Autumn Fall Research Articles

Spring Phenology Outweighs Temperature for Controlling the Autumn Phenology in the Yellow River Basin

Recent research has revealed that the dynamics of autumn phenology play a decisive role in the inter-annual changes in the carbon cycle. However, to date, the shifts in autumn phenology (EGS) and the elements that govern it have not garnered unanimous acknowledgment. This paper focuses on the Yellow River Basin (YRB) ecosystem and systematically analyzes the dynamic characteristics of EGS and its multiple controls across the entire region and biomes from 1982 to 2015 based on the long-term GIMMS NDVI3g dataset. The results demonstrated that a trend toward a significant delay in EGS (p < 0.05) was detected and this delay was consistently observed across all biomes. By using the geographical detector model, the association between EGS and several main driving factors was quantified. The spring phenology (SGS) had the largest explanatory power among the interannual variations of EGS across the YRB, followed by preseason temperature. For different vegetation types, SGS and preseason precipitation were the dominant driving factors for the EGS in woody plants and grasslands, respectively, whereas the explanatory power for each driving factor on cultivated land was very weak. Furthermore, the EGS was controlled by drought at different timescales and the dominant timescales were concentrated in 1–3 accumulated months. Grasslands were more significantly influenced by drought than woody plants at the biome level. These findings validate the significance of SGS on the EGS in the YRB as well as highlight that both drought and SGS should be considered in autumn fall phenology models for improving the prediction accuracy under future climate change scenarios.

The results of long-term simultaneous measurements of radon exhalation rate, radon concentrations in soil gas and groundwater in the fault zone

The regular monthly radon measurements were carried out in the fault zone on the Western slope of the Beshtau magmatic massif (North Caucasus). The radon exhalation rate from the soil surface, as well as radon concentrations in soil gas at a depth of 0.5 m and in groundwater discharged at a spring located nearby have simultaneously been measured. High seasonal fluctuations in radon exhalation and radon concentration in soil gas, characterized by highs in summer and lows in winter, were registered. In summer, the radon exhalation reached 23.8 Bq m−2s−1, and the radon concentration in the soil gas reached 166 kBq m−3. In winter, both the radon exhalation and the radon concentration in the soil dropped to 0.025 Bq m−2s−1 and <3 kBq m−3, respectively. The concentration of radon in ground water varied over the year in a relatively narrow range (100–210 Bq l−1), and there were no seasonal fluctuations. A sharp increase in soil radon and radon exhalation in spring and a fall in autumn are timed to the moments when the temperature of the atmospheric air becomes, respectively, higher and lower than the temperature of the rock massif. Both the soil radon concentration and the radon exhalation show a close correlation with the temperature of atmospheric air, but in the first case the relationship is linear, and in the second – exponential. The obtained data confirm the assumption that the seasonal radon variations are caused by atmospheric air circulation in the shallow area of the fault due to the temperature difference between the atmosphere and the rock massif.

О генезисе радоновых аномалий в зонах тектонических разломов

As a result of almost three-year observations conducted in the fault zone in the Beshtau magmatic massif area (Caucasian Mineral Waters), anomalous seasonal fluctuations in radon exhalation rate were registered. Seasonal fluctuations are characterized by highs in summer and lows in winter. Summer values reached 23800 mBq/(m2s), while in winter the radon exhalation rate decreased to 40 mBq/(m2s). Radon exhalation rate in the fault zone shows a clear direct correlation with air temperature. The rise of radon levels in spring and fall in autumn are timed to the moments when the temperature of the atmospheric air becomes, respectively, above and below the temperature of the rock massif. It is established that seasonal fluctuations of radon levels are caused by changes in the direction of convective radon transport in the fractured zones. The obtained data suggest that the formation of seasonal radon anomalies in the fault zones is due to the circulation of atmospheric air in permeable zones of the rock massif, which occurs due to the temperature difference between the massif and the atmosphere.

