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Some important growing characteristics of apple and apricot cultivars in two fruit growing regions in Romania
51-56.Views:137The aim of this study was to determine some important growing characteristics of 5 resistant apple (Rajka, Rubinola, Topaz, Otawa and Goldstar) and 7 apricot (NJA 19, Goldrich, Harcot, Venus, Comando, Olimp, Cea mai buna de Ungaria) cultivars in two fruit growing regions in Romania from 2000 to 2003. Height of the apple trees (4-year-old tree) ranged between 1.96 m (cv. Topaz) and 2.39 m (cv. Rubinola). Diameter of the crown ranged from 0.96 m (cv. Goldstar) to 1.12 cm (cv. Rajka). The trunk diameter ranged from 3.5 cm (cv. Goldstar) to 5.0 cm (cv. Rajka). The surface of the trunk section was the lowest for cv. Goldstar (9.7 cm') and the largest for cv. Rajka (19.6 cm). Height of the apricot trees (4 years old tree) ranged between 2.69 m (cv. Venus) and 3.38 m (cv. NJA - 19). Diameter of the crown ranged from 2.59 m (cv. Comandor) to 2.77 m (cv. Cea mai buna de Ungaria). The trunk diameter ranged from 9.54 cm (cv. Goldrich) to 13.30 cm (cv. NJA - 19). Length of annual branches was the lowest for cv. Goldrich (45.1 cm) and the highest for cv. NJA - 19 (83.8 cm). Bud swelling of apricot trees began on 8 March for cv. NJA - 19 and ended on 11 March for the control cultivar (Cea mai buna de Ungaria). The blooming started on 16 March for cv. NJA - 19 and 27 Mach for the control cultivar. Duration of fruit growth was 89 days for cv. NJA - 19 and 128 days for cv. Comandor. When the temperature decreased to 1.5 °C (in 2001), percentage of viable pollen grains ranged between 48.86 % (cv. Olimp) and 91.57 % (cv. Venus). The germinating grains ranged from 31 % (cv. Olimp) to 90 % (cv. Harcot). Free pollination was the lowest for cv. NJA - 19 (29 %) and the highest for cv. Harcot (41%), while self-pollination ranged between 6 (cv. Olimp) and 11 % (cvs. Comondor and Harcot). Apple yield ranged from 16.65 t/ha (cv. Otawa) to 24.35 t/ha (cv. Rajka) and the differences varied from 4.45 t/ha to - 3.25 t/ha compared to the control varieties. Apricot yield ranged from 11.47 kg/ tree or 9.53 t/ha (cv. Cea mai buna de Ungaria), to 38.83 kg/tree or 27.34 t/ha (cv. Olimp) and the differences varied from 3 t/ha to 17 t/ha compared to the control varieties. Apple fruit weight ranged from 162 g (cv. Otawa) to 222 g (cv. Goldstar) and apricot fruit weight from 42.52 g (cv. Goldrich) to 68.38 g (cv. Comandor). Color, taste and aroma were very specific to cultivars.
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A preliminary study on some features of two new resistant apple cultivars in a multi-row planting system
11-14.Views:290The aim of this work was to report preliminary results on some features of two new resistant apple cultivars (cvs. ‘Galiwa’ and ‘Story Inored’) in multi-row system in the early bearing years of the orchard. Trees were planted in spring of 2015 in double row design (3.5 m+1.4 m x 1.0 m) with planting density of 5357 tree/ha. According to our results cv. ‘Story Inored’ presented more vigorous growth, than cv. ‘Galiwa’. Trees of cv. ‘Story Inored’ reached 2.7 m in the third year, but cv. ‘Galiwa’ could reach only 1.95 meter. Due to late spring frost 100% yield loss was observed in the second year. In 2017 cv. ‘Galiwa’ produced 5.3 kg/tree (25 fruit/tree), while cv. ‘Story Inored’ presented 7.7 kg/tree (50 fruit/tree). Average yield was 28.4 t/ha for cv. ‘Galiwa’, as ‘Story Inored’ reached 41.3 t/ha in the third year. Cultivar ‘Galiwa’ reached the required fruit size (79.1 mm), but its coloration was weaker (43% fruit surface color). Cultivar ‘Story Inored’ can be described with smaller fruit size (69 mm) and higher percentage of surface color (93%).
