EFFECT OF TRAINING SYSTEM ON THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF CASCADE PEARS TO HAIL DAMAGE AND OTHER TYPES OF FRUIT MARKING: A PRELIMINARY REPORT

Cascade pears on six training systems were exposed to artificial hail conditions for periods of 0, 30, or 60 seconds.
The hail damage was imposed 3 weeks prior to harvest.
The fruit was held in storage at -1 °C for 2 months and ripened at 20 °C for 5 days prior to evaluation.
The training systems included: Marchand, Mid-Columbia Central Leader (MCL), MIA, Palmate, Slender Spindle, and Standard Central Leader (CL). Central Leader trees suffered the most total hail damage, with the MCL and Marchand suffering the least tree damage.
Little difference in hail damage was noted between the 30 and 60 seconds treatment.
Fruit from the Spindle and MIA systems exhibited the least amount of fruit with no damage and fruit from the MCL system had the greatest amount of fruit with no damage.
The majority of the damage was caused by cuts and surface abrasion due to sharp edges on the ice, which is not typical of natural hail, and was an artifact of the way the synthetic hail was produced.
Post storage rot was greatest in fruit from the Palmate and CL systems and was not observable in fruit from the other systems.
Fruit from the MIA and Palmate exhibited the least limb rub while Marchand fruit exhibited the greatest damage.
Fruit from the MIA exhibited the greatest amount of scab, while the Marchand fruit exhibited least scab; however, differences were small and not significant.
Little difference was noted in nonspecific russet; however, the MIA exhibited the most russet.

VII International Symposium on Pear Growing

E.A. Mielke, T.J. Facteau

Pyrus communis, training systems, MIA, Slender Spindle, Marchand, Palmate, Central Leader, scab, fruit rot

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1998.475.37