Apfel oder Acai: Brasiliens Obstbau im ökonomischen und klimatischen Wandel

In times of recession with a 7–10% inflation rate, drop in consumption and loss in value of the Real currency, Brazil as the third largest fruit producer with 46 mil t fruit on 2.2 mil ha (2013), exports ca. 3% of its production worth ca. 765 mil (2013) – 807 (2014) US $, of which 80% is destined for Europe – the fruit export target for the future is 1 bil US $. Apple (cv. ‘Gala’ and ‘Fuji’) production under Southern hemisphere conditions (26–31°S) in Brazil rose from 0.6 mil t in 2002, peaked at 1.4 million t on 39,600?ha in 2011/12, declining in 2012/13 to 1.05 mil t due to orchard reductions in Fraiburgo as a result of lack of chilling, 1.16 mil t in both 20131/4 and 2014/15 and then 0.8 mil t in 2015/16 on 36,090?ha, resembling average apple yields in Germany on 31,400?ha.Apple orchards are essentially free of fire blight and codling moth, but with 1700?mm annual precipitation, they are affected by the scab and Glomorella fungi. Climate change affects apple production: Lack of chilling, caused by cold winters, induces vertical vegetative branches, flat speckled fruit with long pedicels (fruit stalks; cv. ‘Gala’), sunburn (cv. ‘Fuji’). Warm autumns result in a lack of fruit colouration in both varieties and prevent the cultivation of high chill apples, pears and plums.Three major fruit, orange (7.5?kg), banana (6.8?kg) and apple (cvs ‘Gala’ and ‘Fuji’; 4.2?kg apples/head/year; 2014) dominate the overall fruit consumption of 31.4?kg fruit/head/year compared with 36?kg beef, 34?kg pork and ca. 10?kg poultry resulting in ca. 80?kg meat/head/year in Brazil.In the last three years, a new range of storable apple varieties like ‘Venice’ and ’Daiane’ as well as ‘M 58/07’ and ‘M 10/09 – these latter two, still without a variety name – have been, like ’Eva’ added to the existing new breeds from EMBRAPA as very early variety (harvest in January; low chill; 150 CH) and to the summer varieties ‘Condessa’, ’Monalisa’ and ’Princesa’ (all 300–450 CH) without storability; red mutants of ‘Gala‘ (‘Gala, Maxi’ from RASIP) and of cv. ‘Fuji’ (‘Fuji Suprema’) both with 500–600 CH have been bred for growing in Brazil’s higher altitudes. The new cultivars provide medium-sized fruit, bright red peel colour and sweet taste with little acid and a sugar: acid ratio of 25–55:1, as required by Brazil’s domestic market, but so far lack market acceptance and a marketing concept.     

Weinanbau – Viticulture

Data mining is used as a popular technique in several scientific researches. In agriculture, application of data mining is a relatively new approach. One of the most popular data mining approaches is to find prediction rules from experimental data sets. The present study was conducted in two stages to find out a rule for estimation of width of stalk cavity, depth of stalk cavity, width of eye basin and depth of eye basin of different apple varieties (‘Amasya’, ‘Starking’, ‘Granny Smith’, ‘Pink Lady’, ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Arapk?z?’) based on physical properties and to propose an equation for calculating these parameters. In the first stage, data processing was performed and in the second stage, Find Laws was used for prediction of apple properties. Current results revealed that data mining technique had a superior performance and could reliably be used in estimation of physical characteristics of agricultural products. Further research is recommended for possible use of datamining in other agricultural application.     

Spezifisches Gewicht neuer Apfelsorten

At the Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry Laimburg the specific weight of 121 apple varieties from the own variety collection was measured by a hydrostatic method (Archimedes principle) from 2007 to 2013. For this purpose samples of 10 apples per cultivar were collected mainly from the sites of Laimburg (220?m asl) and Laces (700 meters asl) and were examined annually at the same period with uniform fruits equal in size. The cultivars could be classified in specific weight classes from 0.75 to 0.91?g/cm³. 76% of the varieties were assigned to the middle classes since they had specific weights ranging from 0.80 to 0.86?g/cm³. ‘Golden Delicious’ was included within the specific “very light” varieties while ‘Braeburn’, ‘Nicoter Kanzi®’ and ‘Scifresh Jazz®’ were classified as “very heavy” varieties. The year and location do not significantly influence the specific weight, since this parameter depends rather on genetically caused factors such as the intercellular volume and the dry matter content of the fruit. The specific gravity can be an interesting complementary information to describe an apple variety.     