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Growth and productivity of a young apple orchard at different spacing
23-27.Views:140Planting of new high density apple orchards showed an increasing tendency over the last ten years. Growers use in those orchards mainly dwarfing or semi dwarfing rootstocks. The spacing for those orchards is recommended based on Dutch and German experiences; however, the optimization of orchard planting density as a key factor for successful orchard management should consider the local climate conditions. An experimental orchard was planted in 2000 to investigate the effect of spacing on three dwarfing rootstocks with two apple cultivars `Jonica' and 'Gala Must'. We compared 8 planting densities (1270-3704 tree/ha) and two tree shapes (slender spindle and vertical axis). In this paper the data of the first five years' growth and bearing are presented. After 4 years, the decreasing tree densities caused reduced trunk cross sectional area. Tree density had a significant positive effect on cumulative yield per hectare. From the examined rootstocks, M.9 Burgmer 984 gave the smallest canopy for both cultivars. The trees on M.9 T.337 and on Jork 9 rootstocks have stronger growth. The light interception was measured under the canopy by AccuPAR (Decagon Devices Inc.'s).
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Micro area based spatial distribution of apple scab in an organic apple orchard
21-23.Views:200In this study, the objective was to report a two-year investigation on micro area based spatial distribution of apple scab in an organic apple orchard. Results showed that number of symptomatic plant part ranged between 587 and 623 on leaf and between 46 and 78 on fruit for an individual tree. Number of asymptomatic plant part ranged between 1034 and 1321 on leaf and between 119 and 193 on fruit. Disease incidence ranged between 35 and 40% on leaf and between 27 and 33% on fruit. Disease aggregation index ranged between 0.115 and 0.298 on leaf and between 0.117 and 0.221 on fruit. Three of the four trees showed significant within canopy aggregation of disease for leaf apple scab symptoms in both years. For fruit apple scab, two of the four trees showed significant random patterns in both years.
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Interaction of nutrient supply and crop load of apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh.)
33-35.Views:147Long term fertilisation trials were combined with storage experiments with 'Jonathan' apple trees and fruits to study influence of tree nutrition on quantity and quality of crop. The site of experiments is a typical Carpathian-basin environment with loamy silt soil, high lime content and arid summers. Conclusions has been drown from six years' set of data. Augmented levels of soil fertilisation increased cropping capacity of apple trees, however, the fruit load has not met with cropping capacity in every year. More the def cit came into view in crop load, less the fruit quality resulted in. The deficit in cropping capacity, however, could not have been determined with simple rates as fruit weight per trunk circumference or similar. Better determination was obtained where foliar nutrient contents were correlated to crop per tree figures. In general terms, the N and Ca content in leaves increased with yields when K and P content formulated reciprocally. When storage quality of 'Jonathan' apple fruits were related to crop load (kg/tree), influence of crop deficit became visible. As the crop load and foliar nutrient levels interacted, the fruit quality (number of disordered apples after 6 month of storage) subjected of both physiological phenomena. Higher determination degree were obtained when crop load was assessed together with single or multiple foliar analysis data.
