Articles
REGULATION OF REST IN PEACHES UNDER TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL CONDITIONS
The lack of low temperature difficults the normal physiological sequences, as there are no conditions to initiate and end dormancy the way it is known.
In subtropical areas, the tree enters dormancy and marginally satisfies its chilling requirements, so there is a need to enforce treatments such as water stress, chemical defoliation and a bud-break chemical inducers as cyanamide.
All these practices advance flowering 10–20 days, increases bud opening from 60 to 100% and make bud break more evenly from 40 to 20 days.
In tropical conditions, the tree keeps growing continuously, as there are no cold temperatures.
Some buds go dormant as a result of prolonged presence of leaves, strong apical dominance or anatomycal circumstances.
With the practices already mentioned, it is possible to avoid dormancy and regulate bud break any time of the year, and in some instances harvest twice a year.
Low chilling requirement cultivars are best adapted to warm conditions, and are the ones that respond the best to the described treatments.
There is a need to improve their capacity for early fruit bud set and also their ability to set fruit at high temperatures. ‘Flordaprince’ is the main cultivar adapted in tropical and subtropical areas.