The King Fruit versus Lateral Fruit Thinning Effects on Yield and Fruit Quality in Apple

ABSTRACT

This research was conducted to determine the king versus lateral fruit thinning effects on yield and fruit quality of ‘Elstar’, ‘Granny Smith’, ‘Starkrimson Delicious’, ‘Ultra Red’, ‘Topred’, and ‘Jonagold’ apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) cultivars grafted on MM106 rootstock in 2002-2003. Removal of the king fruit (KFR) treatment partially increased the yield in ‘Jonagold’, ‘Elstar’, and ‘Granny Smith’ cultivars while the effects were different by years in “Starkrimson Delicious”. Leaving of the king fruit (KFL) treatment gave better results in the ‘Topred’ cultivar, and similar effects were obtained from both treatments in ‘Ultra Red’ cultivar. Non-significant differences were obtained from both treatments with respect to fruit weight in the ‘Topred’, ‘Starkrimson Delicious’, ‘Jonagold’ and ‘Granny Smith’ cultivars. Leaving of the king fruit treatment increased the fruit weight significantly in ‘Elstar’ and ‘Ultra Red’ cultivars in 2002. The values of fruit flesh firmness (lb), total soluble solids content (%), pH, titratable acidity (%), total and invert sugar quantity (g/100 g^?1) were not found to be significantly different between the treatments with a few exceptions. The ‘KFR’ treatment that removed the dominant effect of the king fruit can be recommended for the ‘Elstar’ and ‘Jonagold’ cultivars because this treatment increased the yield and did not decreased the fruit weight significantly in these cultivars except for ‘Elstar’ in 2002. On the other hand ‘KFL’ treatment can be recommended for the ‘Granny Smith’, Topred’ and ‘Ultra Red’ cultivars. Although this treatment decreased the yield of ‘Granny Smith’ it increased the mean fruit weight 45.6-62.7 g in the two experiment years. ‘Starkrimson Delicious’ did not show clear response to the treatments.     

Endogenous cytokinin distribution patterns at budburst in Granny Smith and Braeburn apple shoots in relation to bud growth

The possible relationship of branching habit to cytokinin content of apple shoots (Malus×domestica Borkh.) was investigated. One-year old apple shoots are acrotonic (distal branching), more strongly so in Granny Smith than in Braeburn. In the first trial, long, 1-year old Granny Smith and Braeburn apple shoots were sprayed on 29 August 1995 to break rest with dinitro-o-cresol (DNOC) oil (5%). The cytokinin contents of the xylem sap, the combined bark and buds, and the wood were determined in distal and proximal shoot halves over the next 6 weeks. Budburst (terminal and lateral buds) was first visible (green tip) in both cultivars on 20 September 1995. A greater increase in cytokinin content of distal xylem sap, coupled with elevated cytokinin in the distal wood, reflect the overall acrotony of both cultivars. The strong acrotony of Granny Smith is reflected in the higher cytokinin concentration in distal portion 1 week before the proximal portion of the shoot. The differential distribution of cytokinin reflects the pattern of budburst and may be correlated with growth habit. In a subsequent trial, Granny Smith shoots chilled and forced in the absence of roots showed an increase in cytokinin content of the bark and buds, and the wood as growth resumed. This was roughly comparable in magnitude to the increase observed under field conditions. The cytokinin increase in rootless shoots and differential distribution of cytokinin prior to sprouting, support the hypothesis that shoot-derived, rather than root-derived, cytokinins act to trigger spring budburst.     

Have the Flowers,Fruitlets, Ripe Fruit and Leaves of Apples Cultivars Similar Compositions of Phenolic and Antioxidant Capacity?

Total and specific phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity were quantified over two seasons in flowers, leaves, fruitlets, and ripe fruit at harvest of the apple cultivars ‘Brookfield’, ‘Granny Smith’ and ‘Fuji’, as well the crabapple cultivars ‘Hillary’ and ‘Manchurian’. The results showed that leaves had the highest phenol concentrations and antioxidant capacity. Phenolic and antioxidant content was progressively lower from flowers, fruitlets, and ripe harvested fruit. There were high concentrations of phloridzin in flowers and leaves, while concentrations were lower in fruitlets, peel, and entire fruit at harvest. The phenolic compound with the highest concentration in peel was quercetin glycoside, while in the entire fruit it was flavanols. The studied crabapple cultivars did not present differences between them in phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity.