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Specialities of the vegetation start and level of primary fruit set affect fruit quality
17-22.Views:163Thinning is a h ighly crucial point of the apple production technology. According to results of numerous studies the earliest thinning is deemed to have the best amending effects. There can be considerable difference between trees of the same cul tivar and age in a plantation in respect to their flowering, in the numbers of fruits set and also in their canopy volume. Thus it can be crucial -just l ike in the case of pruning- to establish a fruit thinni ng su i ted for specif ic characteristics of actual trees. This experiment was established to examine how does primary fruit set (fruit load before thinning) and further on specific (fruit/TCS cm2) and absolute (fruit/tree) fruit-load of the trees affect quality attri butes at harvest. Our experiment was establ ished in a plantation on medium-tight loamy soil in north-east of Hungary. Harvest date was determined w ith the joint observation of the calendar date, starch-index, flesh firmness, background colour and fruit weight. Three fruit-load levels were established based on local experience and on data of several years, I Ot/ha lower and higher besides the advised optimum yield in the same orchard with slender-spindle shaped 'Gala must' cultivar standing on M9 rootstock in 1m x 3,8 m spacing. In the establishment of the 15, 25 and 35t/ha fruit-load levels on 20-20 apple trees total number of fruits set was counted at each tree. After this number of apples due to be removed was defined using an objective index on the basis of trunk cross sections (fruit/TCScm2) (Lafer, 1999). The following attributes were measured: weight (g), flesh firmness (lb/cm2) total soluble solid content (Brix %) and total titrate-able acid content (g/J).From the data on sugar and acid content quality index (Pomona value) was determined (Thialult, 1970). We could ascertain, that in an orchard, of the same aged but in concern to trunk cross sections somewhat different trees besides the specific index (apple/TCS cm2 the absolute fruit load (fruit/tree) can also be an important data, that has considerable effect on the internal quality. Secondly we could observe, that higher level of fruit load before thinning (primary fruit set) negatively affects quality index of the apples irrespective of the specific fruit load level (fruit/cm2 TCS) set later. Results underlines necessity of the earliest chemical thinn ing.
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Evaluation of crop yield and fruit quality in organic apple production
7-10.Views:157In this study, crop yield and fruit quality parameters (soluble solid concentration, sugar, total acid, and vitamin C content) of 15 apple cultivars including old, resistant and currently grown cultivars. The highest fruit yield among all 15 cultivars was obtained on CV. Jonagold with 15.5 kg/tree, while the lowest yield was measured on the resistant cultivar Reanda with 8.1 kg/tree. There were no significant differences among the cultivars in fruit diameter ranging from 70 mm in the case of cv. Húsvéti rozmaring to 82 mm for cv. Mutsu. Values of soluble solids concentration of the cultivars varied between 15.5% for cv. Téli Banán and 19.2% for cv. Renora. Sugar content values showed a similar tendency to soluble solids content. The highest and lowest total sugar content was observed on cvs. Jonagold and Renora and cv. Retina with 17% and 12.4%, respectively. Total acid content values ranged between 0.18% and 0.53% for cvs. Jonagold and Remo, respectively. Values of vitamin C content for the 15 apple cultivars varied between 2 mg% and 4 mg% for cv. Retina and cv. Mutsu, respectively.
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Cooling irrigation as a powerful method for microclimate modification in apple plantation
33-37.Views:244Irrigation in some countries is a horticultural practice mainly used only to supply water. At the same time the use of microsprinklers have a powerful influence on the changes of temperature in orchards. When the air’s temperature is high (about 20 °C or higher) the evaporative cooling irrigation significantly decreases the plants’ surface temperature and air temperature. The cooling effect is stronger when the air is dryer. By using cooling irrigation regularly, canopy temperature can be decreased so that the beginning of blooming can be delayed. Also if the blooming is early and frost probability is high, serious damages can happen in orchards. The beneficial effect of cooling irrigation is the temperature reduction and frost protection. InMarch 2010, one month earlier than the expected blooming an irrigation system was established to produce anti-frost treatment and regulate the micro-climate of a Gala apple orchard which belongs to the University of Debrecen (Hungary). The objective of sprinklers was to cool the air by increasing water evaporation and relative humidity. The position of the micro-sprinklers was planned in three levels (around the tree trunks, a few cm near to the soil surface, in the crown region and above the crown, a half meter higher). The results showed that the water sprayed in the orchard by micro-jets influenced decisively the temperature of the plantation. At higher temperatures (around 20 °C), the drop of temperature may attain 5–7 °C. A low relative humidity of the air may increase the relative effect. When water was applied at intervals of 15 minutes for ten times a day from 8 am to 18 pm, the air, flowers and bud’s surface temperature could be kept low.At certain days when the temperature was higher than 10 °C, irrigation was used at night time in similar 15 minutes intervals, from 18 pm and 6 am. The beginning of bloom could be delayed for more than ten days. The Gala apple variety blooming dynamics was characterized by a logistic curve in the treated as well as in the control plot. In the treated plot, the curve was steeper than in the control one in spite of the equal temperatures measured in the plots. Under Hungarian climatic conditions, the method was successfully used to delay blooming dates. The main result was the diminution of the frost damage in the spring that assured apple yields.
