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Effect of Flower Pollination on Fruit Set and Cropping in Apple

Received: 9 August 2018     Accepted: 23 August 2018     Published: 13 October 2018
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Abstract

Apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.), being self-incompatible, requires cross-pollination to set fruit regularly. Apple flowers contain ten ovules and the higher the number of fertilized ovules, the larger the fruit size. In commercial orchards, cross pollination is usually guaranteed by intercropping different cultivars and by introducing beehives in the orchard at flowering time. Despite evidence that pollen donors should be close for successful pollen transportation, apple growers often plant large monovarietal blocks with negative consequences on crop load and fruit size. The contribution of wind and bees to apple pollination was studied and compared with hand-pollination in two apple cultivars, ‘Royal Gala’ and ‘Golden Delicious’. Self-pollination was also included as control. Each treatments was replicated in 120 cymes randomly assigned to plants in the central part of large monovarietal blocks (1.61 and 2.72 ha respectively). Fruit set and fruit weight increased moving from wind-pollination to wind + bee-pollination to hand-pollination as a consequence of the increase in the number of seeds per fruit. Fertilization of a single ovule was enough to set fruit after flowering, but the more seed, the larger the fruit. The increase in fruit weight per additional seed was 2.0 g for ‘Royal Gala’ and 4.6 g for ‘Golden Delicious’. This relationship between seed count and fruit weight resulted in fruit set by wind-pollination being mainly in the lower size classes, while wind + bee-pollination and, largely, hand-pollination shifted the fruit size distribution towards larger size classes. This resulted, in turn, in a dramatic increase in grower income. No significant difference between treatments in fruit quality, as assessed by fruit firmness, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, dry matter and starch content, was observed after fruit storage. It is concluded that limiting pollination in the hope of reducing the labor of thinning is not a good strategy, because flowers set fruit with a minimal cross-pollination, even if only a single seed is produced; conversely, the low seed content of fruit due to insufficient pollination is responsible for great losses for grower in both total crop yield and income.

Published in American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry (Volume 6, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajaf.20180605.16
Page(s) 156-161
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2018. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Pip Fruit, Self-Incompatibility, Wind Pollination, Bee Pollination, Hand Pollination, Pollenizers, Pollinators

