ISHS Acta Horticulturae 423: II Workshop on Pollination
POLLINATION OF SINGLE-CULTIVAR BLOCKS OF APPLE CV. GOLDEN DELICIOUS |
| Author: | J. Blazek |
| Keywords: | Flowering, fruit set, planting systems, pollinizer spacing, regulation of bearing, seeds |
| Abstract:
Degree of flowering, fruit set, seed number per fruit and some other characteristics have been investigated in single cultivar blocks of Golden Delicious. Almost in every year the number of fruits per tree and the number of seeds per fruit decreased towards the centres of the blocks as a consequence of inferior pollination. Pollination of the trees in the inner rows was probably dependent on mixing of pollen from different cultivars occurring in hives that were 500–1000 m away from the orchards and on the further foraging trips of the bees. Flowers on trees that flowered poorly had less chance (about 50%) to be pollinated and become fruits than abuntdantly flowering trees. Irregular bearing was normal in border rows of the blocks, where the trees were well pollinated, whereas in central rows with less well pollinated trees cropping was much more regular. Number of flowers per tree was negatively correlated with total number of seeds in the previous year. A critical limit for regular bearing was about 5 to 6 thousand seeds per 100 cm2 of trunk cross section area. The use of pollination as a tool for regulation of fruit set is discussed. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
