ISHS Acta Horticulturae 596: VIII International Symposium on Pear
EFFECT OF CROPLOAD IN PREVIOUS YEAR ON FRUIT SIZE OF PEAR CULTIVAR CLARA FRIJS |
| Author: | M. Bertelsen |
| Keywords: | Pyrus communis, fruit density, crop load, fruit size, fruit colour |
| Abstract:
During two years, the effects of the previous season’s crop load on fruit size and fruit quality were studied on pear trees (Pyrus cummunis L. cultivar Clara Frijs) that had cropped between 0 and 5.5 fruits per trunk cross-sectional area. Approximately 50 days after full bloom all trees were thinned to the same fruit density employing a thinning practise that allowed an equal percentage of single, double and triplet fruits on the tree. There was no marked effect on fruit size over a broad range of low to medium fruit densities the year before, but at densities around 4 fruits/TCA fruit weight started to drop off significantly. The proportion of green fruit decreased in response to a heavy crop load the previous year and conversely the amount of yellow, and less desirable, fruits increased. | |
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