Study on Antioxidant Components in Rosé Wine Originating from the Wine Growing Region of Moravia,Czech Republic

The estimation of antioxidants in fruit, vegetables, beverages, and foodstuffs has been discussed in a great number of scientific studies, but until now, problems concerning the analysis of antioxidant components of rosé wine has not been adequately investigated. This paper presented results of a study on antioxidant components contained in some samples of rosé wine originating from the Moravian wine growing region. The experiments involved altogether 48 samples of rosé wine made of grapes of the varieties ‘Blaufränkisch’, ‘Blauer Portugieser’, ‘Pinot Noir’, ‘Sankt Laurent’, and ‘Zweigeltrebe’. Grapes were harvested in 2013. Spectrophotometry was used to estimated antioxidant activity (53–73?mg?L^?1 GAE), content of total polyphenols (152–369?mg?L^?1), hydrocinnamic acid (52–148?mg?L^?1), flavonols (25–294?mg?L^?1) and anthocyanins (88–1754?mg?L^?1). The HPLC method was used for the detection of some important antioxidants, i.?e. catechin, epicatechin, malvidin-3-glucoside, cis- and trans-resveratrol, ferrulic acid, coumaric acid and caftaric acid. This study enabled to determine basic profiles of the most important antioxidant components of the most popular Moravian red grapevine varieties. The studied wines were analyzed from several different aspects, which is not standard.     

Einfluss schwach wachsender Apfelunterlagen auf Wachstum,Ertrag und Fruchtgröße verschiedener Sorten – Teil IV: Abschließende Bewertung

From 2001 to 2005 the influence of the dwarfed apple rootstocks M?9 (clone: Burgmer 984), Fleuren 56, Supporter 1, P?16, P?22, J-TE-F, J-TE-E and M?27 on growth, yield and fruit size of the apple varieties ‘Elstar, Elshof’, ‘Boskoop, Herr’ and ‘Jonagored’ was investigated on the locations Auweiler, Dresden-Pillnitz, Osnabrück and Wurzen in Germany.All rootstocks induced a less vegetative growth as the rootstock M?9. In comparison with M?9 the crown volume of the trees ranged from 92% (Supporter 1) to 52% (M?27). The highest yield potential showed the rootstock P?16. Her specific yield (kg/m³) was 17% higher than the specific yield of M?9. All rootstocks produced a lower individual fruit size as M?9. J-TE-E and J-TE-F produced the lowest specific yield.     

The Pillnitz Re-Series of Apple Cultivars – Do They Hold Promise? – 80 Years of Professional German Fruit Breeding 2008

The aim of the Pillnitz apple breeding is to combine improvements in fruit quality + yield + resistance to different pathogens in new cultivars. Early-, mid- and late-season apple cultivars were selected in two series, Pi- and Re-cultivars?. The Re-cultivars? guarantee a high degree of resistance. Triple and multiple resistant cultivars were selected with resistance to scab, mildew and fire blight: ‘Remo^®’, ‘Regia^®’, ‘Rewena^®’ and ‘Rebella^®’. ‘Rebella^®’ was found to have resistance also to bacterial canker, red spider mite and abiotic damages. The cultivars are the base for a new growing management in integrated and organic cultivation. Doubtless, the Pillnitz resistance breeding conception is a success, even if some problems remain to solved in the future. Various degrees of scab infection on Vf-resistant cultivars had been observed since 1984 in Central Europe. No infections were found in cultivars with other genes like V _f such as ‘Reglindis^®’ (V _A), ‘Reka’ (V _r), or ‘Regia^®’ (V _r). New sources are necessary for resistance breeding, especially for pyramiding of resistance genes. However, if the V _f-gene is overcome, new resistance sources and cultivars with two or more different sources of resistance to stabilize healthiness in the field will be required in the future. More explanation and advertisement about the value of resistant cultivars to promote the cultivation in commercial orchards is needed.     

