Selection of late leafing, late flowering, laterally fruitful walnut(Juglans regia)types in Turkey

Abstract

In many areas of Turkey, walnut (Juglans regia) production is limited not only by winter cold but also by autumn and spring frosts that can damage the sensitive non‐dormant tissues. This study was conducted to select late leafing and late flowering walnut types with high lateral fruitfulness within a seedling population in 1999–2001. The main objective of the selection programme was to select types that would not suffer injuries from late spring frost. As a result of the expeditionary observations 19 forms were selected, according to characteristics of late leafing, lateral fruitfulness, blight resistance, anthracnose, and codling moth tolerance. Then, selected forms were further evaluated according to nut characteristics after detailed analysis. The percentage of lateral fruitfulness of selected types was between 10% and 70%. The times of leafing of selected types were 10–20 days later than adjacent types.