Plant and Food Research scientist Jill Stanley and her team are in the second year of the six-year Future Orchard Planting System project, and have spent the past few days planting cherry trees in closely planted rows to ensure more light is intercepted.
The trees, which have two axes rather than one, will have those cordons trained along wires to allow the development of vertical stems, in a planar arrangement much like a candelabra.
About 60% to 65% of the available light was intercepted by current planting systems and the new arrangement meant a much higher percentage of light would be captured and put into fruit production, Ms Stanley said.
''We want to ensure there is an even, more uniform light distribution throughout the whole canopy.`The tree should be directing a greater proportion of energy into production of fruit than into leaves, stems and roots compared to current systems.
''We think we will get more high-quality fruit from this system.
''The aim is to increase productivity to be as close to the biological upper limits as possible in the New Zealand environment.''
With the possibility of getting double or even triple the quantity of high-quality fruit per hectare, there would be a much greater return for the orchardist and it would be more worthwhile and cost-effective to protect the harvest from rain and birds.
The six-year project is funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), with support from Summerfruit New Zealand Inc, Pipfruit New Zealand Inc, Zespri Group Ltd and Prevar.
''The overall programme, being led by Dr Stuart Tustin in Hawkes Bay, aims to increase productivity of summer fruit, apples, interspecific pears and kiwifruit,'' Ms Stanley said.
During the first year of the project most of the summer fruit work focused on developing biaxis nursery cherry trees.
They grafted Lapins on to Colt rootstock at the Clyde Research Centre, while Staccato and Sweetheart cultivars were budded on to Colt at McGrath Nursery Ltd in Cambridge, which were given to the project by owner Andy McGrath.
In addition to a higher yield with fruit of more uniform quality, the new planting arrangement meant harvesting and pruning would be easier.
''The new system will also be more conducive to mechanisation, such as robotics,'' she said.
Plant and Food Research's bioengineering technologies team in Hamilton will be part of a new project researching the use of robotics in orchards. The MBIE programme, led by the University of Auckland, will run for four years and will link to the Orchard Planting Systems project.
''The planar system is also easier for spray penetration.''
Early results had shown growing biaxis apple trees increased the seasonal dry matter production in the nursery by up to a third, and the node number and shoot length of the scion were nearly twice those of monoaxis nursery trees, Ms Stanley said.
''We believe this faster start in the nursery will assist with rapid canopy development and precocity of the planted orchard [early onset of cropping].''
It is intended to plant new Plant and Food apricot cultivars using this system next spring, but it will be two to three years before they start to bear fruit.
She and her team also intend to trial new rootstocks using the system as they become available, including Krymsk, a semi-dwarfing rootstock.