Articles
Influence of seeds on fruit set and fruit size on freeze damage on ‘Mutsu’ apples
Article number
1443_12
Pages
89 – 92
Language
English
Abstract
A frost/freeze event (-3.5°C) occurred 7 days after full bloom at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard, Belchertown, MA on the night of May 18, 2023, that caused significant damage to fruit and leaves of apples.
For 3 weeks following the freeze cool, sunny conditions prevailed resulting in a positive carbon balance within the tree which was favorable for fruit set.
Final fruits set was generally heavy, leading to the need to hand thin.
At harvest time all fruit were very large.
In one block of ‘Mutsu’, fruit had either no viable seeds or just one seed.
Seed number in fruit from a second ‘Mutsu’ block ranged from 1 to 5 seeds at harvest.
We suggest that following the freeze, in the absence of a full complement of seeds, receptacle tissue started to produce hormones, especially gibberellins and cytokinins.
Further, fruit were given sufficient growth stimulus to grow from receptacle-produced hormones in the absence of with a reduced number of viable seeds.
For 3 weeks following the freeze cool, sunny conditions prevailed resulting in a positive carbon balance within the tree which was favorable for fruit set.
Final fruits set was generally heavy, leading to the need to hand thin.
At harvest time all fruit were very large.
In one block of ‘Mutsu’, fruit had either no viable seeds or just one seed.
Seed number in fruit from a second ‘Mutsu’ block ranged from 1 to 5 seeds at harvest.
We suggest that following the freeze, in the absence of a full complement of seeds, receptacle tissue started to produce hormones, especially gibberellins and cytokinins.
Further, fruit were given sufficient growth stimulus to grow from receptacle-produced hormones in the absence of with a reduced number of viable seeds.
Publication
Authors
D.W. Greene, G. Costa
Keywords
spring frost, parthenocarpy, hormones, fruit development
Online Articles (14)