ISHS Acta Horticulturae 297: II International Symposium on Kiwifruit
INFLUENCE OF SHELTERBELTS ON POLLINATION OF KIWIFRUIT |
| Authors: | W.P. Snelgar, P.J. Martin, P.J. Manson |
| Keywords: | seed numbers, fruit weight, vine yield |
| Abstract:
In New Zealand orchards, tall shelterbelts are used to protect kiwifruit vines from wind damage. However, these shelterbelts also shade vines by as much as 50%, and this results in reduced yields on vines adjacent to shelter rows. The influence of shelterbelts on pollination was examined by counting seeds in fruit randomly selected from middle-row vines, and shelter-row vines. During spring 1988, and spring 1989 a total of 15 orchard blocks, located in 4 orchards were studied. Proximity to shelter did not significantly affect seed numbers. However, this lack of effect may have been partially due to the high within-row variation in seed numbers (standard deviation of the mean varied from 180 to 470 seeds per fruit). When seed-counts were compared within single blocks (using individual fruits as experimental units) fruit from shelter-row vines had fewer seeds than middle-row vines (P≤0.05) in only two of the fifteen blocks studied. Furthermore, in one block, fruit on shelter-row vines contained more seeds. When the relationship between the number of seeds per fruit, and fruit weight was averaged over all four orchards, significant differences in both intercept, and slope, were found. Shelter-row Fruit weight (g)=51+0.040*(seeds per fruit) Middle-row Fruit weight (g)=40+0.051*(seeds per fruit) Thus, when fruit contained few seeds, the fruit on shelter-row vines tended to be larger than those on middle-row vines, while at high seed numbers this situation was reversed. | |
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