     

Preharvest applications of ethephon reduce superficial scald of ‘Fuji’ and ‘Granny Smith’ apples in storage

In 1989 and 1990, preharvest applications of 2-chloroethyl phosphonic acid (ethephon) at dosages from 50–400 mg 1’1 were applied to ‘Fuji’ and ‘Granny Smith’ apples. In 1989, the greatest reduction in scald after storage on both ‘Fuji’ and ‘Granny Smith’, relative to the untreated control resulted from applying 400 mg 1^?1 ethephon five weeks before harvest and was 45% and 55% of controls, respectively. On ‘Granny Smith’ 400 mg 1^? was also effective when applied three weeks before harvest. In 1990, preharvest applications of ethephon at either 200 or 400 mg 1^?1 reduced scald in both cultivars relative to the controls. Ethephon applied six weeks before harvest had no dosage effect on scald reduction after storage. There was no consistent effect on fruit maturity at harvest from any treatment in either year, and no effect on quality of fruit out of storage.     

Effects of NAA and Carbaryl on Fruit Set and Return Bloom for Some Apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) Cultivars

Abstract

This research was conducted in 1997 and 1998 to investigate the effects of naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (5, 10, and 15 ppm), Carbaryl (1-naphthyl N-methylcarbamate) (750, 1000, and 1250 ppm), and NAA + Carbaryl (5 + 750, 7.5 + 750, and 10 + 750 ppm) applications on the return bloom of some standard apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) cultivars grafted on MM106 rootstock. Of these applications, 750 ppm Carbaryl for ‘Starkspur Golden Delicious’, 1250 ppm Carbaryl for ‘Granny Smith’ and ‘Starkrimson Delicious’, and 5 ppm NAA for ‘Jonagold’ increased the mean number of flower buds significantly, compared with the control treatments. The other treatments of Carbaryl, NAA, and NAA + Carbaryl also increased the mean number of flower buds in a nonsignificant sense with a few exception. A negative correlation between the final fruit set and the mean number of next year's flower buds was found for three cultivars. The correlation coefficients were r = ?0.5150 (P< 0.05), r = ? 0.6999 (P< 0.05), r = ?0.0335 for ‘Starkspur Golden Delicious’, ‘Granny Smith’, and ‘Jonagold’ cultivars, respectively. However, this relationship was positive and nonsignificant for ‘Starkrimson Delicious’ (r = 0.1980).     

Across- and along-row pollen dispersal in high-density apple orchards: Insights from allozyme markers

Summary

The organization of most high-density orchards of apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) into single-cultivar rows is often viewed as an impediment to effective pollen dispersal and pollination; however, few direct estimates of pollen dispersal are available to assess the extent of this problem. We estimated the magnitude of pollen dispersal across rows (pollinator cultivars: Idared, Vista Bella, Granny Smith), and along rows, (pollinator cultivars Fuji, Paulared, Golden Russet), in two high-density orchards in Ontario, Canada. Fruit were sampled from trees at regular intervals along transects that extended beyond (either across or along row) each pollinator cultivar and the percentage of seeds that were sired by the pollen donor was estimated using allozyme markers. Seeds sired by the pollinator cultivar were found from seven (‘Granny Smith’) to 18 rows (‘Idared’) from the nearest pollinator tree and from seven (‘Fuji’, ‘Paulared’) to five trees (‘Granny Smith’) down the same row. Measured in metres, the maximum pollen dispersal distance was greater across rows (62.4.m) than along rows (13.7.m). However, the average dispersal distance across rows, expressed in metres or trees, (17.4.±m.3.6, 3.6.±0.7 trees) did not differ from that along rows (5.8.m.±4.1, 2.7.±0.8 trees). These results are at odds with previous studies that indicate that honeybees move farther along rows than across, and have important implications for the design of commercial apple orchards.     