Sezonowe zróżnicowanie temperatury wody na przykładzie wybranych rzek nizinnych Mazowsza = Seasonal differentiation of water temperature on the example of lowland Mazovian rivers

Thermal regime has a critical impact on the lotic environment, as maximum temperature determines the boundaries of the occurrence of aquatic species, seasonal and diurnal water temperature variations affect their bioenergetics, while the timing of specific water temperature values during the year is important in the context of spawning and migrations. However, despite the great importance of water temperature studies in the context of environmental management and fisheries, as well as the development of accurate measurement techniques, such investigations have received relatively limited attention in Poland. The current study attempted to examine the seasonal differentiation of water temperature in lowland rivers. For this purpose, water temperature was recorded from the 1st of May 2015 to the 30th of April 2019 with a temporal resolution of 30-minutes. Digital temperature reorders used to make the measurements were distributed across six sites in Jeziorka, Świder and Utrata catchments located on the Mazovian Lowland and the Southern Podlachia Lowland near Warsaw. The hydrometeorological background of the water temperature monitoring was determined on the basis of data from the Warszawa-Okęcie station and water gauging stations. On the basis of the measurement data, mean, maximum, and minimum monthly water temperatures were calculated and presented on the background of the appropriate air temperature data, while statistical distribution of the 30-minute water temperature, aggregated in a monthly timescale, was presented on the box and whiskers plots. The Ward method was used to group months similar in terms of their thermal conditions, while the Pearson correlation coefficient was applied to evaluate the strength of the relationship between water and air temperature. The results indicate that the seasonal course of water temperature follows the course of air temperature, with the highest mean monthly water temperatures recorded in July, while the lowest in January. Statistical distribution analysis of water temperature in individual months and its grouping by the Ward method allowed to identify two periods characterized by relatively stable thermal conditions and two periods of dynamic changes of water temperature. In contrast to the maximum values of water temperature, which were observed in the summer as a result of intensive solar radiation and low streamflow rates, the greatest variability of water temperature, as indicated by reference to mean daily range and standard deviation, was found in the spring months, i.e. in April and May, while the lowest in winter, from December to February. The relationship between daily mean water temperature and air temperature, established with the use of the Pearson correlation coefficient on a monthly basis, was clearly stronger during the spring increase and the autumn fall of the water temperature, which can be linked with greater vulnerability to atmospheric heat fluxes. A definitely weaker relationship was found in the winter and summer months, when greater importance can be attached to other drivers of stream temperature, like the presence of ice cover, cloudiness, riparian shading, and groundwater inflows.

Occurrence prediction of pests and diseases in cotton on the basis of weather factors by long short term memory network

BackgroundThe occurrence of cotton pests and diseases has always been an important factor affecting the total cotton production. Cotton has a great dependence on environmental factors during its growth, especially climate change. In recent years, machine learning and especially deep learning methods have been widely used in many fields and have achieved good results.MethodsFirst, this papaer used the common Aprioro algorithm to find the association rules between weather factors and the occurrence of cotton pests. Then, in this paper, the problem of predicting the occurrence of pests and diseases is formulated as time series prediction, and an LSTM-based method was developed to solve the problem.ResultsThe association analysis reveals that moderate temperature, humid air, low wind spreed and rain fall in autumn and winter are more likely to occur cotton pests and diseases. The discovery was then used to predict the occurrence of pests and diseases. Experimental results showed that LSTM performs well on the prediction of occurrence of pests and diseases in cotton fields, and yields the Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.97.ConclusionSuitable temperature, humidity, low rainfall, low wind speed, suitable sunshine time and low evaporation are more likely to cause cotton pests and diseases. Based on these associations as well as historical weather and pest records, LSTM network is a good predictor for future pest and disease occurrences. Moreover, compared to the traditional machine learning models (i.e., SVM and Random Forest), the LSTM network performs the best.

SHAPING OF LIFE IN TURKISH CULTURAL ASSETS

As life is an abstract concept, it can be explained only by the traces and appearances of time, which contain concepts. Because life has memory. Many events in the past are remembered in life. In this study, it is seen that the richness of the changing effect and appearance in life is represented by the same richness in the cultural assets with different structures, compositions, patterns and motifs. It is possible to see the sky, eternity and life awareness in Turkish religious architectural plans and structures, dome designs, dome patterns, door windows, other interior decorations and furniture. People who are away from research, observation, knowledge and thinking development efforts in society cannot carry culture and art to the future. But nature; Even with a leaf that opened in spring and fall in autumn, it tells life and brings this expression to the future with rich looks. In this study, the conditions affecting the shaping of life in Turkish cultural assets were observed and examined. Keywords: culture, art, life, architecture, carpet, pattern, motif, headstone