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The impact of location, row direction, plant density and rootstock on the sunburn damage of apple cultivars
19-30.Views:215The effect of row direction (N-S, E-W), plant density (conventional and intensive) and rootstock (M9, MM106 and crab apple) on the sensitivity of 41 apple cultivars to sunburn injury was studied at 6 locations (Derecske, Kálmánáaza, Nagykutas, Nagylapos, Siófok, Tornyospálca).
During the observations the cultivars had rootstock-specific properties in respect of sunburn-susceptibility. Accordingly, the injury was decreased in the order: M9, MM106 and seedling rootstocks. The differences in sensitivity depend on the canopy of trees, caused finally by the growing vigour of rootstocks. Accordingly, the highest value of sunburn injury was observed on M9 rootstock, because this rootstock has a dwarfing effect upon the scion cultivars. Thus, vegetative area of these trees grow very slowly and the foliage is not enough compact to protect the fruit from solar radiation. The size and density of the foliage increased in the order: M9, MM 106 and crab apple seedling as rootstock. Moreover, relationships were demonstrated between the diameter of upper part of the crown, the leaf area, the number of fruits per tree and the injury of sunburn.
Authors categorized the cultivars in respect of values of sunburn incidence: 1. „Not sensitive", II. „Moderately sensitive" and HI. „Strongly sensitive" categories were constituted. Generally, Topaz and Gala cultivars showed low damage (or were free from symptoms), in contrast to this, Golden mutants suffered relatively much. The most sensitive cultivar was Jonica on all the three rootstocks. We searched for relationship between the fruit quality parameters and the frequency of sunburn. Significant correlation was found in the cases of fruit size and the extent of cover-colour. The latter is interpreted with the fact that the best coloured fruits are found on the periphery of crown as a consequence of more intense irradiation.
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Effect of nitrogen dressings to Jonathan apple trees in a long-term experiment
128-130.Views:124During the last three decades, diverse effects of nitrogen application on the performance of apple trees were studied in field and pot experiments at the Experimental Station of University of Horticulture and Food Industry. The basic experiment, using different rates of nitrogen in kg/ha (check, N-50; N-100; N-200; N-400; and N-800), was carried out for a period of 13 years, thus including almost the whole bearing period of Jonathan apple trees on M.9 rootstocks.
The need of nitrogen in apple orchards on M.9 rootstock and soils with moderate humus content can be decreased considerably. Nitrogen application significantly increased leaf nitrogen and magnesium, but depressed leaf phosphorus and potassium content. With increasing doses of nitrogen fruit nitrogen content significantly increased and parallelly phosphorus and potassium content decreased. Even the lowest rate of nitrogen application decreased the red colouration of fruits. A direct negative correlation between nitrogen fertilzation and fruit firmness was not proved. No close and significant correlation between fruit quality parameters and the nitrogen content in leaves, sampled at different dates, was revealed.
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Recent findings of the tree fruit self-incompatibility studies
7-15.Views:180This review endeavours to collect all recent and substantial contributions to the quickly deepening fields of tree fruit self-incompatibility studies and hence updating previously published reviews. Studies carried out to discover the molecular basis of gametophytic self-incompatibility are summarized and a newly described model for the solanaceous plants is also outlined. We describe recent findings in all economically important fruit tree crops involving apple, European pear, sweet and sour cherries, almond, Japanese plum, sloe, Japanese apricot, European apricot and peach. Additional DNA sequences are now available for both the pistil and pollen component genes in several species and their molecular, evolutionary or economic implications are discussed in the light of the fruit setting behaviour.
