RESOURCE ALLOCATION AND VEGETATIVE – REPRODUCTIVE COMPETITION: OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANIPULATION IN EVERGREEN FRUIT TREES

It is generally accepted that most of the gains in yield have resulted from improved partitioning of resources to economic end product, rather than from improved photosynthetic efficiency.
Evergreen subtropical and tropical fruit trees are mostly relatively poorly selected, in an early stage of domestication, and have various strategies for reducing vegetative-reproductive growth competition.
Specific tree architectural models result in at least partial temporal and/or spatial separation of phenological events, but nevertheless competition at critical periods can reduce cropping efficiency.

This paper examines these issues in a range of fruit crops, with particular emphasis on the potential for manipulation of trees by breeding, rootstocks, and physical and chemical means.

International Symposium on the Culture of Subtropical and Tropical Fruits and Crops

B.N. Wolstenholme

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1990.275.56