Articles
Evaluation of fruit detachment force reveals differences in late-ripening sweet orange cultivars
Article number
1448_53
Pages
425 – 430
Language
English
Abstract
Sweet orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) is the most important species within the genus Citrus and Italy is the 11th larger orange producer worldwide, the second in Europe.
Preharvest fruit drop is one of the most serious, and still unresolved, problems affecting orange cultivation worldwide.
Usually, fruit drop happens at the final stage of fruit maturation, sometimes suddenly and intensely, and it is likely related to the occurrence of biotic and/or abiotic stresses.
However, a genetic influence is evident as some cultivars are more prone to fruit drop than others, independently from the cultivation area.
The present work aimed at the phenotypic characterization of preharvest fruit drop proneness of different sweet orange accessions, through the assessment of their fruit detachment force (FDF, an indicator of the linking force between the fruit and its peduncle), coupled with fruit and peduncle size measurement.
Phenotypic analysis was carried out on an ex situ germplasm collection composed of 97 accessions, all grafted onto Swingle citrumelo (Citrus paradisi Macf. × Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf) and subjected to the same cultural practices.
Sampling of 30 fruits per accession was carried out either in January, February, or March 2024, according to the specific ripening period of each genotype in the boreal hemisphere.
The analysed accessions include mainly blood orange accessions (53 ‘Tarocco’, 6 ‘Moro’, 13 ‘Sanguinello’, and 8 old lines not belonging to the previous groups) complemented with 8 ‘Navel’, 8 common, and 1 acidless cultivars.
Results highlighted a high variability of FDF value among clones and groups.
As expected, late-maturing commercial genotypes showed higher values of FDF, along with some Tarocco clonal selections.
Among these, some late-ripening accessions showed high FDF values, similar, or even better, to those of late-maturing commercial references, making them suitable candidates for extending blood oranges’ availability on the market.
Preharvest fruit drop is one of the most serious, and still unresolved, problems affecting orange cultivation worldwide.
Usually, fruit drop happens at the final stage of fruit maturation, sometimes suddenly and intensely, and it is likely related to the occurrence of biotic and/or abiotic stresses.
However, a genetic influence is evident as some cultivars are more prone to fruit drop than others, independently from the cultivation area.
The present work aimed at the phenotypic characterization of preharvest fruit drop proneness of different sweet orange accessions, through the assessment of their fruit detachment force (FDF, an indicator of the linking force between the fruit and its peduncle), coupled with fruit and peduncle size measurement.
Phenotypic analysis was carried out on an ex situ germplasm collection composed of 97 accessions, all grafted onto Swingle citrumelo (Citrus paradisi Macf. × Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf) and subjected to the same cultural practices.
Sampling of 30 fruits per accession was carried out either in January, February, or March 2024, according to the specific ripening period of each genotype in the boreal hemisphere.
The analysed accessions include mainly blood orange accessions (53 ‘Tarocco’, 6 ‘Moro’, 13 ‘Sanguinello’, and 8 old lines not belonging to the previous groups) complemented with 8 ‘Navel’, 8 common, and 1 acidless cultivars.
Results highlighted a high variability of FDF value among clones and groups.
As expected, late-maturing commercial genotypes showed higher values of FDF, along with some Tarocco clonal selections.
Among these, some late-ripening accessions showed high FDF values, similar, or even better, to those of late-maturing commercial references, making them suitable candidates for extending blood oranges’ availability on the market.
Publication
Authors
S. Seminara, G. Distefano, A. Giuffrida, R. Russo, E. Nicolosi, M. Di Guardo, S. La Malfa, M. Caruso, A. Gentile
Keywords
Citrus sinensis, FDF, germplasm, blood orange
Groups involved
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