Basal temperature and thermal sum in phenological phases of nectarine and peach cultivars

The objective of this work was to evaluate basal temperature, thermal sum at different phenological stages, phenological phase duration, yield and seasonality of one nectarine and 14 peach cultivars, between 2006 and 2009. The considered phenological phases were: pruning-sprouting; sprouting-flowering, from swollen bud to open flower; flowering-fruiting, from petal fall to medium-sized fruit; and ripening. Minimum basal temperatures (Tb) obtained were: pruning-sprouting, 8°C, irrespective of the cultivars; sprouting-flowering, 10°C, except for 'Cascata 968', which required 8°C Tb; flowering-fruiting, 12°C, except for 'Oro Azteca', which required 14°C Tb; ripening, 14°C, except for 'Sunblaze', 'Diamante Mejorado' and 'Precocinho' with 12°C Tb. For most cultivars, the maximum basal temperatures were 30, 34, 34 and 28ºC for phases pruning-sprouting, sprouting-flowering, flowering-fruiting and ripening, respectively. 'Turmalina', 'Marli' and 'Tropic Beauty' showed average yields of 3,945.0, 3,969.3 and 3,954.0 kg ha-1, respectively, in 2009, while the nectarine 'Sunblaze' showed around 3,900 kg ha-1 in 2008 and 2009. The cultivars differed for their total cycle and for the accumulated thermal sums which varied, respectively, from 245 days and 1,881.4 degree-days for 'Oro Azteca', to144 days and 1,455.7 degree-days for 'Precocinho'.

Leaf nutritional levels in peach and nectarine grown in subtropical climate

The study evaluated the leaf nutritional levels of peach and nectarine trees under subtropical climate in order to improve the fertilization practices. The experiment was carried out in São Paulo state University, Botucatu, São Paulo State, Brazil. The experimental design consisted of subdivided plots, in which plots corresponded to cultivars and subplots to the leaf sample periods. The evaluated peach cultivars were: Marli, Turmalina, Precocinho, Jubileu, Cascata 968, Cascata 848, CP 951C, CP 9553CYN, and Tropic Beauty, and that of nectarine was 'Sun Blaze'. The sample periods were: after harvest, plants in vegetative period; dormancy; beginning of flowering and fruiting (standard sample). Results indicated significant variations in the levels of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, B, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn for the sampling period and in N, Ca, Mg, S, B, Fe and Mn levels for the cultivars.

Leaf nutritional levels in peach and nectarine grown in subtropical climate

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Basal temperature and thermal sum in phenological phases of nectarine and peach cultivars

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a temperatura basal, a soma térmica acumulada em diferentes fases fenológicas, a duração das fenofases, a produtividade e a sazonalidade do ciclo de uma cultivar de nectarina e de 14 cultivares de pêssego, entre 2006 e 2009. As fases fenológicas consideradas foram: poda-brotação; brotação-florescimento, da gema inchada até a flor aberta; florescimento-frutificação, da queda das pétalas até o fruto médio; e maturação. As temperaturas basais mínimas obtidas foram: poda-brotação, 8°C, independentemente das cultivares avaliadas; brotação-florescimento, 10°C, com exceção de 'Cascata 968', que necessitou de Tb de 8°C; florescimento-frutificação, 12°C, exceto 'Oro Azteca', que necessitou de Tb de 14°C; maturação, 14°C, com exceção de 'Sunblaze', 'Diamante Mejorado' e 'Precocinho', com Tb de 12°C. Para a maioria das cultivares, as temperaturas basais máximas foram de 30, 34, 34 e 28ºC, nas fases poda-brotação, brotação-florescimento, florescimento-frutificação e maturação, respectivamente. 'Turmalina', 'Marli' e 'Tropic Beauty' apresentaram produtividade média de 3.945,0, 3.969,3 e 3.954,0 kg ha-1, em 2009, respectivamente, enquanto a nectarineira 'Sunblaze' produziu em torno de 3.900 kg ha-1 em 2008 e 2009. As cultivares diferiram quanto ao ciclo total e quanto às somas térmicas acumuladas que variaram, respectivamente, de 245 dias e 1.881,4 graus-dia em 'Oro Azteca', a 144 dias e 1.455,7 graus-dia em 'Precocinho'.

