Effect of Different Treatments on Branching of Some Apple Trees in Nursery

This study was conducted to determine effect of different treatments on branching of one-year-old ‘Fuji’, ‘Granny Smith’ and ‘Red Delicious, Red Chief’ trees which grafted on M9 rootstock. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (Pseudomonas BA-8) strain, 6‑Benzyl Adenin (BA) and pinching were used to promote branching. The BA (300 ppm) and BA-8 (109CFU/ml) were applied to first twenty centimeters of the top part of trees. The BA, BA-8 and Pinching was applied to trees at 75 cm in length. According to our results, BA-8 and pinching increased number of branches compared to control and BA treatments for all cultivars. BA-8 increased number of branches in ‘Fuji’, ‘Red Delicious, Red Chief’ and ‘Granny Smith’ from 2.71, 1.70 to 4.25 branches/tree, respectively while pinching increased 1,95 branches/tree in ‘Red Delicious, Red Chief’ and 4,01 branches/tree. The highest branch’s angle was obtained from BA-8 bacteria in ‘Fuji’ (64.46°), and ‘Red Delicious, Red Chief’ (52.08°) and ‘Granny Smith’ (56.91°). BA-8 bacteria treatment was found alternative practice instead of pinching in terms of branching performance.