The Growth of Apple Central Fruits as Affected by Thinning with NAA,BA and Naphthenic Acids

Plant growth regulators such as α?naphthylacetic acid (NAA) or 6?benzyladenine (BA) are commonly used for thinning apple fruits. NAs exhibits an auxin- and gibberellin-type biological activity, stimulate the uptake and translocation of auxins in plant tissue, as well as IAA synthesis and act as surfactants. It was assumed that NAs applied at the stadium of early fruit growth might cause fruit abscission in apple, similarly to NAA. The goal of the research was to test the presumed thinning effect of naphthenic acids on apple cultivars ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Red Delicious’. Three treatments were applied on both apple cultivars including 16.5?μL L^?1 NAA, 200?μL L^?1?BA and 2.63?mg L^?1?potassium salts of NAs. Cortical cell size and the number of cell layers were measured in order to determine the contribution of cell size and cell division in early fruit growth, as affected by chemical thinning treatments. The effects of plant growth regulators NAA, BA and NAs on fruit set, fruit size and the anatomy of the fruit cortex highly depend on varietal differences. In ‘Golden Delicious’ fruit set reduction by chemical thinning increases both the number of cell layers and cell size of apple fruit, while in ‘Red Delicious’ NAA inhibits fruit growth, while BA is ineffective. Cell growth promoting activity of NAA and NAs, accompanied by the decrease in fruit set and reduced competition among fruits within the canopy, results in a significant fruit weight increase at harvest. The research confirms the auxinic properties of NAs, and their assumed thinning activity.     

Forecasting Apple Fruit Color Intensity with Machine Learning Methods

In this study, we focused on the possibility of forecasting the development of skin color in apples on the basis of weather forecast by using a machine learning methods. We used supervised learning and generated models via the use of six decision trees. The purpose of the research was to build models that would allow for in-practice-acceptable accuracy in the prediction of the development of fruit skin color (especial a colour parameter a*), for three apple varieties. For cv. ‘Gala, Brookfield’, the most accurate models were generated by using decision tree J48 (89.13% accuracy). For late ripening cv. ‘Fuji, Kiku 8’ and cv. ‘Braeburn, Maririred’, the most accurate model was obtained by using decision tree LMT (91.73 and 96.65% accuracy). The data confirm that the applicability of predictive models strongly depends on the accuracy of weather forecasts. In regard to the seven-day weather forecast, which was used for expert models, the accuracy of the models was, on average, reduced by 10.73%.     

Ästhetische Premiumfrüchte trotz nasser Klimate – Obstbau in Südkorea

Horticulture Korea today earns 10 billion euros, to which fruit contributes 2.6 billion euros and vegetable production 6.7 billion euros. Apple, kaki, nashi, grape and Citrus contribute 100,000?ha to the overall fruit acreage of 188,000?ha. Koreas fruit industry stagnates and lacks trainees. The consolidation in the apple industry in the last ten years from 53,000?ha in 1995 to 26,000?ha today was due to over-sized aged trees on vigorous rootstocks and – by Asian standard – small-sized, sour, green and low-priced apple varieties like ‘Golden Delicious’. The new Korean cultivars ‘Hongro’ (12%) and ‘Kamhong’ (3%) supersede – apart from the major cv. ‘Fuji’ with a 65 % market share- late ripening and poorly coloured Japanese cv. ‘Tsugaru’ (8%) and ‘Kogetsu’ (5%). Apple harvest extends from August until mid November. The 200,000?t strawberries are from protected cultivation on 7,000?ha. Korea produces 2.3 million t fruit and is largely self-sufficient (84%) for fruit, except for bananas and Citrus, with 440,000?t imports and 33,000?t exports (Satsuma mandarins and Nashi to Taiwan and Japan) and 92% self-sufficiency for vegetables. Fruit consumption of 56?kg/head is half that in Germany with 120?kg/head and vegetable consumption with 170?kg/ha twice that in Germany of 90?kg/head. Apart from university research, the rural development agency (RDA) comprises a central horticultural research institute (NHRI) in Suwon with a dedicated apple (Gunwi, Daegu) and nashi (Naju) research station with extension service. Apples, peaches and nashi are bagged, particularly for export, to fulfil the fruit quality requirements. These comprise a cosmetic skin finish free of blemishes and lenticels, 250–400?g fruit mass, (dark) red colouration and sweet (13–18?° Brix) taste without acidity (0.3–0.4%), resulting in a sugar acid ratio of ca. 43?:?1 with farmgate prices of 2.4?€/kg and retail prices of 2.8–4.8?€/fruit. Historic, Japan inflicted, measures such as defoliating of fruit-bearing branches and bagging to protect the peel, which will be consequently removed with valuable nutrients, are now being questioned and re-considered. Overhead irrigation protects the orchards from frost and hence prevents alternate bearing. Korean apple orchards are devoid of apple scab (Venturia inaequalis), apple canker (Nectria galligena) and fire blight (Erwinia amylovora), despite large annual precipitation of 1,000–1,500?mm, and hence require few pesticides. With farm sizes of 0.8?ha, the 41,000 fruit farmers are not very mechanised; 3% of them subscribe to organic farming and a quarter to a voluntary IFP scheme. GAP is discussed, but QS-EUREP GAP quality schemes are not implemented given the large farm number and few fruit exports.     