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Evaluation of generative accomplishment of new apple cultivars in Hungary
11-15Views:251In a two year study, 14 new apple cultivars (cvs ’Gala Venus Fengal’, ’Gala Decarli-Fendeca’, ’Galaval’, ’Jugala’, ’Gala Schnitzer (S) Schniga’, ’Red Cap Valtod (S)’, ’Early Red One’, ’Jeromine’, ’Crimson Crisp (Co-op 39)’, ’Red Topaz’, ’Wilton’s Red Jonaprince’, ’Red Idared’, ’Fuji September Wonder’ and club cultivar) were studied in Eastern Hungary at Nyírbátor. The following parameters were measured: trunk cross sectional area (cm2), harvest time with yield (date, kg/tree, number/tree), fruit size (mm), fruit surface color (%), and color intensity of the fruit surface (1-5). According to our two year assessments regarding, the best generative accomplishment was achieved for the cvs ‘Gala’ sorts trained to slender spindle and the cv ‘Red Jonaprince’ trained to super spindle. According to the trunk cross sectional area the ‘Gala’ sport trained to slender spindle showed the strongest growth among the 4 years old trees, while the cv ‘Fuji SW’ and the cv ‘Jeromine’ presented lower vegetative accomplishment. The ripening time of the cultivars started at the end of August and finished at the beginning of October. ‘Gala’ mutants trained to slender spindle provided the highest yields. Fruit size of all cultivars reached the market required standard, however, cvs ‘Red Jonaprince’ and ‘Red Idared’ produced large fruits over 90 mm. The fruit size of the ‘Gala’ sort was 72–75 mm. Most of the cultivars showed high fruit surface color and color intensity.
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The effect of summer pruning on solar radiation conditions in apple orchards
87-91.Views:223The aim of this study was to measure the solar radiation conditions in the tree and around the tree of pruned (summer pruning) and unpruned trees in an intensive apple orchard. When observing the daily trend of global radiation measured, there was a great reduction at midday hours due to the shadowing effect of the canopy. The reduction reached 70-75% before pruning, while after pruning it was only 20-25%. The relative radiation supply of the canopy space on cloudy days in the morning and late afternoon hours was higher than that of the sunny days. Mean differences between the day and night temperature reduced greatly in the period of intensive fruit colouration in August and September both in the plant stock and outside the plant stock.
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Vegetative and generative properties of two apple cultivars ‘Galiwa’ and ‘Story Inored’ in a multi-row system
34-38.Views:208In a five-year (2015-2019) study, some vegetative and generative peculiarities of two resistant apple cultivars (‘Galiwa’ and ‘Story Inored’) were assessed in a young orchard with a multi-row training system. Based on our research, cv. ‘Galiwa’ showed significantly weaker growth, than cv. ‘Story Inored’, which was manifested in lower trunk cross sectional area (TCSA) and lower tree height. Cultivar ‘Story Inored’ reached the optimal tree height (3.1 m) at the age of four, but cv. ‘Galiwa’ could not achieve it neither in five-year-old trees (2.7 m). Cultivar ‘Galiwa’ showed 28.4-32.6 t/ha calculated average yield, while cv. ‘Story Inored’ produced 41.3-102.7 t/ha. Larger fruit size was found in cv. ‘Galiwa’ (72.7-79.1 mm) and smaller in cv. ‘Story Inored’ (66.9-69.2 mm). The fruit surface color was under 50% for cv. ‘Galiwa’ (43-49%), meanwhile cv. ‘Story Inored’ reached higher coloration (87-93%) and an excellent color intensity (4.8-5.0). Shape of cv. ‘Galiwa’ fruits was rather flat, than globular (0.83-0.84 shape index), as cv. ‘Story Inored’ was more elongated (0.95-1.00 shape index).
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Spatial evaluation of the apple trees-soil environment
53-56.Views:190Remote sensing of fruit tree micro environment plays a major role in both horticultural and soil mapping applications. In frame this study presented a novel method to survey the spatial distribution of physical and water management properties of soils. The examinations were carried out at an intensive experimental apple orchard in Debrecen-Pallag. The examination site is the part of the Experimental Pomology plantation of the University of Debrecen, Faculty of Agronomy. Particle-size distribution, plasticity according to Arany, metal content by XRF spectrometry, soil physical parameters, acidity, electric conductivity of soils, were measured to obtain appropriate information on the physical properties of the soil. Based on the results, the accurate spatial positions of those sites were characterized where soil loosening should be implemented in 0,3–0,4 m depth. Spatially precise soil physical barriers were determined for applied micro-irrigation system. Based on the micro-element content and pH, the accurate spatial positions of those sites were selected where melioration and micronutrient fertilization is needed. These detailed data sources also applied to calibrate the applied airborne hyperspectral images to extend spatially these point based information.
