Tree performance and fruit quality at harvest and after storage and leaf mineral nutrition in 28 strains of `Delicious' apple were studied over several years. `Classic Red', `Hi-Early`, `Nured Royal', `Rose Red', and `Sharp Red' had bigger trunk cross sectional area (TCSA), while `Starking`, 'August Red`, and `Apex' had both bigger TCSA and cumulative yields. `Red King Oregon Spur' and `Improved Ryan Spur' had a high yield efficiency. `Aomori' `Atwood', `Redchief`, and `Hardispur' had low cumulative yields and yield efficiencies. `Rose Red', `Red King Oregon Spur', `Ace', `Imperial', `Starking', and `Wellspur' had heavier fruit, while `August Red', `Hardispur' and `Starkrimson' had smaller fruit than most other strains. `Starkspur Supreme' had the highest L/D ratio and `Early Red One' and `Rose Red` had higher red color than those of all other strains. `Aomori', `Hardispur`, `Nured Royal', `Silverspur` and `Starkrimson' had high soluble solids concentrations. Differences were observed in the leaf mineral concentrations between different strains. `Apex', `Classic Red' and `Silverspur' had a high overall acceptability, while `Sturdeespur', `Hardispur' and `Aomori' were not acceptable.
Tree growth and productivity in 'Doyenne du Comice' ('Comice') pear were not affected by kaolin (Surround WP) treatment programs consisting of applications at 30 or 60 g·L–1 of water applied either three or six times per growing season and repeated for 3 years. In 2 of 3 years, kaolin treatment programs reduced the extent of russet on the fruit surface, although the comparative effectiveness of different concentrations or numbers of applications was not consistent. It appears that kaolin treatment programs can be used in 'Comice' pear production without adverse effects on tree growth and performance. In a relatively high density planting (1098 trees/ha), 'Comice' pear trees growing on Pyrus calleryana rootstock were less yield-efficient and had lower bloom and crop density and fruit set than trees growing on Quince A (Cydonia oblonga) rootstock. Fruit from trees growing on P. calleryana were generally smaller and had less surface russet than did fruit from trees growing on Quince A.
Reserve nitrogen is an important factor for plant growth and fruiting performance in tree fruit crops. The fall foliar urea application appears to be an efficient method for increasing N reserves. The effect of fall foliar urea application on N reserves and fruiting performance were studied with four year old `Gala'/M26 trees grown in 20 gallon containers in a pot-in-pot system from 2001 to 2003 at the Lewis-Brown Horticulture Farm of Oregon State Univ.. The trees were either sprayed with 0 or 2 times 3% urea after harvest in October. Shoot and spur samples were taken at the dormant season for reserve N analysis. Fruit performance was recorded in the following growing season. The fall foliar application significantly increased spur N reserve and had the trend to increase shoot N reserve but not significantly. The fall foliar application significantly increased tree fruit set and cluster fruit set. With normal fruit thinning, fall foliar urea application has the trend to increase both tree yield and average fruit size; without fruit thinning, fall foliar urea application has the trend to increase tree yield. These results indicate that fall foliar urea application an effective method to increase reserve N for maintaining tree yield.
Abstract
Flowering, fruit set, fruit size, and bearing potential are the main components of tree fruit and nut yield. The contributions of the individual components to yield and their interrelationships must be clearly defined in research addressing tree fruit productivity. Researchers have been inconsistent in terminology and procedures used to evaluate treatment effects on the major yield components. Although the relative effect of a treatment may be evident within an individual study, standardized measuring and reporting procedures are necessary if one wishes to compare results within the same species from various investigators, locations, and disciplines.
20 kg·ha −1 P, and 25 to 30 kg·ha −1 K. Fertilizer and rate varied slightly from site to site according to fertilizer availability. Tree performance, yield, and fruit characteristics. Trees were evaluated for fruiting status, and fruit number was
et al. (1996) reported from the 1984 NC-140 cooperative planting that apple fruit ripening was correlated with tree vigor, and the most dwarfing rootstocks resulted in the earliest ripening. Rootstock can also influence scion leaf and fruit mineral
were the smallest and produced good yields of fruit with excellent juice quality. Nevertheless, their performance was still far below the yields ( Table 2 ) and soluble solids production ( Table 4 ) of the trees on Volkamer lemon. Even if the spacing at
field performance characteristics (tree size, yield, yield efficiency, and average fruit size) revealed no significant relationships between nursery and field variables. The strongest correlation (–0.32) was between bark percentage and cumulative yield
, increased ethnic diversity, and a greater demand for healthy and more diverse food production has increased the demand for tropical fruit, including rambutan. Formal replicated field trials to evaluate performance of rambutan cultivars have been limited