Flower bud differentiation and development in fruiting and non-fruiting shoots in relation to fruit set in apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.)
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Date
2010
Authors
Julián Lagunas, CarmenHerrero Romero, María
Rodrigo García, Francisco Javier
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articleAbstract
Situations of high flower bud drop and low fruit set without apparent causes are common in fruit trees. The term flower quality has been coined to explain differences among flowers in their capacity to set fruit, but the causes underpinning these differences are largely unknown. This lack of knowledge is based on the fact that these differences are established a posteriori and there are no criteria to determine a priori what will make a flower to set a fruit or to drop. In this work, we profit from the empirical knowledge that there are fruiting and non-fruiting shoots to explore to which extent flower bud differentiation and bud development will affect the subsequent fruit set. For this purpose, the processes from flower bud differentiation to fruit set were sequentially analyzed in both types of shoots, over 2 years. More than half of the buds from long shoots aborted development and dropped before flowering. At anthesis, most of the remaining flowers showed underdeveloped pistils that failed to sustain pollen germination or pollen tube growth along the pistil. This unsuccessful development resulted in clear differences in fruit set between both types of branches. These results highlight that flower bud differentiation and development play an important role for fruit set and that developmental timing appears critical to reach anthesis with a fully developed pistil.
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Keywords
Bud drop, Flower bud development, Fruit set, Pistil, Pollen grains, Pollen tubes
Bibliographic citation
Julian, Carmen; Herrero, María; Rodrigro, Javier. "Flower bud differentiation and development in fruiting and non-fruiting shoots in relation to fruit set in apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.)". Trees. 2010, vol. 24, p. 833-841. DOI 10.1007/s00468-010-0453-6
Other field subjects
Prunus armeniacaAlbaricoque
Tubos polínicos
Flores
Gineceo
Polinización
Fruticultura