ISHS Acta Horticulturae 484: Eucarpia Symposium on Fruit Breeding and Genetics
SELF-THINNING ABILITY IN JAPANESE PEAR |
| Authors: | T. Saito, Y. Sato, K. Abe, O. Terai, K. Kotobuki |
| Keywords: | Pyrus pyrifolia, fruit quality |
| Abstract:
In Japan, fruit thinning for Japanese pear is essential to make fruits marketable, but it is very labour-intensive. In order to reduce fruit thinning work, breeding of self-thinning cultivars, which drop some of their fruitlets naturally to leave a small number in each cluster soon after blooming, is required. The number of fruitlets in each cluster after natural fruit drop 30 days from full bloom, and the effects of flower removal and fruit thinning on fruit quality, was investigated in five Japanese pear cultivars. The number of flowers at the time of full blossom on 162–29 (‘Niitaka’ x ‘Hosui’), ‘Niitaka’, ‘Chojuro’, ‘Kosui’ and ‘Hogetsu’ were 7.7, 7.2, 8.9, 8.3 and 7.4 respectively. At that time, artificial pollination was carried out. Thirty days after pollination, the number of fruitlets of 162–29, ‘Niitaka’ and ‘Chojuro’ were 3.1, 3.6, and 3.8, while those of Kosui and Hogetsu were 5.6 and 5.5 respectively. It seems that 162–29, ‘Niitaka’ and ‘Chojuro’ have a ‘self-thinning ability’. The effects of flower removal and fruit thinning on fruit quality were not clear. Fruit quality of 162–29 was good, for it is soft, crisp and very juicy; ‘Niitaka’ had medium quality fruit; and ‘Chojuro’ quality was poor with hard flesh. Thus, 162–29 appeared the best choice for breeding of self-thinning cultivars. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
