Mestrado em Engenharia Agronómica - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaWith the aim of evaluating the potential of five ‘Rocha’ pear clones (1, 2, 4c, T and Z), a field
trial was conducted at APAS orchard, located in Cadaval (Sobrena). All the clones were
grafted onto Provence BA-29, EMA and Sydo rootstocks and trees grown under identical soil
and climate conditions. The agronomic characteristics and economic results were evaluated
from 2006 until 2011 corresponding to the 5th and 10th year of the orchard. The field trial
indicated that there isn’t an ideal combination of clone/rootstock leading to earlier pear
production, trees with medium vigour, high fruit size, rounded shape fruits and good fruit
quality. Combinations of Z/Sydo, 2/Sydo and T/Sydo reached the highest yields per unit/tree
while the most productive was T/Sydo followed by Z/Sydo with a revenue of 42.968,3 €.ha-1
and 38.551,7 €.ha-1, respectively. Among the clones there were slight differences in fruit
quality, the clones 4c, 1 and T produced pears with the highest fruit size and roundest shape
fruits while the fruits of the clone T had the highest total solid soluble content. The rootstock
Sydo achieved better results when comparing to BA-29 and EMA, resulting in earlier
production of pears and increased yields, high fruit size and better shaped fruits
