Impact of genetic and climatic parameters on split-pit incidence in peach and nectarine

Abstract

Split-pit in peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) is a physiological disorder occurring during fruit growth causing significant losses to growers, retailers and the canning industry worldwide. In the present study the split-pit susceptibility of 59 recently grown melting-peach and nectarine cultivars was investigated and occurrences were related with phenotypic traits such as ripening date, yield and fruit and stone traits, and climatic parameters such as growing degree hours and rainfall during different periods of fruit growth, in 4 growing seasons. Cultivars with lower propensity to split-pit was separated. The split-pit incidence was higher in nectarine compared with melting-peach, and also in yellow- compared with white-flesh cultivars. Early ripening was the most important parameter related with higher percentage of fruit with split-pit, followed by larger fruit and higher rainfall during 30d after blooming. The fruit and stone dimensions were not related with split-pits, neither was the sum of growing degree hours calculated during different periods after blooming. In conclusion, the present study provides information on the propensity to split-pit disorder of modern melting-peach and nectarine cultivars that may be important information for growers and breeders. A cultivation practice for reducing the split-pit incidence in sensitive cultivars is to aim for smaller fruit sizes, while the spring rainfall experienced could be used by growers as an indication for adjusting fruit load accordingly so that to diminish the expected damages.