Abstract
This study was carried out to investigate the effect of lime sulfur and octyl alcohol treatments on the fruit set and fruit quality of ‘Fuji’ apples. Lime sulfur (Bé 22°) was sprayed twice at 2 and 3 days after the central flower’s full bloom (CFFB). Octyl alcohol (81%) was applied at 1 day (1D), 2 days (2D), or 3 days (3D) after CFFB in ‘Fuji/M.9' trees. The number of fruits per cluster in terminal flowers (TF) was 3.71 for the control and 1.85 for the octyl alcohol 2D treatment, the number in lateral flowers (LF) were very low - 0.96 and 1.01 for the octyl alcohol 2D and 3D treatments, respectively- compared with untreated (3.27). The percentage of central fruit per cluster was 82.3% in the TF and 63.8% in the LF for the control, and 60.6% in the TF and 33.9% in the LF for the octyl alcohol 2D treatment. Furthermore, the rate of non-fruit set per cluster in the TF was 0.7% for the control and 19.7% for the octyl alcohol 2D treatment. Single fruit rate per cluster in the TF was very low for the control but higher in the octyl alcohol 2D treatment. In addition, the percentage of clusters with three or more than four fruits per cluster was 80.3% for the control, but lower for the octyl alcohol 2D treatment. There was no difference in flower bud differentiation rate and fruit quality between the control and octyl alcohol treatments. Overall, the results indicated that octyl alcohol treatment positively affected flower thinning compared with the control.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 455-462 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Horticultural Science and Technology |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2019 |
Keywords
- Centeral fruit
- Flower bud differentiation
- Flower thinner
- Lateral flower
- Terminal flower