Diurnal and seasonal variations of CWSI and non-water-stressed baseline with nectarine trees

The work described was part of the programme, Innovative biological indicators to improve the efficiency of water and nitrogen use and the fruit quality in tree crops Project, a partnership between ISA and INRA. Field studies were conducted in Portugal on different irrigated plots of nectarine trees; a fully irrigated (unstressed plot) and a plot that was not irrigated for some days (stressed plot). The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of plant water stress on canopy temperature, to determine the nonwater-stressed baseline and to observe diurnal and seasonal variations of Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI). Canopy temperature, psychrometric and wind speed data were taken each half-hour, between 9:30 and 15:30 h. Results showed that canopy temperature was higher during the daytime, for both unstressed and stressed plots. A linear regression of canopy-air temperature differential and the vapor pressure deficit (non-water-stress baseline) showed a r2= 0.65. During the stress period, the average canopy temperature of the stressed plot was up to 5.4°C higher than the unstressed plot. Diurnal and seasonal average of CWSI values showed differences between unstressed and stressed plots, during the stress period.

Fruit quality in the peach and nectarine with application of hydrogenated cyanamide and mineral oil

This work evaluated the quality of the fruit in peach and nectarine cultivars with and without the application of hydrogenated cyanamide and mineral oil, for two production cycles (2009 and 2010). The experiment was carried out at the School of Agricultural Science of the São Paulo State University (UNESP), at Botucatu in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, located at latitude 22º51'55 S and longitude 48º26'22 E, at an altitude of 810 m. The predominant climate type is warm temperate (mesothermal) with rains in the summer and dry in the winter. The following were evaluated: soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, ratio, firmness, vitamin C and pulp yield. The use of hydrogenated cyanamide and mineral oil had no effect on the quality attributes of the fruit, except for pH, where those fruits under application of the products showed higher values. The cultivars all had a pulp yield greater than 90%, with 'Tourmaline' showing the highest yield (96 %). The levels of vitamin C varied according to the cultivars, where 'Marli' (16.9 mg 100 g-1) and 'Dourado-2' (16.5 mg 100 g-1), stood out for having the highest levels.

Modeling systems and vis/NIR device to improve peach and nectarine pre and post-harvest fruit maturity management

During the last decade peach and nectarine fruit have lost considerable market share, due to increased consumer dissatisfaction with quality at retail markets. This is mainly due to harvesting of too immature fruit and high ripening heterogeneity. The main problem is that the traditional used maturity indexes are not able to objectively detect fruit maturity stage, neither the variability present in the field, leading to a difficult post-harvest management of the product and to high fruit losses. To assess more precisely the fruit ripening other techniques and devices can be used. Recently, a new non-destructive maturity index, based on the vis-NIR technology, the Index of Absorbance Difference (IAD), that correlates with fruit degreening and ethylene production, was introduced and the IAD was used to study peach and nectarine fruit ripening from the “field to the fork”. In order to choose the best techniques to improve fruit quality, a detailed description of the tree structure, of fruit distribution and ripening evolution on the tree was faced. More in details, an architectural model (PlantToon®) was used to design the tree structure and the IAD was applied to characterize the maturity stage of each fruit. Their combined use provided an objective and precise evaluation of the fruit ripening variability, related to different training systems, crop load, fruit exposure and internal temperature. Based on simple field assessment of fruit maturity (as IAD) and growth, a model for an early prediction of harvest date and yield, was developed and validated. The relationship between the non-destructive maturity IAD, and the fruit shelf-life, was also confirmed. Finally the obtained results were validated by consumer test: the fruit sorted in different maturity classes obtained a different consumer acceptance. The improved knowledge, leaded to an innovative management of peach and nectarine fruit, from “field to market”.