In vitro Germination of Early Ripening Sweet Cherry Varieties (Prunus avium L.) at Different Fruit Ripening Stages

In vitro embryo culture enabled satisfactory germination of immature seeds produced in crosses from early ripening sweet cherry varieties (Prunus avium L.). Three varieties —‘Rita’, ‘Bigarreau Burlat’ and ‘Carmen’— were crossed with ‘Early Star’ as male parent. Germination rate was affected by the developmental stage of both fruit and embryo. Fruit ripening stage was a critical factor for culture infection rate that increased with maturity. In-ovule embryo culture on Murashige and Skoog medium without hormones improved the embryo size but did not increase the germination rate due to a further increase in infection rate. Ex-ovule embryo culture on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with BA 1 mg L^?1, NAA 0.5 mg L^?1, 20 g L^?1sucrose, 10 g L^?1 sorbitol and 6 g L^?1agar during the stratification time increased embryo length. Germination was performed on Brooks and Hough medium at the 22?±?1?°C with 16/8 h light/dark photoperiod. The highest germination rate (75?%) was reached in embryos that were 3?4 mm in length, after 30-days stratification at 4?°C. Embryos in fruits at green-yellow stage that were 3?4 mm long were morpho-physiologically developed to produce bipolar seedlings, without combined application of embryo culture and micropropagation.     

Nicht-destruktive Erkennung von Berostung bei Birnen

The objective of the present study was to investigate possibilities of non-destructive examination of russet on pome fruit using a luster sensor (Mukhtar et al. 2014) including varietal, colour and positional influences. Therefore, pears of three varieties from the local market in December, were investigated by three means, visual observation of the type and spread of russet, 3D colour microscope and sensor technology.Visual oberservation showed that pears of cv. ‘Conference’ from Belgium exhibited the most severe russet, particularly in the spherical part of the fruit, but also with speckled russet at the elongated stalk end of the fruit. Pears of cv. ‘Alexander Lucas’ from Germany had the least russet localized at the calyx end of the fruit and those of cv: ‘Abate Fetel’ from Italy showed an intermediate level of russet at the calyx end.Three-dimensional colour microscopy at x200 magnification.showed that russet, i.?e. suberinisation of the fruit peel, on cv. ‘Conference’ caused a 2.5-fold increase in roughness of ca. 50 µm compared with ca. 20 µm on russet-devoid peel sections of cv: ‘Alexander Lucas’.Scarcely russeted peel of cv. ‘Alexander Lucas’ showed significantly larger luster levels and those of cv. ‘Abate Fetel’ the tendency of larger luster levels with a smaller variation than russet devoid fruit peel. Russet was more difficult to detect on the elongated part of the pear fruit next to the pedicel. These first results indicate that this sensor-based russet detection is based on a combination of peel roughness and colour; but require further investigations.The results of larger luster levels on russeted pears are in line with those on plums (Mukhtar et al. 2014) where polishing during harvest and postharvest handling doubled luster levels compared with the undisturbed natural amorphous fruit surface.     