References
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[2] Brain, P. and J. J. Landsberg (1981) Pollination, initial fruit set and fruit drop in apples: analysis using mathematical models. J. Hort. Sci., 56, 41–54.
[3] Brittain, W. H. and C. C. Eidt (1933) Seed content, seedling production and fruitfulness in apples. Can. J. Res. 9, 307–333.
[4] Broothaerts, W., G. A. Janssens, P. Proost and W. F. Broekaert (1995) cDNA cloning and molecular analysis of two self-incompatibility alleles from apple. Plant Mol. Biol. 27, 499–511.
[5] Degrandi-Hoffman, G., R. A. Hoppingarner and R. Pulcer (1986) REDPOL: a pollination and fruit set prediction model for ‘Delicious’ apples. Environ. Entomol. 16, 309–318.
[6] Dennis, F. G. Jr (1986) Apple. In Monselise, S. P. (ed.): Handbook of fruit set and development. CRC Press Inc., Boca Raton, USA, 1–44.
[7] Ferree, D. C., Bishop, B. L., Schupp, J. R., Tustin, D. S. and W. H. Cashmore (2001) Influence of flower type, position in the cluster and spur characteristics on fruit set and growth of apple cultivars. J. Hort. Sci. Biotech., 76, 1–8.
[8] Heinrich, B. (1976). The foraging specializations of individual bumblebees. Ecol. Monogr 46, 105–128.
[9] Janick, J., J. N. Cummins, S. K. Brown and M. Hemmat (1996) Apples. In: Janick J. and J. N. Moore (eds.): Fruit breeding, Vol. II. Tree and tropical fruits. Wiley, N. Y., 1–76.
[10] Keulemans, J., A. Brusselle, R. Eyssen, J. Vercammen and G. van Daele (1996) Fruit weight in apple as influenced by seed number and pollinizer. Acta Hortic. 423, 201–210.
[11] Kron, P., Husband, B. C., Kevan, P. G. and S. Belaoussoff, S. (2001) Factors affecting pollen dispersal in high-density apple orchards. HortScience 36, 1039–1046.
[12] Ladurner, E., L. Recla, M. Wolf, R. Zelger and G. Burgio (2004) Osmia cornuta (Hymenoptera Megachilidae) densities required for apple pollination: a cage study. J. Apicultural Res. 43 (3), 118–122.
[13] Larsen, A. and E. Kjær (2009) Pollen mediated gene flow in a native population of Malus sylvestris and its implications for contemporary gene conservation management. Conserv. Genet. 10, 1637–1646.
[14] Lespinasse, Y. (1992) Le Pommier. In: Gallais A. and H. Bannerot (eds.): Amélioration des espèces végétales cultivées-objectifs et critéres de sélection. INRA, Paris, 579–594.
[15] Ramírez, F. and T. L. Davenport (2013) Apple pollination: A review. Sci. Hortic. 162, 188–203.
[16] Sharma, H. K., Gupta, J. K. and J. R. Thakur (2004) Effect of bee pollination and polliniser proportion on apple productivity. Acta Hortic. 662, 451-454.
[17] Sheffield, C. S. (2014) Pollination, seed set and fruit quality in apple: studies with Osmia lignaria (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, Canada. J Pollination Ecol 12 (13): 120–128.
[18] Sheffield, C. S., Ngo, H. T. and N. Azzu (2016) A manual on apple pollination. F. A. O. Rome: pp. 45.
[19] Soltész, M. (1996) The placement of different cultivars in apple orchards (in Hungarian). Kerteszeti Tudomany 28 (3-4), 38–40.
[20] Soltész, M. (1997) The location of varieties in apple orchards. Acta Hortic. 437, 441–443.
[21] Vicens, N. and J. Bosch (2000) Pollinating efficacy of Osmia cornuta and Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae, Apidae) on ‘Red Delicious’ apple. Environ. Entomol. 29: 235–240.
[22] Volz, R. K., D. S. Tustin and I. B. Ferguson (1996) Pollination effects on fruit mineral composition, seeds and cropping characteristics of ‘Braeburn’ apple trees. Sci. Hortic. 66 (3–4), 169–180.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Giannina Vizzotto, Elena Driussi, Maila Pontoni, Raffaele Testolin. (2018). Effect of Flower Pollination on Fruit Set and Cropping in Apple. American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 6(5), 156-161. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20180605.16

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    ACS Style

    Giannina Vizzotto; Elena Driussi; Maila Pontoni; Raffaele Testolin. Effect of Flower Pollination on Fruit Set and Cropping in Apple. Am. J. Agric. For. 2018, 6(5), 156-161. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20180605.16

