Biologia plantarum 60:394-400, 2016 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-015-0581-3

Effect of crop load on phytohormones, sugars, and biennial bearing in apple trees

G. Samuolienė1,*, A. Čeidaitė1, R. Sirtautas1, P. Duchovskis1, D. Kviklys1
1 Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Institute of Horticulture, Babtai, Lithuania

The amount and composition of phytohormones, sugars, and some other leaf characteristics depending on a crop load were evaluated in apple (Malus domestica Borkh. cv. Ligol grafted on P 60 rootstock) trees in order to prevent biennial bearing. The crop load was adjusted to 12 (control, unthinned), 8, 4, and 0 (non-fruiting) inflorescences (or fruits) per cm2 of trunk cross-sectional area (TCSA). Inflorescences were removed in May before flowering. Phytohormones were analyzed in axillary buds and leaves in September. Results show that, in contrast to the unthinned trees, thinning to 4 fruits cm-2(TCSA) resulted in a significant decrease of yield per tree, but a significant increase of fruit mass, return bloom, and leaf area. The heavy crop load resulted in suppressed bloom in the following year. Composition and content of phytohormones was changed considerably. Moreover, thinning resulted in an increased hexose accumulation. Such data suggest that flowering inhibition depended on the phytohormones that were exported to buds and on sugar-hormone signalling cross-talk.

Keywords: abscisic acid; auxins; chlorophylls; gibberellins; hexoses; jasmonic acid; leaf area; sucrose; zeatin
Subjects: crop load; abscisic acid; auxins; gibberelins; jasmonic acid; cytokinin; chlorophyll; sugars; apple tree
Species: Malus domestica

Received: June 16, 2015; Revised: October 13, 2015; Accepted: October 27, 2015; Published: June 1, 2016Show citation

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Samuolienė, G., Čeidaitė, A., Sirtautas, R., Duchovskis, P., & Kviklys, D. (2016). Effect of crop load on phytohormones, sugars, and biennial bearing in apple trees. Biologia plantarum, 60(2), 394-400. doi: 10.1007/s10535-015-0581-3.
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