Gibberellic acid combined with hand pollination increases ‘Red’ and ‘Lessard Thai’ sugar apple fruit quality and produced parthenocarpic ‘Gefner’ atemoya fruits

Marlon Cristian Toledo Pereira,Josiele Silva Rocha,Wanda Montas,Silvia Nietsche,Jonathan Henry Crane,Célia Lúcia Siqueira

doi:10.1590/0103-8478cr20180353

Marlon Cristian Toledo Pereira, Josiele Silva Rocha + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-8478cr20180353

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Abstract

ABSTRACT: The present research aimed to evaluate the effect of applying gibberellic acid (GA3) with hand (HP) or natural pollination (NP) on fruit set and the fruit quality of ‘Red’ and ‘Lessard Thai’ sugar apple and ‘Gefner’ atemoya fruits.This study was performed in an experimental orchard located in Homestead, Florida, USA. The experimental design included randomized blocks, with eight treatments, four replicates and four plants per plot. Treatments included: (1) HP; (2) HP + 10 mg L-1 GA3; (3) HP + 100 mg L-1 GA3; (4) HP + 1,000 mg L-1 GA3; (5) NP; (6) NP + 10 mg L-1 GA3; (7) NP + 100 mg L-1 GA3 and (8) NP + 1,000 mg L-1 GA3. The HP plus 1,000 mg L-1 GA3 promoted fruit setting above 90% over the 14 weeks for all genotypes evaluated. Significant increments for length and total fruit weight were observed. ‘Red’ sugar apple and atemoya had a reduced number of seeds per fruit. The NP plus GA3 (1,000 mg L-1) was effective in producing high quality seedless ‘Gefner’ atemoya fruits. This investigationdemonstratedthat GA3 plus hand pollination produced high quality sugar apple and atemoya seeded fruits and in association with natural pollination promoted seedless ‘Gefner’atemoya fruits.

Highlights

RESUMO: O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da aplicação de ácido giberélico (GA3) associado com e sem polinização artificial, no pegamento e na qualidade de frutos das pinheiras ‘Red’ e ‘Lessard Thai’ e da atemoieira‘Gefner’
Among the various management techniques for sugar apple and atemoya, hand pollination (HP) is unequivocally one of the most important since self-fertilization is negligible for this genus and natural pollination is not commercially effective
The HP treatment alone exhibited 95%, 100% and 75% fruit set for the ‘Red’ and ‘Lessard Thai’ sugar apple varieties and ‘Gefner’ atemoya, respectively (Figure 1A, 1B and 1C)

Summary

Introduction

RESUMO: O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da aplicação de ácido giberélico (GA3) associado com e sem polinização artificial, no pegamento e na qualidade de frutos das pinheiras ‘Red’ e ‘Lessard Thai’ e da atemoieira‘Gefner’. This research aimed to verify the effect of gibberellic acid at different concentrations combined with hand pollination, on fruit set and the quality of ‘Red’ and ‘Lessard Thai’ sugar apple and ‘Gefner’ atemoya fruits, under South Florida conditions. The HP treatment alone exhibited 95%, 100% and 75% fruit set for the ‘Red’ and ‘Lessard Thai’ sugar apple varieties and ‘Gefner’ atemoya, respectively (Figure 1A, 1B and 1C).

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