Stone fruit injuries and damage at the wholesale market of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Mechanical injuries and diseases in stone fruit are important causes for market rejection. The objectives of this research were to quantify and characterize the mechanical injuries and diseases in peaches, nectarines and plums at Sao Paulo`s wholesale market, the largest in Brazil. Incidence of injuries was assessed weekly in 1 % of the marketed fruit (2973 fruit/week), from September to December in 2003 and 2004. Mechanical injuries were the most frequent injuries in both years, ranging from 8.73% (plum) to 44.5% (nectarine) of injured fruit. There was a significant positive correlation between the incidence of postharvest mechanical injuries and postharvest diseases. Incidence of postharvest diseases varied from 2.5% to 6.6%. Cladosporium rot (Cladosporium sp.) and brown rot (Monilinia fructicola) were the most frequent diseases, and were mostly detected in the apexes of nectarines and peaches. Aurora (peach), Sunraycer (nectarine) and Gulfblaze (plum) varieties were the most susceptible to injuries and diseases. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The coincidence of thrips and dispersed pollen in PNRSV-infected stonefruit orchards - a precondition for thrips-mediated transmission via infected pollen

Recent laboratory studies have demonstrated that Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) (family Bromoviridae) can be readily transmitted when thrips and virus-bearing pollen are placed together on to test plants. For this transmission mechanism to result in stonefruit tree infection in the field, PNRSV-bearing pollen must be deposited onto surfaces of stonefruit trees on which thrips also occur. In a previous paper, we demonstrated that almost all pollen in a PNRSV-infected Japanese plum orchard in southeastern Queensland was deposited onto flowers, whereas few grains occurred on leaves and none on stems. Here, we present results of our investigation of thrips species composition, distribution and abundance on stonefruit trees in the same study area as our previous pollen deposition study. We collected a total of 2010 adult thrips from 13 orchards during the 1989, 1991 and 1992 flowering seasons of which all but 14 were in the suborder Terebrantia. Most (97.4%) terebrantian thrips were of three species, Thrips imaginis, Thrips australis and Thrips tabaci. Thrips tabaci as well as species mixtures that included T imaginis, T australis and T tabaci have been shown to transmit PNRSV via infected pollen in laboratory tests. Adult thrips were frequently collected from flowers but rarely from leaves and never from stems. Large and significant differences in numbers of T imaginis, T australis and T tabaci adults in flowers occurred among orchards and between seasons. No factor was conclusively related to thrips numbers but flowers of late-flowering stonefruit varieties tended to hold more thrips than those of early-flowering varieties. Our results indicate that the common thrips species present on stonefruit trees in the Granite Belt are also ones previously shown to transmit PNRSV via infected pollen in the laboratory and that these thrips are concentrated in stonefruit flowers where most stonefruit pollen is deposited. These results contribute to mounting circumstantial evidence that stonefruit flowers may be inoculated with PNRSV via an interaction of thrips with virus-bearing pollen and that this transmission mechanism may be an important cause of new tree infections in the field.

Chilling requirement for seed germination and phenological observations on peach cultivars

In subtropical climate areas, the models and methods proposed to evaluate the chilling requirement of temperate fruit crops often do not provide satisfactory results, thus calling for the development of alternative techniques. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlations between some phonological traits and chilling requirement for seed germination of 18 peach cultivars and one nectarine cultivar. Two experiments were installed separately for the correlation studies. In experiment 1, the phenological traits were observed in the field, while in experiment 2, the chilling requirement for 50 and 100% seed germination of each cultivar was assessed. The number of days for beginning of bloom (r = 0.70**, 0.61**) and full bloom (r = 0.72**, 0.76**) were both significantly correlated with the number of chilling units for 50% and 100% germination of seeds. The number of days for beginning of budding and dormancy break were both significantly correlated with the number of chilling units for 50% and 100% germination (r = 0.48*, 0.50*, respectively). However, the same significant effect for these phenological traits was not found between chilling units and 50% germination of seeds, as well as between chilling units and harvest dates.

