Delicious (5.2 t/ha) and Delbarestivale (2.9 t/ha), which indicates their high sensitivity to late spring frosts and a significant crop formation processes disruption in extreme temperatures conditions. Thus, taking into account the comprehensive yield indicator and the number of fruits with damage signs, from all the studied varieties, it is worth highlighting the Golden Delicious and Pinova varieties, which provided the maximum number of marketable fruits of 36.0 and 22.1 t/ha, respectively. Thus, it was established that in the Kharkiv region conditions during two waves of temperature drops in 2025 to -3.7 0C in the phase of flowering beginning and to -4.1 0C in the full flowering phase, the most resistant to late spring frosts were the apple varieties Golden Delicious and Pinova.
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