Annual pattern of zooplankton communities and their environmental response in a subtropical maritime channel system in the northern Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh

Zooplankton plays an important role in aquatic food webs by fluxing of energy from primary producer to subsequent trophic levels in the food chain. The annual pattern of zooplankton communities and potential environmental drivers were studied in the Kohelia channel, Bangladesh from summer 2014 to spring 2015. Samples were collected using net at a depth of 1 m. A total of 32 species belonged to 18 orders, 27 families and 15 taxonomic groups were identified. Of these species, 22 distributed in all four seasons of which 8 were dominant and highly contributing to the total communities. Species number peaked in summer next to winter and fall in spring while maximum abundance was in summer and minimum in spring. Multivariate analyses showed that there was a clear annual pattern in the zooplankton communities. Species diversity and evenness peaked in spring but fall in autumn while the high value of species richness was found in winter. Biological-environmental best matching (BIO-ENV) analyses conformed that community pattern of zooplankton was mainly driven by transparency salinity, and temperature individually or combined with water nutrients. These results demonstrate that annual pattern of the zooplankton community shaped by channel environmental factors in subtropical channel ecosystems, thus might be used for community-based subtropical coastal water bioassessment.

CLINICAL AND MODERN FEATURES OF INTUSSUSCEPTION IN CHILDREN

The aim of the work is to study demographic and clinical features of intussusception in children. Material and methods. A retrospective analysis of all intussusception patients, who received treatment at the “Ivano-Matreninskaya Children’s Clinical Hospital” in Irkutsk over the period from 2006 to 2016. The age, gender of patients, the prescription of the disease, seasonality, diagnostic methods, treatment methods and outcomes (recovery, relapse of intussusception) were taken into account. Results. Over the past 10 years, there were observed 268 intussusception children patients. The number of cases per year varied from 11 to 41 with an annual increase in the last 5 years. At the age of 1 year there were 44 (16.4%) patients, over the year - 224 (83.6%). Boys are more often ill (191 (71.3%)) in comparison with girls (77 (28.7%)). There was no regular correlation between the frequency of the intussusception and the time of year. The peak incidence was observed in the summer (29.5%) with the fall in autumn (22.7%) and approximately the same ratio in winter and spring (23.4% and 24.4%, respectively). 204 (76.1%) patients entered up to 12 hours from the onset of the disease, 35 cases (13.1%) - from 12 to 24 hours, 29 patients (10.8%) entered after 24 hours. A clinical feature of intussusception was an increase in the number of cases of recurrent forms, whose frequency accounted of 14.5%. After conservative treatment, the relapse rate was 17.8%, after surgery - 2.5% (p &lt;0.05). Pathological formations of the intestine were revealed in 3 (7.7%) out of 39 patients with the recurrence of intussusception in comparison with 3 (1.3%) of 229 children without relapses (p &lt;0.05). Treatment of recurrences of intussusception: conservative - 59.0%, laparoscopic disinvagination - 38.5%, laparotomy and disinvagination - 2.5%. Conclusion. There is observed an increase in the number of intussusception children patients, especially cases over the age of one year. Boys are sick 2.5 times more often than girls. The frequency of recurrences of intussusception is 14.5%. Repeated intussusception is associated with pathological intestinal formations and age over one year.

Ice Nucleating Particle Concentrations Increase When Leaves Fall in Autumn

Ice nucleating particles active at −8 °C or warmer (INP−8) are produced by plants and by microorganisms living from and on them. Laboratory studies have shown that large numbers of INP−8 are produced by decaying leaves. At three widely dispersed locations in Northwestern Eurasia, we saw, from an analysis of PM10 filter samples, that seasonal median concentrations of INP−8 in the boundary layer doubled from summer to autumn. Concentrations of INP−8 increased in autumn soon after the normalized differential vegetation index had started to decrease. Whether the large-scale phenological event of leaf senescence and shedding in autumn has an impact on ice formation in clouds is a justified question.

Foliar Phenolic Compounds in Norway Spruce with Varying Susceptibility to Chrysomyxa rhododendri: Analyses of Seasonal and Infection-Induced Accumulation Patterns.

