Characterization of the length and the distance of insertion of the branches of apple trees

Abstract

The current study focused on the branches Cherry Gala variety of apple in Azrouregion.The objective is to characterize the length and the insertion distance of different structures of apple trees based on nondestructive and exhaustive measurements of the branches. In total 2982 branches were identified and measured in the two stages (stage 1, stage 2) on different 6 levels present at each stage known as A, B, C, D, E, and F. The length of the branches in each stage and level was classified into 1 to 5 homogeneous classes. The length of vegetative branch variation was not significant between stages 1 and 2 but the insertion distance was significant for level D and not for levels A, B, and C. For five different length structures bearing fruit, the variation was significantly different for B, C, and D levels between stages 1 and 2 (length of fruiting spurs/ Dard/ Bourse; insertion distance of Dard and Bourse). The analysis showed that the length of the branches decreases while passing from one first stage to the second. The average branch length for stage 1 is 4,84 cm against 4,05 cm for stage 2. In each stage, the length decreases progressively while passing from one level to a higher level, except for level E of stage 1 and levels E and F of stage 2.