WINTER CHANGES IN THE APPEARANCE OF FLOWER CUP ANOMALIES IN AN ITALIAN LATE BLOOMING VARIETY

Apricot varieties originating from continental climatic areas (i.e. ‘Luizet’, ‘Polonais’, etc.), generally show a very low production when grown in the mediterranean coastal area.
Such behaviour is very often the consequence of a high flower bud drop and/or the frequent appearance of flower cup anomalies, generally attributed to an unsatisfied chilling requirement.
This research studies the morphoanatomical changes of flower buds along the twig during the winter period in an Italian late blooming variety.

Over two years, from December to March, the number, size and phenological stage of flower buds distributed along 30 previously labelled twigs of ‘Reale d’Imola’ mature trees were recorded at weekly intervals.
Anatomical observations were made, at the same weekly intervals, on a sample of 20 twigs, in order to find and enumerate the floral anomalies, classifying their type and distribution along the twig.

The flowering and setting percentages were low and very similar in the two years, while initially the appearance of flower cup anomalies and the bud drop showed a different trend.

It was observed that these phenomena increased sharply when the buds entered the rapid growing phase.

VIII International Symposium on Apricot Culture and Decline

R. Guerriero, R. Viti, S. Bartolini

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1986.192.10