Abstract
Current Situation and Future of Hawthorn Culture in Hatay Province
Turkey is one of the main centers where has a wide spread of different hawthorn species. Because of the positive effects of hawthorn flower and fruit on human health, there is a growing interest in this species. Today, Hatay Province of Turkey is the most important production center of hawthorn culturing. In this study was to determine status of hawthorn culture by surveying with producers in Hatay. According to data, 84.0% of hawthorn orchards have area of less than 10 acres. “Sarı Alıç” which are mainly grown local hawthorn genotype was propagated by grafting method and tree age was above 30 in 40.0% hawthorn orchards. The current orchards were regular planted whereas others were mixed with charry, olive, grape and persimmon trees. Cultural and technical practices for irrigation and fertilization were usually used in the 52.0% and 76.0% of orchards, respectively. It was revealed that all of the producers were used to agrochemicals and controlled by pesticides, especially pear rust (42.0%), codling moth (30.0%) and fire blight (28.0%). Generally, fruit size and skin color were used as the harvesting criteria by producers and the harvest was completed 2 or 3 times (32.0% and 24.0%, respectively). It has been determined that 60.0% of hawthorn orchids were above 40 kg yield per tree. As a result, we believe that the current production potential of hawthorn in Hatay will be increase with the appropriate technical and cultural applications for modern fruit growing.
Keywords
Hatay, hawthorn, growing situation, suggest
