Professor Hume was right: rootstocks are critical and much is still to be learned. Rootstocks and scions are the foundation of many tree fruit industries of the world. Together, those components establish profitability, but it can be argued that the rootstock is the critical component; otherwise, scions would be grown on their own roots everywhere. There is no precedent for the failure of a cit...

Introduction Fanleaf degeneration/decline disease is one of the most severe viral disease complexes of grapevine worldwide. It is also one of the oldest known viral diseases of Vitis vinifera with descriptions of symptoms being reported in Europe as early as 1841. This disease is now known to affect grapevines in all temperate regions where Vitis vinifera and hybrid rootstocks are grown. Within...

The effects of different water stress (control, medium, and severe) on some morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics and bud success of M9 apple and MA quince rootstocks were determined. The results showed that water stress significantly affected most morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics as well as budding success on the both rootstocks. The increas...

To develop apple proliferation (AP) resistant rootstocks, a breeding program was initiated in 2001 employing apomictic Malus sieboldii and M. sieboldii-derived hybrids as donors of the resistance trait and mainly standard apple rootstock Malus x domestica cv. M9 as donor of agronomic values. Examination of the experimentally inoculated progeny of seven crossings made in 2001 and 2002 over a per...

All commercial sweet cherry trees are either budded or grafted. The part of the tree above the graft/bud union is known as the scion and the part below the graft/bud union is known as the rootstock. Sweet cherry scion cultivars have been selected over millennia for many reasons, but over the past century, breeding programs have concentrated mainly on achieving improved characteristics such as y...