Repeatability, correlation and path analysis of physical and chemical characteristics of peach fruits

This study aimed to determine the number of measurements necessary to evaluate physical and chemical characteristics of peach fruits, study the relationships between them and their direct and indirect effects on the content of ascorbic acid and total carotenoids. The characteristics skin and pulp color, fruit weight, suture, equatorial and polar diameters, firmness, soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA), SS/TA ratio, ascorbic acid and total carotenoids were evaluated in 39 cultivars of peach and 3 cultivars of nectarine from the orchard of the Universidade Federal de Viçosa. The repeatability coefficient was estimated by ANOVA and CPCOR. Phenotypic correlation coefficients (rf) were estimated and, after the multicollinearity diagnostics, they were unfolded to direct and indirect effects of the explanatory variables on the response variable using path analysis. There was agreement on the magnitude of repeatability coefficients obtained by the two methods; however, they varied among the 14 characteristics. The highest correlations were found between FW, SD, ED and PD. Seven fruits are sufficient to evaluate the physical and chemical characteristics of peach with a correlation coefficient of 90%. The characteristics considered in the path diagrams (b* skin, hº skin, b* pulp, hº pulp, ED, PD, FIR, SS, SS/AT and TC) are not the main determinants of the ascorbic acid. The yellow hue of the pulp (hº pulp) has the potential to be used in indirect selection for total carotenoids.

Effect of wounds applied to the bases of herbaceous cuttings on the rooting of four Japanese apricot clones (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.) in an intermittent mist system

The Japanese apricot (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.) is a fruit tree of the Rosaceae family which produces very acid and bitter fruits, highly appreciated by Orientals. In Brazil, this species has been studied as a rootstock for peach and nectarine trees, its main advantage being the reduction in plant vigour, which can favour the production of compact trees and orchard cultural treatments. This study was conducted in the Vegetable Production Department of FCAV/UNESP, Jaboticabal Campus, São Paulo State, Brazil, and the objective was to examine the effect of wounding the herbaceous cutting bases on the rooting of four Japanese apricot clones. The clones were obtained from plants under cultivation in the Instituto Agronomico de Campinas, Brazil, and were identified as Clones 02, 05, 10 and 15. The stock plants, obtained through herbaceous cuttings, were maintained under lath house conditions (50% of natural light). Cuttings 12 cm long with 3 to 5 leaves were collected from these clones and prepared. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomised design with 4 repetitions of 20 cuttings per replication, in a factorial 4 x 2 design, the clone factor having 4 levels (Clones 02, 05, 10 and 15) and the wounding factor at 2 levels of incisions into the cutting base (with and without). All the cuttings were treated with 2000 mg.L-1 of IBA for five seconds. Differences between the clones were observed concerning the rooting percentage, dead cuttings, number and length of roots. The incision (wound) at the base of the herbaceous cuttings of the Japanese apricot increased the number of roots and improved the distribution of these in the damaged tissue but the results were not considered sufficiently beneficial to make the treatment worthwhile.

Efeito do comprimento de estacas herbáceas de dois clones de umezeiro (Prunus mume Sieb & Zucc.) no enraizamento adventício