Comparison of Climate Change Effects on Pome And Stone Fruit Phenology Between Balkan Countries and Bonn/Germany

The objective of the joint project between the two universities of Bonn and Sarajevo was to study the effects of climate change associated with warmer winter and spring temperatures on fruit tree phenology. Changes in flowering date of apple and cherry were correlated with local weather data obtained concomitantly on-site at four locations in the Balkan countries Slovenia, Serbia, B & H and at Bonn, Germany.Phenological data of flower opening (F1; BBCH 61) of apple cv. ‘Golden Delicious’ originated from 55 years at Cacak (44?°N, Serbia) and at Klein-Altendorf, University of Bonn (50?°N), cv. ‘Bobovec’ from the University of Ljubljana (46?°N, Slovenia) and cherry cv. ‘Burlat’ (35 years at Klein-Altendorf, 50?°N) and 20–30 years at Tuzla (44?°N, B & H) and Mostar (43?°N, Bosnia & Herzegovina; B & H).The annual precipitation showed a negligible change in the last 55 years of ±5% in the Balkan countries (e.?g. Cacak, 699?mm), but only ±1.8% at Klein-Altendorf (605?mm) with a slight shift to more winter rainfall.Regression analysis showed an increase in mean temperature of 1.7?°C (annual) and 1.45?°C for the vegetation period at Klein-Altendorf (last 55 years), Germany. In the evaluated Balkan stations, the greatest increase in annual air temperature between two climate phases (until 1987 versus from 1988 until now) was at Ljubljana (1.4?°C) and Cacak (1.2?°C) in contrast to the least increase (0.3?°C) at Tuzla (annual average 10?°C) and an intermediate value (0.9?°C) in the warmer Mostar (annual average 14.5?°C).This recent temperature increase advanced flower opening by 10–14 days for apple such as cv. ‘Golden Delicious’ at Cacak and 7–10 days (last 55 years) at Bonn and 4–5 days (last 35 years) for the early cherry cv. ‘Burlat’ at Klein-Altendorf/Bonn; at Mostar and Tuzla, the effect of climate change was greater with the early cherry cv. ‘Burlat’ (26 days) compared with the difference of the late cherry cultivar (16 days). Before recent climate change (1973–1987), cherry flower was advanced by 10 days in the warmer med climate at Mostar but delayed by 16 days in the cooler Tuzla. The results, i.?e. the flower advancement in the Continental climate but flower delay in the med climate, are discussed with respect to the risk of late frost and countermeasures to combat climate change effects.     

Cherry 2016 – Abschlusskonferenz des EU Projektes COST Cherry FA 1104 im Anbaugebiet der Tragana Rodochori-Kirsche in Nordgriechenland

The final COST Cherry FA 1104 conference was organized in Greece, Europe’s 4^th largest cherry producer after Poland, Italy and Spain. Altitudes of ca. 600 m asl provide sufficient chilling (1200 Chilling Units) for early flowering at 40°N at the beginning of April in Greece’s predominant cherry growing region Macedonia; honey bees provide pollination. Cherries are cultivated on fertile soil without frost protection or polytunnels and harvested from 25 May to 15 June. Old varieties and trees are eventually replaced by new varieties in intense plantings on micro-propagated GiSelA 6 or Piku rootstocks from local tissue culture labs; nurseries provide the grafted trees for the cherry industry. The pomology institute in Naoussa was founded at a site of a grapevine nursery 50 years ago in 1961 for research and to support the industry and extended to cherry from 1970 onwards. A small portion (13–17?%) of the 60,000 t harvest is exported mainly to Europe (8–10,000 t), while Russia imported 6000 t of Greek cherries until 2014, before the Russian embargo started. Export quality is achieved by hand thinning of the small fruitlets with scissors after flowering. These large-fruited cherries of EU protected origin ‘Tragana Rodochori’ obtain farm gate prices of 2–3 €/kg making the Greek cherry industry worth € 120 million a year.     

Vom Luxusgut der Kapitalisten zum Exportschlager – Erdbeeranbau, Vermarktung und Züchtung in China als drittgrößter Erdbeerproduzent weltweit