Performance of some apple cultivars under tropical Zambian conditions

Summary

Ten apple cultivars (Malus domestica Bork) Ein Shemer, Anna, Rome Beauty, Tropical Beauty, Alexander, Orleans, Winter Banana, Black John, Starking Delicious and Red Delicious were evaluated for their suitability for tropical Zambian conditions. Winter Banana, Black John, Starking Delicious and Red Delicious, which were mostly high-chill cultivars, showed poor vegetative development: delayed budbreak, shoot growth and progressive loss of vigour and most of the trees died before maturity. Of the remaining low-chill cultivars, ‘Ein Shemer’ had the highest fruit yield at 49 6 2.3 kg tree²¹ and ‘Alexander’ the lowest (5.3 6 1.0 kg tree²¹). This response was due to the high number of fruits per tree, ‘Ein Shemer’ had up to 907 6 83.7 per tree whereas low yielding cultivars like ‘Rome Beauty’ and ‘Tropical Beauty’ had fewer than 106 6 25.3 fruits per tree. The individual fruit weight was inversely related to the total number of fruits per tree. It ranged from 58 6 5.1 g in Ein Shemer to 191 6 24.8 g in ‘Rome Beauty’.     

Effect of Different Treatments on Branching of Some Apple Trees in Nursery

This study was conducted to determine effect of different treatments on branching of one-year-old ‘Fuji’, ‘Granny Smith’ and ‘Red Delicious, Red Chief’ trees which grafted on M9 rootstock. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (Pseudomonas BA-8) strain, 6?Benzyl Adenin (BA) and pinching were used to promote branching. The BA (300?ppm) and BA-8 (10⁹CFU/ml) were applied to first twenty centimeters of the top part of trees. The BA, BA-8 and Pinching was applied to trees at 75?cm in length. According to our results, BA-8 and pinching increased number of branches compared to control and BA treatments for all cultivars. BA-8 increased number of branches in ‘Fuji’, ‘Red Delicious, Red Chief’ and ‘Granny Smith’ from 2.71, 1.70 to 4.25 branches/tree, respectively while pinching increased 1,95 branches/tree in ‘Red Delicious, Red Chief’ and 4,01 branches/tree. The highest branch’s angle was obtained from BA-8 bacteria in ‘Fuji’ (64.46°), and ‘Red Delicious, Red Chief’ (52.08°) and ‘Granny Smith’ (56.91°). BA-8 bacteria treatment was found alternative practice instead of pinching in terms of branching performance.     

Effects of position on canopy and harvest time on fruit physico-chemical and antioxidant properties in different apple cultivars

Fruit from Granny Smith, Fyriki, Fuji Kiku 8, and Imperial Double Red Delicious apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) trees planted in single or double rows, were harvested from different positions in the canopy, during the last month before commercial harvest. Fruit physico-chemical and antioxidant capacity, using the radical DPPH, were measured, in skin and flesh tissue. Greater total phenol content and total antioxidant capacity per fresh weight and serving portion of skin and flesh tissue, were found in Imperial Double Red Delicious and Fyriki apples, compared to Granny Smith and Fuji Kiku 8. The variation among cultivars in antioxidant contents was greater in peeled, compared with unpeeled fruit, highlighting the importance of eating unpeeled fruit. During the last two weeks before commercial harvest the total phenol content and total antioxidant capacity per fresh weight increased in skin of Granny Smith (by 24% and 42%, respectively) and Fuji Kiku 8 (by 19% and 27%, respectively). Fruit from the more sun—exposed parts of canopy had usually better red coloration and the effect was more pronounced in Fuji Kiku 8 and Fyriki, followed by Imperial Double Red Delicious and a lower effect was found in Granny Smith. Greater total soluble solid content, but not flesh firmness, were also found in fruit from the more sun—exposed parts of canopy, in all cultivars. The skin of fruit from the upper positions in the canopy had greater total phenol content and total antioxidant capacity, in all cultivars, apart from Fyriki. Antioxidant contents in flesh tissue were also greater in the upper positions of canopy in Fuji Kiku 8 and Imperial Double Red Delicious, and to our knowledge this is the first report on plant canopy effects on apple flesh antioxidant compounds.     

