Effect of Rootstocks on Vegetative and Fruit Characteristics of Peach

The performance of two commercial low chill peach cultivars, ‘Earli Grande’ and ‘Shan-i-Punjab’ grafted on ‘Sharbati’ and ‘Flordaguard’ rootstocks were studied at the New orchard of Department of Horticulture PAU, Ludhiana during 2008 and 2009. Vegetative growth in terms of stock and scion girth, tree spread, tree height and canopy volume of both the cultivars were higher on Flordaguard rootstock as compared to Sharbati. Number of fruits and fruit yield per tree of peach cvs Earli Grande and Shan-i-Punjab were also significantly higher on Flordaguard rootstock. Fruit quality on Flordaguard rootstock was found to be better in terms of fruit weight and TSS. The rootstocks had no significant effect on leaf nutrient content of peach leaves. Trees of both the cultivars grafted on Sharbati rootstock were highly infested with root knot nematodes but, the trees on Flordaguard rootstock were found to be free from the incidence of nematodes.