FUJI APPLES PRODUCTION CAPACITY UNDER DIF FERENT PLANT DENSITIES, USING VIRUS-FREE SCIONS

The use of production capacity (PC) is a very common practice in apple orchards in the South of Brazil. PC is commonly applied in forecastin g yields. In this paper PC is discussed for orchards using virus-free scions ill different spacings. The purpose is to help farmers in their decision of what spacing to use, as well as to evaluate benefits from this technology (virus free scions) on cv. Fuji grafted in MM-106 XXX , in Santa Catarina State, Brazil. Results show that the most appropri ate spacing is 4.5 m between rows anti from 1.25 to 1.5 m between plan ts in the row. Benefits from the use of this technology are, at least, US$ 2,808.00/ha in adult orchards.