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Analyses of temporal dynamics of brown rot development on fruit in organic apple production
97-100.Views:169In a two-year study, yield loss and temporal dynamics of brown rot development caused by Monilinia fructigena (Aderh. & Ruhl.) Honey were quantified and analysed in two organic apple orchards (Debrecen—Pallag and Debrecen—Józsa). The first infected fruits were observed at the beginning of August in both years and both locations, except for one occasion when the first infected fruit was found at the end of July. Temporal disease development was continuous up to harvest time in both years and locations. In the two years, pre-harvest yield loss on the trees amounted between 8.9% and 9.3% at Debrecen-Pallag and between 9.7% and 10.8% at Debrecen—Jozsa by fruit harvest. Incidence of infected fruits on the orchard floor ranged from 32.4% to 43.2% and from 53.3% to 61.9%, at Debrecen—Pallag and Debrecen—Józsa, respectively, by fruit harvest. Analyses of temporal disease progress showed that the best-fitted mathematical function was the power function in both orchards and years. Both parameters of the power function clearly demonstrated that incidence of brown rot on fruit increased faster on the orchard floor than on the tree. Moreover, the disease increase was faster at Debrecen—Józsa in most cases than at Debrecen—Pallag. Our results indicated that the strategy of disease management, the ripeness of the fruit and the presence of a wounding agent played an important role in the yield loss and in the temporal development of fruit disease incidence caused by M. fructigena in organic apple orchards. Biological and practical implications of the results are discussed.
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Anatomical study of the bud union in „Chip" and „T" budded 'Jonagold' apple trees on MM 106 rootstock
27-29.Views:353The traditional methods for vegetative propagation of apple and its varieties are the T-budding, and the winter grafting, but this latter way is a difficult and expensive procedure.
In our experiment carried out in the Fruit Tree Nursery Soroksár, the healing process of chip- and T-budded apple trees 'Jonagold' on MM 106 rootstock was studied.
The budding (T- and Chip-) was made in the first week of August, samples for microscope examination were taken monthly after this time until leaf fall.
The investigated part of plants was made soft with 48 % HF (hydrogenfluoride), then cross and longitudinal section were made and examined by microscope.
Based on analysis of microscope pictures in case of Chip-budding, it was established, that development had started quickly after budding on the rootstock and scion too. But the callus originated almost entirely from the rootstock tissue as new parenchyma cells fills the gap between the two components of graft (scion and stock), becoming interlocked and allowing for some passage of water and nutrients between the stock and the scion. This quantity of callus in case of T budding was under the scion buds larger, than the Chip-budded unions, where the thickness of callus mass is uniformly thick round the chip. The large mass of callus pushes the scion bud outwards from the shoot axis, which later results in a larger shoot-curvature above the bud union.
Following this process on the Chip-budding it can be observed also, that a continuity of the cambium is established between bud and rootstock. Then the newly formed cambium started typical cambial activity, forming new xylem and phloem.
Later the callus begins to lignify, and it is completed within about 3 months after budding.
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Volumetric estimation of an intensive apple orchard with GIS
7-10Views:240Remote sensing instruments and methods have become widespread in all segments of agriculture and horticulture. Among the innovative development of remote sensing instruments, the 3D laser scanner is one of the newest technique, which overtop in the spatial data collection. Terrestrial laser scanning is an appropriate tool for identifying such biophysical parameters like the structure of trees and branches, growth of volume. Determination of these parameters are time consuming and complicated with traditional methods. The examination was carried out in the Study and Regional Research Farm of the University of Debrecen near Pallag. We used Leica ScanStation C10 terrestrial laser scanner to estimate volumetric properties of the intensive apple orchard. Two rows of the study area were surveyed, where the height and stem diameter of apple trees were measured with Geomagic Studio 12 GIS Demo Software. Based on the built-in algorithms, the volume of each tree were defined by the software. The measured and calculated data was correlated, and middle correlations were detected. Estimated volume results could be useful for further investigation such as CO2 fi xing, which is an important factor for ecological service of the plantation.