Secondary phenolic metabolites are involved in plant responses to various biotic stress factors, and are apparently important for the defense against fungal pathogens. In this study, we investigated their role in defense against the rust Chrysomyxa rhododendri in Norway spruce. The fungal pathogen undergoes a seasonal lifecycle with host shift; after overwintering in rhododendron shrubs, it attacks the sprouting current-year spruce needles and causes needle fall in autumn. Repeated infections lead to reduced timber yield and severe problems with rejuvenation in subalpine Norway spruce forests. Trees with varying susceptibility to infection by C. rhododendri were selected and foliar phenolic composition was assessed using UHPLC-MS. We report on seasonal accumulation patterns and infection-related changes in the concentrations of 16 metabolites, including flavonoids, stilbenes, simple phenylpropanoids and the precursor shikimic acid, and their correlation with the infection degree of the tree. We found significant variation in the phenolic profiles during needle development: flavonoids were predominant in the first weeks after sprouting, whereas stilbenes, picein and shikimic acid increased during the first year. Following infection, several flavonoids and resveratrol increased up to 1.8 fold in concentration, whereas picein and shikimic acid were reduced by about 70 and 60%, respectively. The constitutive and early stage infection-induced concentrations of kaempferol, quercetin and taxifolin as well as the late stage infection-induced concentrations of stilbenes and picein were negatively correlated with infection degree. We conclude that a combination of constitutive and inducible accumulation of phenolic compounds is associated with the lower susceptibility of individual trees to C. rhododendri. The potentially fungicidal flavonoid aglycones may limit hyphal growth and prevent development of infection symptoms, and high levels of stilbenes may impede the infection of older needles. The presented results underline a highly compound-specific seasonal accumulation and defense response of Norway spruce and may facilitate the selection of promising trees for breeding programs.

Snow occurrence time on the Russia’s territory in the early 21st century (from satellite data)

Time of the snow cover appearance, existence and disappearance on the Russia’s territory in the early 21st century (2000–2015) was corrected using the MODIS/Terra satellite data (the 8-day discreteness, and the 0.5×0.5° resolution). The satellite data errors were estimated from data of the ground stations observations. The errors were found to be maximal in autumn and minimal in spring. The relationship between the snow cover characteristics and the climate ones was investigated using data obtained at the ground-based stations together with correlation between dates of snow appearance and loss and the climate parameters. The dependences obtained were tested by means of correlation and regression analysis over the longitudinal sectors. Significant coefficients of correlation (the Student criterion of probability was equal to 0.95) were found between time of the snow cover presence and dates of the temperature drop below 0 °С and the amount of days with negative temperatures. Changes in the climate characteristics result in that due to decreasing of the solid precipitation in winter time the snow presence duration becomes shorter over the European part of Russia and in the Western Siberia. The shortening in the Middle Siberia is caused by the spring warming. Durations of the snow occurrence in the Far East area are different. On the Chukotka peninsula the duration is longer because of the autumn fall in temperature while in the Kamchatka region the snow occurrence time is shorter due to significant decrease of a period with negative temperatures in both the autumn and spring seasons.

Projecting In-stream Dissolved Organic Carbon and Total Mercury Concentrations in Small Watersheds Following Forest Growth and Clearcutting

Forest is an important vegetation type on the globe, and clearcutting is the main forest management method. This paper presents a process-based model developed to project the impact of forest growth and clearcutting on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and total mercury (THg) export from forest-dominated watersheds over two forest-growing cycles. The modelling of THg is based on the observation that THg export from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems occurs with the binding and subsequent in-stream transport of THg by DOC. From the results generated with the integrated model, DOC and THg export follows two main trends; (i) a multiple-year trend, associated with forest harvesting and re-growth patterns over the lifetime of the forest, and (ii) an annual trend, associated with the seasonal dynamics in forest litter production and decomposition. During a forest rotation, DOC and THg concentration decreases following clearcutting, reaches a minimum at about 15 years after forest regeneration and then gradually increases with forest ageing. Large debris pools left on site following clearcutting can provide a significant pulse in DOC production and within-watershed THg export during the first 2–3 years after harvest. In a single year, the integrated model predicts that DOC- and THg-concentration peaks after leaf fall in autumn, decreases to a minimum in April, increases to another maximum in June and finally decreases to a second minimum just before leaf fall. This seasonal cycle is repeated every year. Conifer species and wetland-dominated watersheds are anticipated to release a greater amount of DOC and THg to aquatic ecosystems than deciduous and dryland-dominated watersheds. The long-term and seasonal DOC production is consistent with field measurements.