O umezeiro (Prunus mumeSieb & Zucc.) é uma rosácea de folhas caducas, nativa da China, cujos frutos e flores são muito apreciados pelos povos orientais. No Brasil, alguns estudos foram realizados visando a sua utilização como porta-enxerto para pessegueiro e nectarineira, dadas as suas características de adaptação, rusticidade, redução do porte da planta e compatibilidade com algumas cultivares de Prunus persica. O presente estudo foi conduzido em câmara de nebulização sob ripado, pertencente ao Departamento de Produção Vegetal da FCAV/UNESP, Câmpus de Jaboticabal-SP. Objetivou-se verificar a influência de quatro comprimentos de estacas herbáceas no enraizamento de dois clones de umezeiro. O material vegetal, identificado como Clone 10 e Clone 15, foi oriundo do Programa de Melhoramento Genético do Instituto Agronômico de Campinas-SP. O experimento foi constituido de fatorial 2 x 4, em blocos casualizados, sendo o fator clone em 2 níveis (Clone 10 e Clone 15) e o fator comprimento de estaca em 4 níveis (12; 15; 18 e 25cm). Pelos resultados observados, verificou-se diferença entre os clones somente na porcentagem de estacas brotadas e número de raízes por estaca. O comprimento da estaca influenciou na porcentagem de enraizamento e na mortalidade das estacas, sendo que estacas maiores tenderam a apresentar maiores porcentagens de enraizamento e menores de mortalidade. As estacas com 12cm, embora apresentando menor número de raízes por estaca, são recomendadas por permitirem a obtenção de um maior número de estacas por planta-matriz. Houve efeito significativo da interação entre os fatores para número e comprimento de raízes.

Enraizamento de estacas herbáceas de quatro clones de umezeiro (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.) durante o inverno ameno, em Jaboticabal-SP

Estudos realizados no Brasil com o umezeiro (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.) relatam promissoras perspectivas de utilização desta espécie como porta-enxerto para pessegueiro e nectarineira, em função de sua rusticidade, adaptação ao inverno brando, compatibilidade com Prunus persica, redução do vigor das plantas e melhoria da qualidade dos frutos. Entretanto, em função da propagação por sementes, tem sido observadas diferenças de vigor entre as plantas, resultando em pomares muito heterogêneos. Assim, o presente estudo teve por objetivo estudar o enraizamento de estacas herbáceas de quatro clones de umezeiro (Clones 02, 05, 10 e 15) durante o inverno ameno, em Jaboticabal-SP. O experimento foi conduzido entre os meses de junho e agosto, sendo avaliado aos 70 dias após a estaquia. Pelos resultados obtidos, foi possível concluir que é viável a propagação dos clones estudados por enraizamento de estacas herbáceas durante o inverno. Foram observadas diferenças entre os clones quanto à porcentagem de enraizamento, porcentagem de estacas com calo, número e comprimento das raízes. No conjunto das variáveis analisadas, os melhores resultados foram obtidos com os Clones 10 e 15.

Características dos frutos de cultivares de pessegueiros e nectarineira, no município de Botucatu – SP

The research had as purpose to evaluate the fruits physical-chemical characteristics of peach cultivars (CP-9553 CYN, CP951 C, Tropic Beauty, Cascata 953, Cascata 797, Cascata 587, Precocinho, Conserva 693, Diamante Mejorado, Turmalina e Marli and Sun Blaze nectarine at Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil region. It were evaluated the fruits fresh matter, longitudinal and transversal diameters, and the crop period. In relation the physical-chemical characteristics of fruits, it was evaluated the texture, the pH, tritatable acid and soluble solids. The results showed significant differences between the cultivars where the fruits fresh matter were 68,6g ('CP-9553 CYN') and 141,35g ('Cascata 953'); the fruits longitudinal diameter were 50,32mm ('Marli') and 72,12mm ('Conserva 693') and the fruits transversal diameter were 50,50mm ('CP-9553 CYN') and 62,90mm ('Cascata 953'). The post-harvest characteristics also had significant differences. The texture had changes at 517,00gf ('Marli') and 168,47gf ('Precocinho'); the soluble solids were 9,73 degrees Brix on Marli cultivar. The pH was about 3,36 on 'Diamante Mejorado' until 4,48 on CP-9553 CYN cultivar and the acidity was 0,96g of citric acid 100g(-1) fruits juice on Tropic Beauty cultivar. The crop period of the cultivars evaluated were the end of September month until 15(th) November month, being the earliest cultivars Tropic Beauty, CP-951 and CP-951 CYN and the latest cultivar were Marli. It was observed that the news cultivars, until in observations, with Cascata 953, Cascata 797 and Cascata 587, showed crops potential at Botucatu/SP region.