Search results for "Alternate bearing"
showing 9 items of 9 documents
Seasonal dynamics of photosynthesis and total carbon gain in bearing and nonbearing pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) shoots
2018
Seasonal changes in leaf gas exchange, assimilation response to light and leaf area were monitored in bearing and nonbearing pistachio shoots. Shoot bearing status did not directly affect leaf photosynthetic rate. However, photosynthetic light-response curves strongly varied during the season demonstrating the dominant effect of the treeâs seasonal phenology on assimilation. Early in the season low photosynthetic rates were associated with high rates of dark respiration indicating limited photosynthesis in the young leaves. As leaves matured, dark respiration decreased and assimilation reached maximum values. Photosynthetic efficiency was strongly reduced late in the season due to leaf ag…
RNA-Seq analysis to investigate alternate bearing mechanism in Pistacia vera L
2018
Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) production suffers a high level of alternate bearing. The mechanism underlying this negative phenomenon is different from other species, such as apple and olive. Pistachio produces a high number of inflorescence buds every year that in heavy cropping trees (“ON”) mostly fall during the kernel development phase, which occurs in July-August. Primary metabolites (i.e., carbohydrates) play a key role in the signaling related to inflorescence bud abscission. In this work, RNA-Seq was used as a tool to investigate transcriptome of inflorescence buds and fruits, sampled from branches with low (“OFF”) and high (“ON”) crop load. Reference based RNA-Seq analysis using Ara…
Horticultural management of Italian Pistachio orchard systems: current limitations and future prospective
2019
Pistachio production and consumption have strongly increased in the last years due to its capability to grow under limiting conditions, the profitability of this nut in the market and its well claimed healthy properties. The Sicilian pistachio industry is diminutive in comparison to big producing countries such as California and Iran. Its economical profitability is limited by a low productivity per surface area, strong alternate bearing, and long unproductive period, mainly associated with the lack of implementation of innovative management practices. This “traditional” agricultural system is surviving in a highly competitive international market thanks to the unique organoleptic profile o…
Modeling seasonal branch carbon dynamics in pistachio as a function of crop load
2022
A simplified model for the prediction of carbon balance was developed to elucidate the seasonal trend of sink-source relationships in bearing and non-bearing pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) branches. Seasonal changes in growth rate of vegetative (leaf and shoot) and reproductive (infructescence) organs were monitored in branches of mature rainfed pistachio trees during the entire growing season (April–September). Simulations from the model were used to gain understanding of the implications of crop load on branch carbon (C) depletion and alternate bearing. Results showed that the pistachio branch was energetically able to sustain up to two infructescences (∼28 fruits) having a slightly positiv…
Transcriptome Analysis of Pistacia vera Inflorescence Buds in Bearing and Non-Bearing Shoots Reveals the Molecular Mechanism Causing Premature Flower…
2020
The alteration of heavy (&ldquo
A Complex Gene Network Mediated by Ethylene Signal Transduction TFs Defines the Flower Induction and Differentiation in Olea europaea L.
2021
The olive tree (Olea europaea L.) is a typical Mediterranean crop, important for olive and oil production. The high tendency to bear fruits in an uneven manner, defined as irregular or alternate bearing, results in a significant economic impact for the high losses in olives and oil production. Buds from heavy loaded (‘ON’) and unloaded (‘OFF’) branches of a unique olive tree were collected in July and the next March to compare the transcriptomic profiles and get deep insight into the molecular mechanisms regulating floral induction and differentiation. A wide set of DEGs related to ethylene TFs and to hormonal, sugar, and phenylpropanoid pathways was identified in buds collected from ‘OFF’ …
Transcriptomic Analysis of the Pistacia vera (L.) Fruits Enable the Identification of Genes and Hormone-Related Gene Linked to Inflorescence Bud Absc…
2021
Pistacia vera (L.) is an alternate bearing species. The tree produces axillary inflorescence buds every year. Still, they abscise in “ON” overloaded shoots, causing a limited production in the following “OFF” year, causing a significant and unfavorable production fluctuation. In this work, we carried out de novo discovery and transcriptomic analysis in fruits of “ON” and “OFF” shoots of the cultivar Bianca. We also investigated whether the fruit signaling pathway and hormone biosynthesis directly or indirectly linked to the premature fall of the inflorescence buds causing alternate bearing. We identified 1536 differentially expressed genes (DE…
A carbon budget model to predict branch carbohydrate deficiencies as a function of water stress and crop load in pistachio (Pistacia veraL.)
2018
The effect of irrigation and crop load on alternate bearing was studied in pistachio tree using a “branch carbon budget model” developed to calculate branch carbohydrate balance. Experiences were conducted in Sicily (37°26’N, 14°03’E, 360 m a.s.l.) on female trees of ‘Bianca’. Two treatments were applied: rainfed (T0) and 100 mm of irrigation (T100). At 29, 44, 65, 86, 103 and 121 DAFB, on one fully expanded leaf selected on three trees per treatment, were monitored leaf gas exchanges. At 15 days interval, three branches treatment-1 were excised and, in the lab, the following parameters were measured: total photosynthetically active leaf surface; number of leaves, fruits, shoot fresh weight…
Citrus History, Taxonomy, Breeding, and Fruit Quality
2019
In May, every year since 1857, in the great park of Sans-Souci in Potsdam just outside Berlin—a park begun in 1745 by Emperor Frederick II of Hohenzollern and expanded a century later by Frederick William IV—the doors of the great Orangerie open in and a Renaissance-style garden called Sizilianischer Garten is set up. On horse-drawn carriages,large olive and citrus trees are brought outdoors, and are then raised in masters. For the young European who, in the second half of the 18th century and in the first decades of the following, traveled to Italy to see and study Renaissance culture and the remains of Greek civilization, the citrus species and fruits and groves of southern Italy became t…