FRUIT WEIGHT IN APPLE AS INFLUENCED BY SEED NUMBER AND POLLINIZER

Fruit weight and fruit size are important economical properties in apple culture.
In this study we investigated the relation between seed number and fruit weight (quantitative aspect) and the influence of pollinizers on fruit weight (qualitative aspect).

After pollination of Elstar with Cox’s Orange Pippin, Idared, Gloster or James Grieve, a positive correlation between fruit weight and the number of well developed seeds was found.
The number of aborted seeds (flat seeds) also contribute in a positive way to the variance of fruit weight.
The same conclusion could be drawn from the data of 9 pollinizers, used with Golden Delicious.
The overall correlation between seed number and fruit weight was rather low but was much better with individual pollinizers.
In this experiment we found that pollinizers can influence fruit weight, independently of seed number.
The latter was also proved in pollination experiments where up to 15 receiving cultivars and pollinizers were tested.
Some pollinizers like Delcorf, Fiesta and Rubinette induce a systematic lower fruit weight, others like Fuji a systematic higher fruit weight.
It is hypothesized that seeds affect in a quantitative and a qualitative way the sink strength of individual fruits, probably through hormones.

II Workshop on Pollination

J. Keulemans, A. Brusselle, R. Eyssen, J. Vercammen, G. van Daele

apple, fruit weight, pollinizers, seed set, sink strength, Malus domestica

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1996.423.26