Morphology and anatomy of the burl disorder of mango (Mangifera indica L.) in India

Summary

Burl, typically manifest as a swelling of the trunk and lower branches, is a relatively unknown disorder of mango (Mangifera indica L.). We studied the incidence of the disorder in trees of each of three mango cultivars in India, and its effect on fruit yields over 2 years. Information was also collected on the relationship between the growth of the burl and the age of the trees, together with details of the anatomy of the affected tissues. ‘Langra’ had the highest incidence of the disorder (80.3% of 24 studied trees affected) and the largest burl (31.8 cm diameter), followed by ‘Chausa’ (17.5%; 16.4 cm), then ‘Gulab Jaman’(7.5%; 4.0 cm). Burl significantly reduced fruit yields in ‘Langra’ (121 kg tree^–1 in affected trees vs. 162 kg tree^–1 in normal trees), but not in ‘Chausa’ (110 vs. 129 kg tree^–1) or ‘Gulab Jaman’ (100 vs. 98 kg tree^–1). The sizes of the burls increased as the ages of the trees increased from 15 to 55 years, especially in ‘Langra’ and ‘Chausa’. No pathogens or insects were found to be associated with the affected tissues. The woody tissues in the burl lacked orientation and were not specifically aligned in a transverse, radial, or tangential direction. Further studies are warranted to determine the cause of this disorder and how it can affect fruit yields.     

Effect of Leaf Number and Area on the Fruit Growth of Regular and Biennial Bearing Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Grown Under North Indian Conditions

Abstract

The optimum leaf number required for normal fruit growth in the regular bearing mango cultivar ‘Amrapali’ and the biennial bearing cultivars ‘Chausa’, ‘Dashehari’ and ‘Langra’ were studied by isolating individual fruits with known numbers of supporting leaves by shoot girdling at the time of fruit set. There were significant differences in the leaf area (249.01-1817.10 cm2), fresh weight (7.0-77.0 g) and dry weight (3.7-50.0 g) of leaves on shoots having 30, 20, 10 and 5 leaves as compared with control in different cultivars. In both types of cultivars, there was a progressive reduction in fruit size in terms of total fruit, pulp, peel, and seed weight with decreasing numbers of supporting leaves, however, a minimum reduction (2.4%) in fruit growth in ‘Amrapali’ was noticed with 30 supporting leaves. A nonsignificant difference in photosynthetic rate with varying number of leaves was found but its efficiency in leaves was higher in ‘Amrapali’ as compared with biennial bearing cultivars. Starch accumulation in the leaves was reduced by shoot girdling. The stomatal resistance of the leaves of girdled shoots was comparable with that of leaves on control shoots. In all the cultivars except ‘Amrapali’ it was observed that 30 leaves, the maximum retained on a shoot, could not support the growth of a single fruit to normal size. The data on rate of photosynthesis in different pool size of leaves and fruit growth in girdled and nongirdled shoots clearly show that fruit development depends not only on the current assimilates but also to a great extent on reserves. A 14CO2 feeding experiment showed a higher rate of carbon fixation in the leaves of girdled shoots than in the control shoots, but the translocation of 14C assimilated to the developing fruits on the girdled and control shoots was comparable. The results also indicated that developing fruits are major sinks for current photosynthates as more than 60 percent of the 14C exported from the treated leaf was found in the fruit in all instances.     

Wood age and leaf area influence fruit size and mineral composition of apple fruit

Summary

The influence of wood age, fruiting position and leaf area within the tree canopy on fruit mineral content and quality for several apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) cultivars was investigated. Size and Ca, Mg and K content of individual fruit on one-year (lateral and terminal positions), two-year and older than three-year wood were compared for cvs Royal Gala, Braeburn, Granny Smith and Fuji. Fruit on two-year spurs and one-year terminals was generally larger at commercial harvest than that on one-year laterals and spurs older than three years. Flower receptacles at full bloom were larger and fruit growth rates were greater from 60 to 100 d after full bloom on two-year spurs than on one-year laterals. Fruit Ca and Mg concentrations and contents at commercial harvest were highest for terminal fruit, but there was no consistent difference between fruit from other positions. One-year terminals had the greatest primary and bourse leaf areas, two-year spurs were intermediate and one-year laterals had the lowest areas of both leaf types. Removal of 50% of primary leaves and/or removal of bourse shoots from clusters at bloom reduced fruit Ca content at commercial harvest for two-year spurs, one-year laterals and one-year terminals. Bourse shoot removal also reduced Mg content for all positions. However there was no effect of leaf removal on fruit size or K content. Ca content of individual fruit increased curvilinearly with increasing total spur leaf area for fruit on two-year spurs and one-year terminals but not for fruit on one-year lateral clusters. Terminal fruit with total spur leaf areas and fruit size similar to those on two-year spur fruit had higher Ca content.     