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Evapotranspiration Paradox and Impact Factors in China in the Period of 1960–2013

Downward trend of potential evaporation accompanied with upward of air temperature which is denoted as evaporation paradox has been reported in many regions over the past several decades in the world. In this paper, evaporation paradox and key factors attributed to ET0changes are systematically analyzed based on data from 599 meteorological stations during 1960–2013. Results show that (1) Evaporation paradox exists in all regions in1960–2013 and 1960–1999 except SWRB in 1960–2013 but no evaporation paradox in 2000–2013. (2) Evaporation paradox exists in large areas in spring and summer, the extent and range fall in autumn, and there is no evaporation paradox in winter. (3) The evaporation paradox area accounts for 73.7% of China in 1960–2013 and 91.2% in 1969–1999. (4) Sunshine hours, humidity, wind speed, and maximum temperature appear to be the most important variables which contributed to ET0change in China.

Evaluating orchard and poplar leaves during autumn as an alternative fodder source for livestock feeding

S. Temel, and M. Pehluvan. 2015. Evaluating orchard and poplar leaves during autumn as an alternative fodder source for livestock feeding. Cien. Inv. Agr. 42(1): 27-33. Fruit tree and poplar leaves that fall in autumn are undervalued in terms of animal feeding mainly because of insufficient knowledge about their potential feeding value. Knowledge of the nutritional values of these species may be important to supplement the feed of grazing animals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential fodder value of leaves of plum, apple, poplar, mulberry, peach and apricot trees. For this purpose, samples were collected by hand in autumn 2012 and 2013 when 50% of the leaves had dropped and 90% of the leaves had turned yellow. The crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), dry matter digestibility (DMD), digestible energy (DE), metabolizable energy (ME) and relative feed value (RFV) contents were determined. The CP, DMD, DE, ME and RFV contents of peach leaves were significantly (P≤0.01) higher than those of the other trees, but they had lower NDF, ADF and ADL ratios. The lowest CP, DMD, DE, ME, RFV contents and the highest NDF, ADF, ADL values were measured in poplar leaves. According to these results, the tree leaves had a higher nutritional value than many forage grass species and hay fodder commonly used for livestock feeding. Consequently, orchard and poplar leaves that drop in autumn can be used as an alternative fodder source for livestock feeding.

Znaczenie badań nad zmiennoscią liści grabu dla celów paleobotanicznych [Studies on the variability of hornbeam-leaves and their importance for paleobotany

The aim of the investigations on the variability of the leves of &lt;em&gt;Carpinus betulus&lt;/em&gt; was to characterize a chosen population on the basis of all types of its leaves. The results obtained from the measurements of the leaves, which provided a picture of their variability, were compared with the autumn fall of the same population, i.e. with the material which some time might become fossil material. It appeared that three fundamental types of leaves may be distinguished on the shoots of &lt;em&gt;Carpinus betulus&lt;/em&gt;: l. short, broad, roundish or egg-shaped leaves with broad apical angles and a heart-shaped base, which grew out of the first nodes, 2. slim leaves with acute apical and basal angles, their broadest part situated high, which were encountered on nodes VII-X of the long shoots, and 3. large, oval leaves derived from nodes IV-VI and regarded as typical of the species &lt;em&gt;Carpinus betulus&lt;/em&gt;. The asymmetry of the base of blade appeared to be an important character. This asymmetry vanished gradually from node to node towards the apex of shoot.

The phenology–substrate‐match hypothesis explains decomposition rates of evergreen and deciduous oak leaves

Summary There is substantial evidence that the rate of litter decomposition is affected by the match between the litter substrate and the soil matrix (decomposer community). We introduce and test the phenology–substrate‐match hypothesis, which predicts that both litter composition and soil matrix will change over the course of the year and that a lagged match between litter type and soil matrix will result in an optimal decomposition environment. We conducted a decomposition experiment in a Mediterranean mixed deciduous–evergreen oak savanna in California. We initiated litter decomposition of both a deciduous oak (whose leaves fall in autumn) and an evergreen oak (whose leaves fall in spring) in both autumn and spring. Consistent with the phenology–substrate‐match hypothesis, we found that decomposition of deciduous oak litter was accelerated compared to evergreen oak litter when decomposition was initiated in spring, while evergreen litter was accelerated compared to deciduous litter when decomposition was initiated in autumn. We also found a small effect of microsite on leaf decomposition, where both evergreen and deciduous oak leaves decomposed faster under the canopy of a conspecific. Synthesis. Our study extends theory of litter quality and the decomposer community into a temporal context, which may be an important source of variation in decomposition rates when species with different litterfall phenologies co‐occur.

