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GROWING APPLE (MALUS DOMESTICA) UNDER TROPICAL MOUNTAIN CLIMATE CONDITIONS IN NORTHERN ETHIOPIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2009

DEREJE ASHEBIR ,
TOM DECKERS ,
JAN NYSSEN ,
WUBETU BIHON ,
ALEMTSEHAY TSEGAY ,
HAILEMARIAM TEKIE ,
JEAN POESEN ,
MITIKU HAILE ,
FEKADU WONDUMAGEGNEHEU  and
DIRK RAES
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DEREJE ASHEBIR*
Affiliation:
Department of Crop and Horticultural Science, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia
TOM DECKERS
Affiliation:
PCFruit vzw Proefcentrum Fruitteelt, Fruituinweg 1, B - 3800 St.TruidenBelgium
JAN NYSSEN
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S8, B - 9000 Ghent, Belgium
WUBETU BIHON
Affiliation:
Department of Crop and Horticultural Science, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia
ALEMTSEHAY TSEGAY
Affiliation:
Department of Crop and Horticultural Science, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia
HAILEMARIAM TEKIE
Affiliation:
Department of Crop and Horticultural Science, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia
JEAN POESEN
Affiliation:
Physical and Regional Geography Research Group, K.U.Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, B - 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
MITIKU HAILE
Affiliation:
Department of Land Resources Management and Environmental Protection, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia
FEKADU WONDUMAGEGNEHEU
Affiliation:
Department of Crop and Horticultural Science, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia
DIRK RAES
Affiliation:
Institute for Land and Water Management, K.U.Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, B - 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
MINTESINOT BEHAILU
Affiliation:
Department of Land Resources Management and Environmental Protection, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia
JOZEF DECKERS
Affiliation:
Institute for Land and Water Management, K.U.Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, B - 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
*
‡Corresponding author.
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Summary

Lack of effective chilling during the dormant season is one of the major problems when apples are growing under a tropical climate. We evaluated the response of different apple cultivars (Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith and Jonagold) grown on M9 rootstock with different dormancy-management practices. The trials were carried out between 2004 and 2006 in a tropical mountain area (Tigray, Ethiopia), where chilling conditions are poor with the aim of improving and synchronizing the bud break and the blossoming period of these apple cultivars. Two-year-old well-feathered trees were planted in two experimental trial sites in a randomized complete block design. Trees were subjected to the following treatments in two sets of experiments: one defoliation per year only; two defoliations per year, one defoliation followed by 1% hydrogen cyanamide (Dormex) treatment; one defoliation followed by 2% Dormex treatment; one defoliation followed by 4% winter oil; one defoliation followed by 0.5% Dormex and 2% winter oil; and a control with no defoliation or dormancy breaking treatments. The results show positive effects of the dormancy breaking agents on the productivity of the trees after defoliation, with comparable results for the effectiveness of both Dormex and winter oil. There were no statistically significant differences between the Dormex doses. The defoliation treatment alone was not sufficient to break dormancy for the cultivars Golden Delicious, Granny Smith or Gala but showed promising results with dormancy breaking on Jonagold. Yields increased as a result of better flowering time synchronization within a tree but even with the dormancy treatments the length of the flowering period was still spread over five weeks, where under a more temperate climate it lasted two to three weeks. The average fruit weight of Jonagold and Granny Smith can be considered as a good fruit quality while the fruit of other diploid cultivars like Golden, Gala and Fuji were rather small, which indicates that fruit thinning by hand will be a necessity for these cultivars. Red colouration of the apples on the cultivars Gala and Jonagold was excellent and meets the standards necessary for commercialization of these fruits. The sugar concentration of the fruits and the fruit firmness at harvest was high. The results of these first trials indicate that it is possible to develop new apple production in the mountain region of Tigray, Ethiopia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 53 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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