Effect of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) on Branching and Growing of Apple Sapling

According to the control, applications increased sapling height and this increasing was found important as statistically. Generally, bacteria applications more increase than Perlan on sapling height. Effect of bacteria and Perlan applications on sapling diameter showed different in cultivars and years. Generally, sapling diameter was increase by applications. Applications that on branching was important in 2009, but not important in 2010 as statistically. The most effective applications on branching were T8 and BA-8+T8 in ‘Granny Smith’, in ‘Red Delicious, Red Chief’ BA-8+T8 and BA-8, in ‘Fuji’ Perlan and BA-8 in 2009. Effect of applications on lateral branch degree was different in years and cultivars. According to the control, bacteria and Perlan applications raised length of lateral branch also bacteria was more effective than Perlan.Finally, plant growth promoting bacteria more increased branching and sapling quality than Perlan.     

The effect of rootstock shoot growth on the level of bud-grafting success in apple

Poor stands of ‘Queen Cox’ apple bud-grafted in summer onto M.9 rootstock were shown to be due to the scion bud not growing, or growing too late to produce a worthwhile ‘maiden’ tree, despite virtually all scion graft-chips forming unions with the rootstock. This problem was caused by raising the budding height to 30 cm above ground, as a method of increasing the height of lateral branches. The key element in higher budding which depressed subsequent scion bud growth was the complete removal of all rootstock shoots to a height of 35 cm to give a traditional ‘clean leg’ during the budding year. Removing rootstock shoots only at the budding position gave good stands of high quality trees. This appears to be a general effect, with the benefits of retaining rootstock shoots applying also to Malus tschonoskii when budded at 30 cm on M.9 rootstock. For both ‘Queen Cox’ and M. tschonoskii, failure of scion buds to grow vigorously often resulted in the development of ‘papery bark canker’ on the M.9 rootstock. The main benefit of root- stock shoots retained in the budding year was to ensure that scion buds grew early in the following ‘maiden’ year, whereas allowing these and new rootstock shoots to remain for the first two months of ‘maiden’ growth reduced the number of secondary scion buds which developed, and raised the height of laterals by delaying their emergence.     

Estimation of the Colour Properties of Apples Varieties Using Neural Network

The consumer acceptance and the quality standard of agricultural products such as apple are determined mostly by their colour. Colour is measured with a colorimeter and quantified using the C.I.E. L^*, a^*, b^* colour space system. It is used commonly by researchers for the classification and identification of apple fruit. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first study investigating the prediction of some colour properties of six apple varieties through artificial neural networks (ANN). The apple varieties are ‘Amasya’, ‘Starking’, ‘Granny Smith’, ‘Pink Lady’, ‘Golden Delicious’, ‘Arapk?z?’ and the colour properties are L^* (lightness), a^* (redness), b^* (yellowness), C^* (chroma), h^* (hue angle), CI (chroma index). General Regression Neural Networks (GRNN) and Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Interface System (ANFIS) structures were employed to predict the colour properties. According to the experimental and simulation results, the proposed ANFIS predictor had a superior performance in prediction of these colour parameters.     

Multiformulation dips for controlling storage disorders of apples and pears. I. Assessing fungicides

When applied as post-harvest dips on ‘Granny Smith’ or ‘Jonathan’ apples and ‘Packham Triumph’ pears, the fungitoxic effect of Benlate, Rovral, Dithane M45 or Imazalil was not adversely affected by the presence of diphenylamine or calcium chloride. Best protection from storage rots was obtained with Rovral and Imazalil on ‘Granny Smith’; Benlate, Rovral and Imazalil on ‘Jonathan’ and Rovral or a Dithane M45 Benlate mix on ‘Packham’ pears. Calcium chloride in these dips reduced ‘Jonathan’ breakdown and when mixed with Benlate, Rovral or Imazalil, it improved retention of fruit firmness. A disadvantage of calcium chloride in dips was its effect of increasing skin injury (lenticel spot) on ‘Granny Smith’ and ‘Jonathan’. Scald control by diphenylamine was unaffected by the presence of calcium chloride or fungicides.     

