Rootstock effects on vegetative growth of 'Furmint'

The scion-rootstock interaction may influence several physiological issues such as water relations, leaf gas exchange, mineral uptake, etc. Moreover, performance of different rootstock types could be variable under different environmental conditions, thus the appropriate rootstock selection has great importance for the producers. In this study three different types of rootstocks were tested in loess soil. The research was carried out in the Tokaj wine region, where the loess is one of the most important parent material types. Ruggeri 140, 5C and Fercal rootstock varieties were involved in the experiment with 'Furmint' scions. Our hypothesis was that the scion would show better vegetative growth on better rootstock type thus the rootstock quality was measured as the cumulative length of the shoots. Altogether 726 vines were measured and analysed by Generalized Linear Models and GIS methods. The vegetative growth of the shoots is significantly influenced by the rootstock type, but also the surveyed soil variables. Significant relationship between shoot length and the geographic location of the stock was also indicated. Despite this, the effect of rootstock type on shoot growth remained significant even if we used geographic coordinates as random factor. Our results showed that the shoot growth was slightly better in Fercal than Ruggeri 140 or 5C in loess soil This rootstock type was the less affected by the soil variables providing better vegetative growth in all conditions than 5C and Ruggeri 140. The Fercal has been already widely used rootstock type in Tokaj region, however, not only in loess soils.