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Studies on the insect pollination of fruit tree species and on closely related topics in Hungary: a bibliography of research publications
157-161.Views:132In the past decades fruit production has become more and more intensive and so the interest towards the bee pollination of fruit trees has increased in Hungary. Thus insect pollination research has become more intensive in the eighties and in the nineties. Recently, high density fruit orchards are planted of dwarf trees at more and more farms in Hungary and these need highly controlled growing practices involving insect pollination, too. This is a new challenge of insect pollination research in Hungary. So it seems to be worth to compile a list on research publications having been appeared so far to create a basis to the ongoing new research. Besides papers strictly on the insect pollination of fruit trees publications on some closely related topics, first of all on the nectar production and on other flower characteristics of fruit tree cultivars that directly influence bee activity have also been included on the list.
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The effect of the limitation of insect pollination period on the fruit set and yield of temperate-zone fruit tree species
90-95.Views:141The duration of effective bee pollination period was limited by caging flowering branches for shorter or longer time in blooming fruit trees in a number of experiments during the past decades. In the case of self-sterile fruit species and cultivars (apples, pears, quinces, some plums, some sour cherries) even partial limitation of the effective duration of bee pollination period significantly reduced the fruit set and the yield. In the case of self-fertile apricots the effect of the total and also the influence of partial limitation of bee pollination period was the same as in the case of the mentioned self-sterile fruits. On the other hand, in the case of another self-fertile fruits (some plums, some sour cherries), the effect of partial limitation of bee pollination period was usually small, but complete (or incomplete but strong) limitation of be pollination usually resulted in a strong reduction of yield. This means that not only self-sterile but also self-fertile fruits clearly depend on insect (bee) pollination. This is because pollen dehiscence of anthers and the receptive period of stigmas do not overlap in time within the individual flowers. Stigmas in self-fertile trees, therefore, need pollen carried by bees from another flowers of the same tree (or compatible pollen from another trees). Accordingly, additional bee pollination (moving bee colonies to the orchards in flower) is needed to all kinds of temperate-zone fruit tree species when bee visitation of plantations is not abundant enough for some reasons.
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Sunburn assessment: A critical appraisal of methods and techniques for characterizing the damage to apple fruit
7-14.Views:306Many methods and techniques have been introduced for measuring alterations in the fruit and in its surrounding environment related to sunburn incidence. The research objectives, fruit materials and the environment to be evaluated dictate the methods to follow. These procedures are either non-destructive and involve techniques that allow us to track the course of sunburn development and related environmental parameters, or destructive and involve the removal of fruit from the tree for field/laboratory measurements. Techniques employed can be used for pre-symptomatic monitoring (before symptoms become visible) or characterizing the symptoms already present. The principles behind the measurements and their usefulness for sunburn assessments are discussed and critically evaluated in this review paper. Descriptions and evaluations of the methods and techniques were made in the following groups: 1. Thermal measurements; 2. Visual assessments; 3. Fruit quality measurements; 4. Measurements of physiological and biochemical alterations; and 5. Practical evaluation of sunburn damage. Thermal measurements involve methods tracking the ambient temperature and fruit surface temperature, and their relation to sunburn formation. Visual assessments cover all measuring techniques (skin color, chlorophyll fluorescence, radiation reflection, electron microscopy) that are able to detect changes on/in the fruit skin related to sunburn formation. Fruit quality measurements are used to point out differences in qualities (soluble solids, firmness, titratable acidity, and water content) between unaffected and sunburned areas of the fruit. The measurements of physiological and biochemical alterations (gas exchange, pigment analysis, enzyme activity, gene expression) give us a better insight to the mechanism of sunburn formation. Practical evaluations involve many procedures that are used by scientists to characterize the susceptibility of cultivars, evaluate protection technology, etc. For this purpose, the following methods are in use: expressing the percentage of the total fruit surface area affected by sunburn or the percentage of the total number of fruits damaged on the tree, or even a scale based on the severity of the symptoms occurred. All assessing methods and techniques described here have their pros and cons as well as their specific applicability, therefore any of these cannot be favored to use exclusively for assessing sunburn incidence. The combination of these techniques will be the best choice to meet a given research objective perfectly.