Photosynthetic acclimation of apple spur leaves to summer-pruning

A/C_i and photosynthetic light response curves for gas exchange characteristics were measured for spur leaves of 25-year-old ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Granny Smith’ apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh.) to investigate their acclimation capacity to a shade-to-sun transition in a commercial apple orchard. Spur leaves of both cultivars adapted to summer-pruning within 2 weeks, regardless of the time of the season at which pruning was conducted. There were no significant differences between the spur leaves of later pruned trees and corresponding leaves on trees that were continuously pruned during the summer period in terms of net photosynthetic rate and carboxylation efficiency, for both cultivars. The shape of the photosynthetic light response curves also proved the acclimation potential of both cultivars to shade-to-sun transitions. The rapid increase of the chlorophyll a/b ratio after pruning indicated that the acclimation of the photosynthetic system to avoid over-excitation of the photosynthetic reaction centers occurred within 1 week. Nevertheless, leaf dry mass per leaf area was intermediate between ‘continuous summer-pruning’ and ‘no-pruning’ treatments for leaves on later pruned trees, indicating that the acclimation to shade-to-sun transitions was not perfect in either cultivar. The present data also support the hypothesis that nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium are distributed to leaves growing under the highest photosynthetic photon flux density in order to maximize photosynthesis.     

1-MCP处理对采后‘澳洲青苹’苹果叶绿素降解的影响

【目的】以‘澳洲青苹’苹果为试材,研究1-甲基环丙烯(1-MCP)对果实采后叶绿素降解代谢的影响,为果实采后贮藏、保鲜及保绿技术提供新的理论基础。【方法】采用1μL·L^-11-MCP处理‘澳洲青苹’苹果果实,定期测定果实色泽、乙烯释放量和呼吸强度,通过高效液相色谱法(HPLC)对果皮中的叶绿素及其降解代谢产物进行定性定量分析,并采用实时荧光定量PCR技术检测叶绿素降解途径中关键基因的表达水平。【结果】1-MCP处理显著延缓‘澳洲青苹’果皮颜色转变,降低乙烯释放量和呼吸强度。1-MCP处理能保持果皮叶绿素a、b含量处于较高水平,并抑制脱镁叶绿素a和脱镁叶绿酸a的生成。叶绿素降解相关基因MdSGR、MdHCAR、MdPPH和MdNYC1的表达量受到1-MCP的调控,1-MCP抑制基因MdPAO和MdRCCR的表达,推迟叶绿素降解代谢的下游反应;MdPAO表达量与果皮色泽和叶绿素含量显著相关。【结论】1-MCP可调节叶绿素降解途径相关基因表达水平来控制代谢产物的降解和生成,从而延缓果皮叶绿素降解,其中,MdPAO是调控叶绿素降解的关键基因。     

Controlling the growth and development of rose plants after planting

The effects of pinching and lateral bud removal (deshooting) on the development of structural shoots, the number of flowers, and the average flower stem length in young rose plants were examined, using the cultivars ‘Baccara’, ‘Sonia’ and ‘Belinda’. The effect of deshooting on flower yield varied with each cultivar. It did not affect the number of ‘Baccara’ flowers, but increased ‘Sonia’ and ‘Belinda’ flower production by 50% and 75%, respectively. Leaving flowers to bloom out on plants before the start of commercial harvest resulted in a decrease in the length of the flower stems and also reduced the beneficial effect of deshooting on flower yield. Deshooting enhanced structural shoot formation (“bottom breaks”). Pinching flower buds of structural shoots increased the number of ‘Baccara’ flowers in comparison with pruning these shoots to 40–60 cm, as in common practice. Deshooting of the structural shoots of ‘Sonia’ and ‘Belinda’ increased the number of flowers in both cultivars.