The 23% consolidation of China's strawberry industry from 70,000?ha in 2005 to 53,000?ha in 2006 due to extreme climate conditions reduced production from 840,000?t to 650,000?t. This tonnage includes a 40% market share for processing for the home market (150,000– 190,000?t) and frozen fruit for both the home market and export (70,000–90,000?t) and makes China the world's third largest strawberry producer after the US and Europe. Strawberry cultivation in China is characterised by family smallholders with an averaged acreage of ca. 2,000?m² and salaries of 2?euros/person/day for hired labour resulting in ca. 500?euros/1,000?m² gross return. The major growing regions are the provinces Hebei (near Baoding), Shandong, Liaoning with an acreage of ca. 10,000?ha each. Strawberry plants and varieties are imported, but new Chinese varieties such as ‘Chun Xing’, ‘Xing Du 1 and 2’, ‘Xuemi’ and ‘Chun Xu’ are increasingly grown. The Chinese varieties are characterised by their sweet flavour with low acidity, a pre-requisite for the Asian market, and good taste and are adapted to the respective growing climate. A portion of the strawberry harvest is used for processing due to insufficient external fruit quality such as size, shape and colour by European standard. Strawberry research in China is spread between 9 institutions and universities throughout the country. Strawberries were regarded as exclusive desert and luxury for the upper class during the ten years of the cultural revolution between 1966–1976 under Mao Zedong. Today, fresh strawberries are sold in street markets or supermarkets. Import of strawberry fruit is prohibited, except for Hongkong, which imports 2,200?t from China and the US. China's export of 76,000?t in 2005, equivalent to a 9–10% export rate, was shipped to Japan (11,000?t) and Germany (8,700?t) with dumping prices below 50?cent/kg.     

The evaporative cooling effects of overtree microsprinkler irrigation on ‘Mondial Gala’ apples

Microsprinkler irrigation for evaporative cooling of ‘Mondial Gala’ apples (Malus x domestica Borkh.) was evaluated over a 3-year period in Lleida (NE Spain). Cooling irrigation was applied continuously for 2 h on a daily basis for 25–30 days prior to commercial harvest. Three treatments were evaluated: (1) control without overtree microsprinkler irrigation; (2) microsprinkler irrigation applied at sunset; (3) microsprinkler irrigation applied at mid-day (year 2) or at sunrise (year 3). Fruit and orchard temperature were significantly reduced by cooling irrigation, especially when applied at mid-day and at sunset. Fruit colour, as measured with a Minolta CR-200 portable triestimulus colourimeter using the CIE [1976] L*a*b* system, and anthocyanin concentration were significantly affected by both the cooling irrigation and the weather of each specific year. The years 1998 and 1999 were warm years typical of the region and cooled fruits had better colour than in the control. In 1997, on the other hand, low temperatures and rainfall prior to harvest masked the effects of cooling irrigation on fruit colour and quality parameters. Microsprinkler irrigation, especially when applied at sunset, increased the red colour, providing greater surface colouration and higher anthocyanin content on both sides of the fruit. A linear regression of anthocyanin content on L*, a*/b* ratio and hue angle provided R² values of 0.58, 0.52 and 0.58, respectively. These values are low for estimating fruit anthocyanin content in situ from chromaticity values. Based on the colour required to meet EU grade standards, 13–22% more fruits were harvested at first pick from trees receiving cooling irrigation than from the control.Fruit firmness, fruit size, and soluble solid concentration (SSC) were all increased by cooling irrigation, though the extent to which this occurred varied from season to season. Significantly greater values were observed for cooled fruits than the control in 1998 and 1999 but not in 1997. On the other hand, titratable acidity (TA) did not appear to be consistently affected by evaporative cooling. The economical analysis evidences the interest of cooling, due mainly to increase of fruit colour, especially when the same system is used for both purposes, frost protection and cooling.     

Effects of 22S, 23S-Homobrassinolide and Gibberellic Acid on Occurrence of Physiological Disorders and Fruit Quality of ‘Summit’ and ‘Regina’ Sweet Cherries

Plant growth regulators play a vital role in fruit growth and development. However, effects of compounds belonging to the group of brassinosteroids have not been fully investigated in sweet cherries. One relatively new and one commonly applied growth regulator, 22S, 23S-Homobrassinolide and GA₃, respectively, were tested on ‘Summit’ and ‘Regina’ sweet cherries to determine the effects on fruit quality and physiological disorders. The substances were applied with a handgun sprayer at full bloom and at the beginning of fruit development (shuck split) for a 2-year period. GA₃ was applied at the concentrations of 25, 50, 100 mgL^?1 and 22S, 23S-Homobrassinolide at 0.05, 0.1, 0.5 mgL^?1. A combined application of 100 mgL^?1 GA₃ + 0.1 mgL^?1 22S, 23S-Homobrassinolide was also applied. Effects of GA₃ and 22S, 23S-Homobrassinolide on fruit weight and size were evident for the concentrations applied and between the seasons for both of the cultivars. Combination of the both growth regulators and 100 mgL^?1 GA₃ alone produced longer fruits compared to the control trees in ‘Regina’. The 22S, 23S-Homobrassinolide applications increased the firmness of the flesh slightly, but not to a great degree, compared to the GA₃ applications alone. The brightness of the red color was better with GA₃ applications in ‘Summit’ and ‘Regina’. Brassinosteroid caused the fruits to have comparably dull red color. Total soluble solid contents of the cultivars were influenced by the substances and the year of the application. Stem resistance to separation from the fruit was under the influence of both treatments and seasons. In general, 22S, 23S-Homobrassinolide provided better stem resistance than the GA₃ applications. There were no effects of the substances on the development of physiological disorders.     

