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Localised and tree total crop loads influence trunk growth, return fruit set, yield, and fruit quality in apples

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posted on 2024-06-28, 03:45 authored by Alessio Scalisi, Tim Plozza, Priyanka ReddyPriyanka Reddy, Madeleine Peavey, Lexie McClymont, Simone RochfortSimone Rochfort, Dario Stefanelli, Ian Goodwin

Abstract: Localised fruit thinning strategies must be investigated to improve precision crop load management in narrow-canopy, multileader apple trees. This study aimed to determine the effects of within-leader and tree total crop load on leaders’ and trunk’s growth, fruit set, yield, and fruit quality in ‘Ruby Matilda’ apples (marketed as Pink Lady®) over three years. Different crop loads were imposed on two leaders (primary and secondary) of bi-axis trees. Leader and trunk relative growth rate, return fruit set, yield, and fruit quality parameters at harvest were measured. High within-leader crop loads led to a significant increase in yield and reductions in trunk growth, return fruit set, and deterioration of fruit quality parameters except for flesh firmness and starch index. Similar trends were observed in whole-tree relationships. High crop load in secondary leaders had moderate negative effects on trunk growth, yield, and fruit mass of primary leaders; it only marginally affected their return fruit set and had no significant effect (p > 0.05) on their fruit quality. A crop load of 6.8 fruit no. cm−2 of leader cross-sectional area was estimated to achieve a relatively consistent return fruit set within the same leader. At a whole-tree level, a similar crop load (6.9 fruit no. cm−2 of trunk cross-sectional area) produced a consistent return fruit set despite its higher variability. These crop loads produced high yields (120 and 111 t ha−1, respectively) and good quality fruit. Using individual leaders as management units is recommended to simplify operations and reduce variability.

Funding

This study was a component of the apple and pear industry’s PIPS3 (Productivity, Irrigation, Pests and Soils) program of research and development funded by Hort Innovation, using the Hort Innovation Apple and Pear research and development levy, contributions from the Australian Government and co-investment from Agriculture Victoria. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-proft research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

History

Publication Date

2024-12-01

Journal

Horticulture Advances

Volume

2

Issue

1

Article Number

17

Pagination

16p.

Publisher

Springer Nature

ISSN

2948-1104

Rights Statement

© The Author(s) 2024. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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