Alternative budburst inducers for kiwifruit vines grown in an organic system

Léo Omar Duarte Marques,Rodrigo Fernandes Dos Santos,Luis Henrique Konzen,Marcelo Barbosa Malgarim,Carlos Roberto Martins,Paulo Mello-Farias

doi:10.1590/0100-29452021313

Léo Omar Duarte Marques, Rodrigo Fernandes Dos Santos + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0100-29452021313

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Abstract

Abstract Lack of budburst inducers is a major problem in organic production of temperate fruits. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of alternative budburst inducers on kiwifruit vines of cultivar Bruno grown in an orchard in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil. Inducers efficiency was investigated in both 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons. The first season comprised of ten treatments, which used garlic extract at different concentrations, both, associated with and without mineral oil; Welsh onion extract at different concentrations, both associated with and without mineral oil; just mineral oil; and control (no application). In the second season, evaluation was carried out ith treatments that performed well in the first season, garlic extract atdifferent concentrations associated with mineral oil, just mineral oil and control. The followingvariables were evaluated: budburst percentage, phenology (budburst and flowering), fruit set, number of fruit/plant, fruit mass/ plant, estimate production, mean mass, fruit length and diameter. Results showed that 10% garlic extract + 2% mineral oil induced the highest budburst percentages in both seasons; the position of buds on branches influences budburst; apical buds exhibit the highest budburst percentage; 15% garlic extract causes phytotoxicity to buds; and Welsh onion extract is inefficient to induce budburst.

Highlights

Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa), which is called ‘the king of fruit’ in some countries due to its high content of vitamin C, is native to the Yangtze River region in China, even though its improvement and commercial planting began in New Zealand (ZHANG et al, 2015)
The authors concluded that the amount of product used had not been enough, while Carvalho et al (2016) obtained excellent budburst results in treatments that used garlic extract (GE) as a budburst inducer in fine grape vines in Lavras, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. These results show the need for in-depth studies on the effects of these compounds on dormancy breaking in other regions and crops, such as kiwifruit vines grown in regions with mild winters
In the 2016-2017 season, treatments that had the highest percentage of budburst were 10% garlic extract (10% GE) + 2% mineral oil (MO) and 10% GE, which led to 77.08% and 73.96% of final budburst, respectively (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa), which is called ‘the king of fruit’ in some countries due to its high content of vitamin C, is native to the Yangtze River region in China, even though its improvement and commercial planting began in New Zealand (ZHANG et al, 2015). Kiwifruit has great social and economic importance in several countries, such as New Zealand, Italy and Chile, because they export part of their production, which employs much workforce (HUANG et al, 2013; ZHANG et al, 2015). The fact that one of Brazil’s main suppliers has had problems in its production worries the agricultural sector because kiwifruit offer may keep decreasing and prices may increase. Further studies are fundamental to broaden kiwifruit production areas in Brazil

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