Morphological Characterization of Autochthonous Apple Genetic Resources in Montenegro

Autochthonous apple varieties are still keeping their importance in Montenegro and they are valuable resources as human food and an important part of rural landscape. The aim of this study was to study and preserve morphological diversity of 30 autochthonous apple varieties in Montenegro between 2008 and 2010. We found a great variation on blooming period and maturation time among varieties and classified them as very early, early, mid and late for blooming and early, middle, late and very late for maturation. Fruit weight varied in wide range from 40.76 g to 206.74 g and ‘Krupnaja’, ‘Krstova?a’ and ‘Babova?a’ produced biggest fruits (191.83–206.74 g). Soluble solid content (SSC) varied between 11.0 to 16.1?% among varieties and ‘Borova?a’, ‘Aleksandrija’, ‘Krstova?a’, ‘Dapsi?anka’, ‘Bosnika’, ‘Rebra?a’ and ‘Babova?a’ had the highest SSC values imply that they can be commercially used in production of spirits, wine, concentrate and jam and also for drying. Based on 3-year average data for 25 properties, UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean) dendrogram showed a high degree of variability among the studied varieties dividing them into 5 groups and 3 independent accessions.     

Einfluss schwach wachsender Apfelunterlagen auf Wachstum, Ertrag und Fruchtgröße verschiedener Sorten – Teil I: ‘Elstar’

From 2001 to 2005 the influence of the dwarfed apple rootstocks M 9 (clone: Burgmer 984), Fleuren 56, Supporter 1, P 16, P 22, J-TE-F, J-TE-E and M 27 on growth, yield and fruit size of the apple variety ‘Elstar, Elshof’ was investigated on the locations Auweiler, Dresden-Pillnitz, Osnabrück and Wurzen in Germany. All rootstocks induced a less vegetative growth as the rootstock M 9. In comparison with M 9 the crown volume of the trees ranged from 89 (Supporter 1) to 51% (M 27). The highest yield potential showed the rootstock P 16. Her specific yield (kg/m³) was 17% higher than the specific yield of M 9. A higher specific yield and a higher individual fruit size as M 9 only produced the M 9 clonal selection Fleuren 56. J-TE-E produced the lowest specific yield.     

Ausdünnungsstrategien für die Apfelsorte ‘Elstar’ – Erfahrungen mit Ammoniumthiosulfat, Calciumhydroxid und Benzyladenin

‘Elstar’, the most widely grown apple variety in the Netherlands, requires adequate fruit thinning to obtain regular bearing and the commercially desired fruit size and fruit quality. During several years studies have been carried out to look for alternative thinning methods to replace carbaryl, an insectide which also induced thinning when applied to young fruitlets, but that is no longer registered in the Netherlands. During recent years research on apple thinning has focused on the use of ammonium thiosulphate (ATS) as a flower thinner combined with 6-benzyladenine (BA) as a fruitlet thinner. This paper reports on a trial in which the fruit thinning efficacy of this combined treatment with ATS and that of BA on its own were evaluated. In addition, the use of slaked lime (Ca(OH)₂) to cover the leaves and reduce leaf photosynthesis at three different times during fruitlet development was tested, alone or in combination with an application of BA. The best chemical thinning treatment of this trial was the combination of 3 applications of ATS during flowering followed by BA at a fruit size of 13.8?mm. This treatment gave 82% of the thinning necessary to obtain the target fruit load. This treatment also effectively improved fruit size distributions, fruit colour and internal fruit quality. Slaked lime did not thin ‘Elstar’ effectively, most probably because it did not cause sufficient reduction of light interception by the canopy.