285 Nursery Performance of GN22 and GF677 Almond Rootstocks H.S. Atli, K. Sarpkaya, H. Bozkurt and E. Ilikcioglu Pistachio Research Station University Blv. 27060 Gaziantep Turkey Keywords: Prunus dulcis, rootstock, GN22, GF677, nursery plant Abstract Traditional almond production is done by seed rootstocks in Turkey. In recent years, GF677 and GN22 clonal rootstocks are used in almond orchards which are set under irrigated conditions. However, nursery performance of these rootstocks remains unclear for both farmers and nursery holders. This study was conducted under unheated greenhouse conditions in Gaziantep between the years 2009 and 2011. Nine hundred cuttings of both GF677 and GN22 were used as material in this study. Three doses of IBA (indole-3-butyric acid), 250, 500 and 1000 ppm, were prepared for each rootstock. Studies on the rooting of cuttings were done in wet perlite on 15 th November 2009. The best rooting occurred in 500 ppm IBA solution for GF677 with 78% rooting ratio and in 250 ppm IBA solution for GN22 with 97% rooting ratio. Grafting was done in three periods. The most success was obtained in March, followed by October and the lowest grafting success was seen in July. The best results for GF677 rooting were obtained for dipping into 500 ppm solution and grafting in March or October and for GN22, dipping into 250 ppm and grafting in the same periods were the best. INTRODUCTION Considering almond production, Turkey has been ranked 8 th in the total world almond production with the amount of 45.000 ton (Anonymous, 2011). One of the reasons of low production ratio is that almond has been grown in favorable ecological conditions in Turkey, but in unsuitable soil and unirrigated conditions. Almond seeds are used as rootstocks in production by our farmers. Although almonds are easily accommodated to calcareous and clayed soils, they couldn’t grow well. Besides, almond seeds are quite sensitive to nematodes (Yilmaz, 1992). GF677 and GN22, which are clonal hybrids (peach × almond), have recently been used as rootstocks for almond. They are vigorous rootstocks and GN22 is resistant to nematodes. Recently, almond growing areas have been increased due to governmental support. After all, almond growers and nursery owners need to know nursery performances of GF677 and GN22. MATERIALS AND METHODS Rooting of Cuttings 20-25 cm-length hardwood cuttings of GF677 and GN22 were used as material. 900 hardwood cuttings were dipped into 250, 500 and 1000 ppm IBA (indole 3-butyric acid) solutions for five seconds on 15 th November 2009. Each IBA dose involved five replicates of 60 cuttings. These hardwood cuttings were planted to wet perlite in unheated greenhouses for rooting. Cuttings were covered by a plastic of 1 m height. Rooting was completed after a 4-5-months period. Rooted hardwood cuttings were transferred to 4-L plastic pots, containing 1:1:1:1 soil:peat:sand:manure, on 15 th March 2010. The rooted cuttings were counted and statistical analysis was done. Growing of Cuttings The growth of cuttings took six months and length and diameters of cuttings were Proc. VI th IS on Almonds and Pistachios Eds.: F. Dicenta et al. Acta Hort. 1028, ISHS 2014