PEACH FLOWERS STERILITY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES ON PRODUCTIVITY

1 to 49 % of the flowers of these varieties have been found to show abnormalities with pistil malformations or some necrosis that prevented fertilization.

Among the apparently normal flowers it has been shown that 8 to 40 % of the pistils are not receptive at anthesis, embryo sacs showing degeneration under fluorescent light.

These observations summarised show that 80 to 15 % only of the flowers are receptive depending on the varieties, the locations and the climatic conditions of the year.

The influence of these observations on tree productivity is discussed.