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- Author or Editor: Peter M. Hirst x
Russet is a disorder of apple (Malus×domestica) fruit where the formation of cork cells leads to a cosmetic blemish which is commercially undesirable. One of the many causes of russet is low temperature damage early in fruit development. Following frost damage to fruit, a study was initiated to determine whether carbaryl chemical thinner was more effective in thinning russeted fruit than nonrusseted fruit. With no chemical thinner application, russeted fruit abscised at a greater rate than nonrusseted fruit. Following the application of carbaryl to the fruit however, there was no difference in the retention of fruit among the treatments. Chemically thinning with carbaryl therefore is not a technique that growers could use to preferentially thin russeted fruit.
Spurs were collected periodically throughout three growing seasons from the 1-year-old section of wood of `Royal Gala' trees growing in New Zealand. Three classes of spurs were sampled: purely vegetative spurs, those that flowered but did not carry fruit, and spurs on which a single fruit was borne. The bourse bud, in which flowers may form for the following year's crop, was dissected and bud appendages classified and counted. In addition, axillary buds from current-season shoots were sampled and dissected. Over the period 50–200 days after full bloom, the number of appendages in buds on vegetative spurs increased from ≈14 to 22, whereas the increase in buds on fruiting spurs was 14 to 20. In contrast, axillary bud appendage numbers increased from ≈11 to 14 over this period. By the end of the growing season, flowers were evident in a high proportion of buds of all classes. The critical appendage number at which the change from a vegetative to floral status became visible was ≈18 for spurs on 1-year-old wood, but 13 for axillary buds. The time at which flowers were able to form varied among years. The degree of flower differentiation that occurred prior to leaf fall was highest in vegetative buds and was reduced by flowering and fruiting, and was lowest in axillary buds.
Peach production is significantly reduced and severely limited by frost injury in regions frequently exposed to late spring freeze conditions. Peach flower buds become increasingly susceptible to low-temperature damage from the period of completion of rest through fruit set. Delaying dehardening and/or flower bud development is an effective way to avoid frost damage. Bio-regulator applications, affecting dormancy or bud development, can delay flowering and dehardening of the buds and can help in avoiding spring freeze injury. Spring applications of AVG and dormant oils on 8-year-old `Redhaven' peach trees were evaluated. AVG applications effectively delayed bloom by 2 to 5 days. The most effective treatment was two applications of 2000 ppm AVG, which delayed bloom by almost 5 days. Repeat applications of AVG were more effective than the single dosage treatments. The 1000 ppm, repeat application delayed bloom by 4 days. A single application of 5000 ppm AVG resulted in severe phytotoxicity. The wetting agent levels were also varied and AVG applications were most effective in combination with 0.2% `Sylgard'. AVG, apparently, delayed bloom by delaying bud development following the completion of rest. The dormant oil sprays were ineffective in achieving bloom delay. The specific leaf weight characteristics of the treated trees were not affected except for the 5000-ppm AVG application, which reduced SLW. Fruit characteristics such as maturity, weight, and soluble sugar concentration were not affected by any of the spring applications (except for the 5000-ppm AVG application, which was phytotoxic). Our studies indicate that AVG is effective in delaying bloom in peaches by up to 5 days. This has the potential to substantially increase peach yields in years with a late spring freeze.
