ISHS Acta Horticulturae 297: II International Symposium on Kiwifruit
KIWIFRUIT SHOOT GROWTH AND YIELD AS INFLUENCED BY BUDBREAK PRIORITY AND CANE BUD POSITION |
| Authors: | G.J. Wilson, R.A. Littler |
| Abstract:
The growth of shoots and the number of final fruit they bear is influenced by both shoot budbreak priority and shoot position on the fruiting cane. Shoots at the tip of one-year-old canes emerge early, have 100 per cent budbreak and grow rapidly with a high number of fruit per shoot. Budbreak is also high at position 2 (the second bud from the cane tip) but, in contrast, buds at positions 3, 4 and 5 display low budbreak (40%) and suppressed growth. Mean shoot length 7 weeks after budbreak was 70 cm for cane tip shoots, but only 20 cm for shoots at positions 3, 4 and 5. Shoots closer to the leader at positions 12–19 had a mean length similar to the cane tip at 7 weeks. Flowers and final fruit per shoot were influenced more by budbreak priority than by shoot position. Flower buds per shoot decline with budbreak delay and the effect is greater as the duration of budbreak increases. The buds that broke first produced 5.6 flowers/shoot declining to 2.0 flowers/shoot by days 11 and 12 in budbreak priority. | |