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The effect of spring frosts on the nectar production and the bee visitation of fruit trees
86-89.Views:150Fruit tree species suffered very strong spring frosts in 1997 in Hungary. This caused partial or total damages at buds and flowers depending on site and time of blooming. It was demonstrated at a number of experiments that frost and cold weather also strongly affected the nectar production of surviving flowers. No or very little amount of nectar was measured in flowers first of all of early blooming fruit tree species (apricot) but also of pear and apple in some places. In spite of this fact intensive honeybee visitation was detected in the flowers of fruit trees that suffered partial frost damage only at those sites where honeybee colonies were placed in or at the experimental plantations and the lack of sufficient amount of nectar did not affected bee behaviour seriously on fruit flowers. This means that bad nectar production failed to affect bee visitation of fruit trees definitely. The reason for this was the fact that not only fruit trees but another early bee plants (wild plants, too) suffered frost damage. Accordingly, in lack of forage bees intensively searched for food at blooming fruit trees with some living flowers. Consequently, there was an acceptable yield at those plantations where bud and flower damage was not complete. Accordingly, intensive bee visitation (that is moving additional bee colonies to overpopulate fruit orchards with honeybees) can be an effective tool to decrease or eliminate the detrimental effect of spring frost on the yield of fruit trees where bud or fruit damage is not too high.
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Effects of crop load on tree water use in apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.)
29-31.Views:117Sap flow rate measurements were carried out during two consecutive ('on' and 'off') years in an apple orchard cv. 'Florina' M.26 to analyse the effects of various crop load on tree water use. Sap flow rate was measured by thermal dissipation method in trunks of nine trees from June to the harvest. Crop load was between 0.2-9.0 fruits • cm -2 of trunk cross section area (equal to 0.5-35.0 fruits•m-2 of leaf area), trunk diameter varied between 4.7-8.7 cm.
Total leaf area was estimated by leaf counting or using shoot girth and leaf area relationship. In both years, fruit growth rate was determined by measuring diameter of 280 marked fruits with 7 days frequency. Fruit volume calculated as a function of fruit diameter based on a previously determined relationship.
Total leaf area of trees ranged from 4.4 to 19.5 m2 and it was closely related to trunk cross section area. At high crop load the fruit growth rate peaked in August with 0.51.tree-l.day-1 and the leaf area specific total fruit volume reached 61 m2 before the harvest.
There was a linear relationship between total leaf area and daily water use, while the leaf area specific water use was influenced by crop load rate. The relationship was described by piecewise linear regression with the breakpoint at crop load rate of 12 fruits•m2 of leaf area. At low crop load the slope of the fitted regression line was less than at high crop load rate.
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Effect of the environmentally friendly production systems on the vegetative characteristics of apple cultivars
11-14.Views:314In this study effect of the environmentally friendly production systems on the brunch cross sectional area of apple trees trained to free spindle canopy are presented based on the data of 39 cultivars. According to our results branch thickness of the apple cultivars located in the lower, middle and upper region of the tree are more homogenous in the integrated production system compared to the organic one. Therefore the severity of the annual maintain pruning must be necessarily more moderate in the integrated growing system, than in the organic production system.
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Experimental approach in apple tree nutrition
9-13.Views:123Authors present synthesis of experimental work, performed in the last decades, for better understanding nutritional behaviour of apple trees and related problems in fruit quality. There were evidences supporting possible deteriorating role of potassium in feeble physiological status of apples, if applied in excess. More intensive studies proved that higher potassium uptake into leaves and fruits might be also the result of increased sink power of individual fruits. Nevertheless early senescence of apples during storage and also sensibility to bitter pit were successfully related to the increased sink power of fruits, casual relations in excessive NPK fertilization, although increase in sink power need further investigations. Impaired weather conditions during early development of fruits, hostile orchard practices in pruning, thinning, irrigation and also unskilled application of growth regulators may also contribute in the enhancement of sink power and in weakened physiological status of apple fruits.