Irregular flowering and biennial bearing are challenging in many apple (Malus ×domestica) cultivars such as Honeycrisp. Apple flowering is influenced by many factors including crop load, fruit weight, seed number, and bourse shoot length. However, it is unclear how these factors exert their control. We investigated flowering in ‘Honeycrisp’ and whether flower formation is regulated locally within the spur or if it is under the control of the whole tree system. Treatments consisting of 30 to 240 fruit per tree with one or two fruit per spur were applied, and seed number, fruit weight, bourse shoot length, bourse number, and resulting flower formation measured. In 2013, flowering was affected by fruit number per tree, fruit number per spur and their interaction, and with lower total tree crop loads, spurs bearing two fruit had fewer flowers than those with a single fruit. In 2014, few spurs formed flowers regardless of treatment. In 2013, flowering was unaffected by seed number on single-fruited spurs but flowering inhibition was correlated with fruit weight. In spurs bearing two fruit, flowering was inhibited by higher seed numbers but fruit weight per spur had no effect on flowering. Our data suggest that both whole tree and within-spur characteristics contribute to local flower formation. Therefore, ‘Honeycrisp’ spurs can be considered semiautonomous organs because inhibition of flower formation appears to be related to the depletion of resources both locally within the spurs, and systematically within the whole tree. The main factors associated with flower formation were fruit number per tree, fruit number per spur, bourse shoot length, and bourse number per spur. In contrast to previous reports, our data show that seeds do not play a direct role in regulating flower formation.
Adequate flower formation limits dependable apple (Malus ×domestica) production and is a major challenge for apple industries around the world. ‘Honeycrisp’ is a high value apple cultivar, but consistent flowering is difficult to achieve. Apple flower formation is affected by factors including defoliation, girdling, and gibberellin (GA4+7) and 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) applications. However, the molecular mechanisms that regulate the effects of these factors are not well understood. We studied the effect of local spur defoliation, GA4+7 and NAA applications on ‘Honeycrisp’ flower formation. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of local defoliation and local GA4+7 application on the transcript levels of two major flower formation genes in the meristems of apple spurs. The floral inhibition gene terminal flower1-1 (MdTFL1-1) and floral promoting genes flowering locus T (MdFT1 and MdFT 2) of apple. Local application of GA4+7 and defoliation treatments inhibited flower formation, but NAA applications were without effect. Defoliation treatments were accompanied by a significant reduction in MdFT1, 2 transcript levels compared with controls early in the growing season. Conversely, GA4+7 application was accompanied by a significant increase in MdTFL1-1 transcripts compared with controls throughout the growing season. These results indicate that GA4+7 inhibits flower formation by upregulating the inhibitory MdTFL1-1, and defoliation acts by downregulating transcript levels of MdFT1, 2 early in the growing season. We also provide evidence that defoliated bourse buds may receive flowering promotion signals from other parts of the tree in the absence of their local leaves.
Two-year-old branch sections of `Starkspur Supreme Delicious' apple (Malus domestics Borkh.) trees growing on 17 rootstock were studied over 6 years to determine the effects of rootstock on shoot morphology and spur quality and describe how these factors may be related to precocity and productivity. Shoot length was affected by rootstock and was positively related to trunk cross-sectional area within each year, but the slope of the regression line decreased as trees matured. The number of spurs on a shoot was largely a product of shoot length. Spur density was inversely related to shoot length, where rootstock with longer shoots had lower spur densities. Flower density was not related to spur density, and shoot length only accounted for a minor part of the variation in flower density. The proportion of spurs that produced flowers was closely related to flower density, indicating that rootstock influence flower density by affecting the development of individual buds rather than by the production of more buds. More vigorous rootstock generally had spurs with larger individual leaves and higher total leaf area per spur, but fewer spur leaves with lower specific leaf weights. More precocious rootstock were also more productive over a 10-year period when yields were standardized for tree size. Tree size was the best indicator of precocity and productivity, which could be predicted with a high degree of certainty as early as the 4th year.