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    AMA Style

    Giannina Vizzotto, Elena Driussi, Maila Pontoni, Raffaele Testolin. Effect of Flower Pollination on Fruit Set and Cropping in Apple. Am J Agric For. 2018;6(5):156-161. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20180605.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajaf.20180605.16,
      author = {Giannina Vizzotto and Elena Driussi and Maila Pontoni and Raffaele Testolin},
      title = {Effect of Flower Pollination on Fruit Set and Cropping in Apple},
      journal = {American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry},
      volume = {6},
      number = {5},
      pages = {156-161},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajaf.20180605.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20180605.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajaf.20180605.16},
      abstract = {Apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.), being self-incompatible, requires cross-pollination to set fruit regularly. Apple flowers contain ten ovules and the higher the number of fertilized ovules, the larger the fruit size. In commercial orchards, cross pollination is usually guaranteed by intercropping different cultivars and by introducing beehives in the orchard at flowering time. Despite evidence that pollen donors should be close for successful pollen transportation, apple growers often plant large monovarietal blocks with negative consequences on crop load and fruit size. The contribution of wind and bees to apple pollination was studied and compared with hand-pollination in two apple cultivars, ‘Royal Gala’ and ‘Golden Delicious’. Self-pollination was also included as control. Each treatments was replicated in 120 cymes randomly assigned to plants in the central part of large monovarietal blocks (1.61 and 2.72 ha respectively). Fruit set and fruit weight increased moving from wind-pollination to wind + bee-pollination to hand-pollination as a consequence of the increase in the number of seeds per fruit. Fertilization of a single ovule was enough to set fruit after flowering, but the more seed, the larger the fruit. The increase in fruit weight per additional seed was 2.0 g for ‘Royal Gala’ and 4.6 g for ‘Golden Delicious’. This relationship between seed count and fruit weight resulted in fruit set by wind-pollination being mainly in the lower size classes, while wind + bee-pollination and, largely, hand-pollination shifted the fruit size distribution towards larger size classes. This resulted, in turn, in a dramatic increase in grower income. No significant difference between treatments in fruit quality, as assessed by fruit firmness, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, dry matter and starch content, was observed after fruit storage. It is concluded that limiting pollination in the hope of reducing the labor of thinning is not a good strategy, because flowers set fruit with a minimal cross-pollination, even if only a single seed is produced; conversely, the low seed content of fruit due to insufficient pollination is responsible for great losses for grower in both total crop yield and income.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Effect of Flower Pollination on Fruit Set and Cropping in Apple
    AU  - Giannina Vizzotto
    AU  - Elena Driussi
    AU  - Maila Pontoni
    AU  - Raffaele Testolin
    Y1  - 2018/10/13
    PY  - 2018
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20180605.16
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajaf.20180605.16
    T2  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
    JF  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
    JO  - American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry
    SP  - 156
    EP  - 161
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-8591
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaf.20180605.16
    AB  - Apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.), being self-incompatible, requires cross-pollination to set fruit regularly. Apple flowers contain ten ovules and the higher the number of fertilized ovules, the larger the fruit size. In commercial orchards, cross pollination is usually guaranteed by intercropping different cultivars and by introducing beehives in the orchard at flowering time. Despite evidence that pollen donors should be close for successful pollen transportation, apple growers often plant large monovarietal blocks with negative consequences on crop load and fruit size. The contribution of wind and bees to apple pollination was studied and compared with hand-pollination in two apple cultivars, ‘Royal Gala’ and ‘Golden Delicious’. Self-pollination was also included as control. Each treatments was replicated in 120 cymes randomly assigned to plants in the central part of large monovarietal blocks (1.61 and 2.72 ha respectively). Fruit set and fruit weight increased moving from wind-pollination to wind + bee-pollination to hand-pollination as a consequence of the increase in the number of seeds per fruit. Fertilization of a single ovule was enough to set fruit after flowering, but the more seed, the larger the fruit. The increase in fruit weight per additional seed was 2.0 g for ‘Royal Gala’ and 4.6 g for ‘Golden Delicious’. This relationship between seed count and fruit weight resulted in fruit set by wind-pollination being mainly in the lower size classes, while wind + bee-pollination and, largely, hand-pollination shifted the fruit size distribution towards larger size classes. This resulted, in turn, in a dramatic increase in grower income. No significant difference between treatments in fruit quality, as assessed by fruit firmness, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, dry matter and starch content, was observed after fruit storage. It is concluded that limiting pollination in the hope of reducing the labor of thinning is not a good strategy, because flowers set fruit with a minimal cross-pollination, even if only a single seed is produced; conversely, the low seed content of fruit due to insufficient pollination is responsible for great losses for grower in both total crop yield and income.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 5
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Udine, Italy

  • Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Udine, Italy

  • Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Udine, Italy

  • Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Udine, Italy

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