Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Vol. 19 No. 1 (2020)

Articles

INFLUENCE OF PARTIAL SPUR LEAVES REMOVAL ON FRUITLET SHEDDING, FRUIT QUALITY AND SHOOT GROWTH IN APPLE TREES AS A BASIS FOR MECHANICAL THINNING

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24326/asphc.2020.1.5
Submitted: February 5, 2020
Published: 2020-02-21

Abstract

Knowledge of the physiology of natural fruitlet shedding is especially important to insure thinning efficiency in apple production. The effect of partial spur leaf removal on shedding, as well as on fruit quality and bourse shoot growth, was investigated. Removing spur leaves increased shedding, while there was no effect of partial leaf removal on mature fruit quality in terms of weight, firmness and sum of sugars, detected by HPLC-RI and resulted in lower contents of citric, fumaric and shikimic acids, detected by HPLC-UV. Growth of bourse shoots was poorer in treatments with leaf removal. To summarize, a decreased number of spur leaves caused more intensive fruitlet abscission and poorer bourse shoot growth but had no negative influence on fruit size. These results show the potential use of decreasing spur leaf area to stimulate more intensive natural shedding to support fruitlet thinning, which could be used in combination with prospective mechanical thinning.

References

  1. Antoine, S., Pailly, O., Gibon, Y., Luro, F., Santini, J., Giannettini, J., Berti, L. (2016). Short‐ and long‐term effects of carbohydrate limitation on sugar and organic acid accumulation during mandarin fruit growth. J. Sci. Food Agr., 96, 3906–3914.
  2. Archbold, D.D. (1999). Carbohydrate availability modifies sorbitol dehydrogenase activity of apple fruit. Physiol. Plant., 105(3), 391–395.
  3. Bangerth, F. (2000). Abscission and thinning of young fruit and thier regulation by plant hormones and bioregulators. Plant Growth Regul., 31(1–2), 43–59.
  4. Damerow, L., Blanke, M.M. (2009). A novel device for precise and selective thinning in fruit crops to improve fruit quality. Acta Hortic., 824, 275–280.
  5. Blanke, M.M. (2011). Managing open field production of perennial horticultural crops with technological innovations. Acta Hortic. (ISHS), 916, 121–128.
  6. Campbell, R.J., Fell, R.D., Marini, R.P. (1991). Canopy position, defoliation, and girdling influence apple nectar production. HortScience, 26(5), 1991, 531–532.
  7. Dennis, F.G. (2000). The history of fruit thinning. Plant Growth Regul., 31(1–2), 1–16.
  8. Eccher, G., Begheldo, M., Boschetti, A., Ruperti, B., Botton, A. (2015). Roles of Ethylene Production and Ethylene Receptor Expression in Regulating Apple Fruitlet Abscission. Plant Physiol., 169(1), 125–137.
  9. Etienne, A., Génard, M., Lobit, P., Mbeguié-A-Mbéguié, D., Bugaud, C. (2013). What controls fleshy fruit acidity? A review of malate and citrate accumulation in fruit cells. J. Exp. Bot., 64(6), 1451–1469.
  10. Goffinet, M.C., Lakso, A.N., Robinson, T.L. (1996). Fruit drop in ‘Empire’ apple by position within the cluster in unthinned trees vs. trees thinned to single-fruited clusters. HortScience, 31(4), 665.
  11. Iwanami, H., Moriya-Tanaka, Y., Honda, C., Wada, M., Moriya, S., Okada, K., Haji, T., Abe, K. (2012). Relationships among apple fruit abscission, source strength, and cultivar. Sci. Hortic., 146, 39–44.
  12. Jakopic, J., Slatnar, A., Mikulic-Petkovsek, M., Veberic, R., Stampar, F., Bavec, F., Bavec, M. (2013). Effect of different production systems on chemical profiles of dwarf French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Top Crop) pods. J. Agr. Food Chem., 61(10), 2392–2399.
  13. Jakopic, J., Zupan, A., Eler, K., Schmitzer, V., Stampar, F., Veberic, R. (2015). It’s great to be the King: Apple fruit development affected by the position in the cluster. Sci. Hortic., 194, 18–25.
  14. Jakopic, J., Zupan, A., Schmitzer, V., Stampar, F., Veberic, R. (2016). Sugar and phenolics level dependent on the position of apple fruitlet in the cluster. Sci. Hortic., 201, 362–369.
  15. Lakso, A.N., Goffinet, M.C. (2013). Apple fruit growth. New York Fruit Quarterly, 21(1), 11–14.
  16. Lakso, A.N., White, M.D., Tustin, D.S. (2001). Simulation modeling of the effects of short and long-term climatic variations on carbon balance of apple trees. Acta Hortic. (ISHS), 557, 473–480.
  17. Lakso, A.N., Wunsche, J.N., Palmer, J.W., Grappadelli, L.C. (1999). Measurement and modeling of carbon balance of the apple tree. HortScience, 34(6), 1040–1047.
  18. Lechaudel, M., Joas, J., Caro, Y., Genard, M., Jannoyer, M. (2005). Leaf: fruit ratio and irrigation supply affect seasonal changes in minerals, organic acids and sugars of mango fruit. J. Sci. Food Agr., 85(2), 251–260.
  19. McArtney, S., White, M., Latter, I., Campbell, J. (2004). Individual and combined effects of shading and thinning chemicals on abscission and dry-matter accumulation of ‘Royal Gala’ apple fruit. J. Hortic. Sci. Biotechnol., 79(3), 441–448.
  20. Ngugi, H.K., Schupp, J.R. (2009). Evaluation of the Risk of Spreading Fire Blight in Apple Orchards with a Mechanical String Blossom Thinner. HortScience, 44(3), 862–865.
  21. Radivojevic, D.D., Milivojevic, J.M., Oparnica, C.D., Vulic, T.B., Djordjevic, B.S., Ercisli, S. (2014). Impact of early cropping on vegetative development, productivity, and fruit quality of Gala and Braeburn apple trees. Turk. J. Agric. For., 38(6), 773–780.
  22. Stampar, F., Hudina, M., Usenik, V., Sturm, K., Virscek, M., Batic, F. (1999). Influence of Leaf Area on Net Photosynthesis, Yield and Flower-Bud Formation in Apple (Malus domestica Borkh.). Plant Physiol., 39(3), 101–106.
  23. Veberic, R., Vodnik, D., Štampar, F. (2003). Carbon partitioning and seasonal dynamics of carbohydrates in the bark, leaves and fruits of apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) cv. ‘Golden Delicious’. Eur. J. Hortic. Sci., 68(5), 222–226.
  24. Wu, B.H., Genard, M., Lescourret, F., Gomez, L., Li, H. (2002). Influence of assimilate and water supply on season-al variation of acids in peach (cv. Suncrest). J. Sci. Food Agr., 82(15), 1829–1836.
  25. Zhou, C., Lakso, A.N., Robinson, T.L., Gan, S. (2008). Isolation and characterization of genes associated with shade-induced apple abscission. Mol. Genet. Genomics, 280(1), 83.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Similar Articles

<< < 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.