Floral development was studied in buds of `Starkspur Supreme Delicious' apple trees growing on B.9, M.26 EMLA, M.7 EMLA, P.18, and seedling rootstocks. In each of 3 years, buds were sampled from the previous years growth at intervals throughout the growing season and dissected to determine whether the apex was domed, indicating the start of floral development. Number of bud scales and true leaves increased during the early part of the growing season, but remained fairly constant beyond 70 days after full bloom. The type of rootstock did not affect the number of bud scales or transition leaves, and effects on true leaf numbers were small and inconsistent. Final bract number per floral bud was similarly unaffected by rootstock. The proportion of buds in which flowers were formed was influenced by rootstock in only one year of the study, which was characterized by high temperatures and low rainfall over the period of flower formation. Bracts were observed only in floral buds, and became visible after doming of bud apices had occurred. Flowers were formed during the first 20 days in August, regardless of rootstock or year. The appendage number of vegetative buds was constant from 70 days after full bloom until the end of the growing season, but the number of appendages in floral buds increased due to the continued production of bracts. The critical bud appendage number for `Starkspur Supreme Delicious' before flower formation was 20, and was stable among rootstocks and years. Buds with diameters above 3.1 mm were generally floral, but on this basis only 65% of buds could be correctly classified. Spur leaf number, spur leaf area, and spur leaf dry weight were not good predictors of floral formation within the spur bud.
In each of 3 years, vegetative spurs were sampled from l-year-old wood of `Starkspur Supreme Delicious' apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh.) growing on B.9, M.26 EMLA, M.7 EMLA, P.18, and seedling rootstocks. Mineral concentrations of spur leaves and bud apical meristems were determined, and related to spur bud development. The spur leaf P concentration decreased during the growing season each year, hut was unaffected by rootstock. Spur leaves of trees on B.9 rootstock had 30% higher Ca concentrations than trees on M.26 EMLA or seedling rootstocks. In each year, trees growing on M.26 EMLA rootstocks had the highest leaf Mg concentrations. Mineral concentrations were generally unrelated to spur leaf number, leaf area, leaf dry weight, or specific leaf weight. Phosphorus concentrations in spur bud apical meristems declined during two of the three growing seasons of the study and were unaffected by rootstock. Bud P concentration was weakly negatively related to bud diameter and bud appendage number in one year of the study. More vigorous spurs (as indicated by higher spur leaf number, leaf area, and leaf dry weight) had higher bud K levels during each year. No relationships between bud development and either spur leaf mineral concentration or bud apical meristem mineral levels were evident, suggesting that a direct role of mineral nutrition influenced by rootstock at the site of flower formation was unlikely.
Apple flower formation was studied on mature `Starkspur Supreme Delicious' apple trees growing on 5 rootstocks: B.9, M.26 EMLA, M.7 EMLA, P.18, and seedling. In 1991 and 1992 buds were sampled from the previous seasons growth and dissected. In 1991 10-20% of the buds from trees on M.26 EMLA, P. 18 and seedling rootstocks formed flowers whereas flowers were evident in about 50% of the buds from B.9 and M.7 EMLA trees. In 1992 however, over 90% of buds from trees on all rootstocks formed flowers. Despite very different environmental conditions and degree of flower formation, flower differentiation occurred between 80-110 days after full bloom in both years and among all rootstocks. The critical number of nodes present in buds prior to the appearance of flowers was 18-19 and was not influenced by rootstock. Increases in node number over the course of a season was primarily due to increases in the number of bracts present in the bud. In 1991 (a season characterized by high temperatures and low rainfall) buds from trees growing on B.9 and M.7 EMLA rootstocks exhibited a higher final node number and a greater degree of flower initiation than buds from other trees, but no differences were observed during the more favorable conditions in 1992.
One way in which rootstocks may influence production efficiency is by altering the number of spurs, and in particular reproductive spurs. However, rootstock influences on the morpholgy of shoots have not been quantified. Measurements were made on `Starkspur Supreme Delicious' trees growing on 17 rootstocks and planted in 1984 as part of the NC-140 regional rootstock trial. In each of the 6 years from 1988-1993, the length of the 2-year old section of wood of selected branches was measured and the number of spurs, flowers and shoots counted. For all rootstocks, trunk cross-sectional area was closely related to shoot length. Trees on P.22 (the most dwarfing rootstock in the planting) had shoot lengths 40-50% of those of trees on seedling rootstocks. For each rootstock, there was a strong negative relationship between shoot length and spur density, but there was not a common relationship among rootstocks. Similarly, flower number per shoot was also related to shoot length with different relationships for each rootstock. Flower density was not related to vigor for any of the rootstocks.