Abstract
This study was carried out in 2015 and 2016 to investigate the use of ethephon and mepiquat chloride for reduction of damage to flowering and fruit set caused by late spring frosts in Black Diamond plum. The single treatment of mepiquat chloride delayed full blooming by 5 days, while the ethephon treatment delayed blooming by 7 days. The interactive effect of the chemicals yielded more positive results in the delay of blooming, causing a delay of up to 11 days. An increase in fruit set was observed along with blooming. The fruit set percentage of the control was 4.18%, while it reached 21.28% with the combination of the chemicals. Combined or single applications of the chemicals resulted in a decrease in all phytochemical properties, except for vitamin C. In the control, total anthocyanin, total phenol, soluble solids content, and antioxidant capacity were 67.95 mg 100 mL-1, 1056.00 mg L-1, 19.68%, and 27.05 mmol L-1, respectively. In the treatment groups these values were reduced to 39.02 mg 100 mL-1, 854.90 mg L-1, 16.98%, and 21.32 mmol L-1, respectively. An ethephon treatment of 4000 ppm led to blighted branches and gummosis. The combined effect of higher mepiquat chloride (150 ppm) and lower ethephon (2000 ppm) doses are believed to contribute to reduction of damage caused by late spring frosts.
Highlights
Plums belong to the subgenus Prunophora within the genus Prunus and include species originating from Europe, Asia, the Far East (Japanese plums), and North America such as Prunus cerasifera, Prunus domestica, and Prunus salicina
The method is based on the fact that ethephon (AGROBEST, Efhun; 480 g L–1 ethephon) applied to the aerial parts of plants is rapidly absorbed through stomas, lenticels, and hydathodes, while mepiquat chloride (BASF, Pix; 50 g L–1 mepiquat chloride) is absorbed through the roots at a slower pace (Mertoğlu and Evrenosoğlu, 2017)
To allow the access of mepiquat chloride to the effective root depth, the plants were irrigated until they reached field capacity, and the day (20 February), 15 L of mepiquat chloride–water solution was given to the plants using the root irrigation method
Summary
Plums belong to the subgenus Prunophora within the genus Prunus and include species originating from Europe, Asia, the Far East (Japanese plums), and North America such as Prunus cerasifera, Prunus domestica, and Prunus salicina. Temperature increases due to climate change result in the early blooming of fruit trees (Funes et al, 2016; Szabo et al, 2017), while duration of the effects of late spring frosts and related damage increase (Rahimi et al, 2018). This threatens fruit trees, stone fruit and nuts, which bloom early and have short blooming periods (Inouye, 2008; Mertoğlu and Evrenosoğlu, 2017). Delaying the blooming of fruit trees until after the late spring frosts and
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