6533b82afe1ef96bd128c1af

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Planting density, above-ground dry-matter partitioning and fruit quality in greenhouse-grown 'Flordaprince' peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) trees trained to 'free-standing Tatura'

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SummaryThe effect of planting density on yield, fruit quality and above-ground dry-matter partitioning into vegetative and reproductive organs of six year old peach trees was investigated in Sicily on the very early-ripening cv Flordaprince in greenhouse. Increasing the number of trees per hectare from 1500 to 5000 significantly reduced total above-ground dry matter, trunk cross-sectional area and total leaf area. Differences in growth did not result in substantial modifications in the source-sink relationships between the vegetative and the reproductive organs of the above-ground part of the tree, as shown by the lack of statistical differences in dry-matter partitioning into fruit, leaves, shoots, one year old wood and trunk 1 branches among the treatments. Yield and number of fruits per tree diminished as planting density increased though, due to the number of trees per ha, differences in terms of yield per unit of soil surface area were not significant. Yield was on average 21.0.t per ha, a noteworthy...