Effect of Roots Pruning upon the Growth and Fruiting of Apple Trees in High Density Orchards

The influence of roots cutting on growth and fruiting of five apple cultivars ‘Gala’, ‘Jonica’,‘Topaz’, ‘Florina’, ‘Granny Smith’), under the climatic conditions of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 2009-2010, was studied. The trees were grafted on M9 rootstocks, trained as slender spindle and the orchardhad a density of 3174 trees/ha. Roots were cut twice annually, at 60 cm distance from the trunk and 30cm depth, as followed: first time, to the autumn fall leaves on one side of the row and the second time,in spring, at blooming time. The treatments had a strong influence, statistically assured, upon the shootgrowth, number of bearing branches, cumulative yield, trunk cross sectional area, the ratio of the yieldto a trunk cross-section. Root pruning reduced the average length of shoots. The longest shoots, inmean values, gave unpruned root variant (52.07 cm). Root pruning decrease the average length ofannual growth (29.47 cm). The biggest average trunks cross sectional area with the unpruned systemwere obtained (34.82 cm2). Also root pruning influenced the yield of the trees. The best cumulativeyield was obtained in variant of root pruning system (98.75 t/ha) followed by unpruned root system(97.8 t/ha). Finally, root pruning increased productivity. The biggest value in ‘Topaz’ with root prunedwas registered (1.79 kg/cm2). The lowest value of productivity index in unpruned system variant wasobtained.

Flowering of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) is reduced by long photoperiods

Mature kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa ’Hayward') vines grown under standard orchard management were exposed to 16‐h photoperiods from the longest day in summer until after leaf fall in autumn. Photoperiod extension was achieved with tungsten halogen lamps that produced 2–8 μmols m−2 s−1 photosynthetically active radiation. Long day treatments did not affect fruit dry matter or fruit weight at harvest during the growing season that the treatments were applied or during the following growing season. However, flowering was reduced by 22% during the spring following treatment application. As this reduction in flowering was not accompanied by a decrease in budbreak, the long day effect is not consistent with a delay in the onset of winter chilling. It is suggested therefore, that the observed reduction in flowering may be because of a diminution of floral evocation.

北海道南西部日本海沿岸水の栄養塩変動特性

In order to clarify the variation of nutrients in the coastal area of southwestern Hokkaido, temperature, salinity, nutrient concentrations, and chl.a were measured for various waters from 2002 to February, 2005. Nutrients in sea surface water were low through a year except near the river mouth. Nutrients increased inwinter because of vertical mixing especially phosphate-P Nitrogen and silica supply depends greatly on the river discharge from March to May because of snow melting. Phytoplankton bloom was observed in spring from February to April and nutrients remarkably decreased during bloom. After bloom both nitrogen and phosphorus were depleted throughout the survey area until autumn fall season. Nitrogen was most important factor to limit primary production in the surface and production layer except summer.

PERSIMMON CULTIVARS RELEASED IN THE 1990s BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FRUIT TREE SCIENCE IN JAPAN

The National Institute of Fruit Tree Science in Japan released six new pollination constant and non-astringent persimmon cultivars that were produced by crossbreeding in the 1990s. ‘Youhou’ (‘Fuyu’ x ‘Jiro’) mid-ripening, large sized fruit, firm texture, fruit cracking at calyx end comparable to ‘Fuyu’, medium-to-long fruit shelf life, bearing only female flowers, productive, and highly parthenocarpic. ‘Shinshuu’ (‘Okitsu-20’ x ‘Okitsu-1’) early ripening, medium sized fruit, soft and dense texture, susceptible to fruit skin damage in late fruit developmental stage, which often causes fruit softening, bearing only female flowers, and productive. ‘Taishuu’ (‘Fuyu’ x ‘Jiro’) mid-ripening, very large sized fruit, very soft and moderately coarse texture, juicy, medium-to-long fruit shelf life, bearing both female and male flowers, susceptible to shallow concentric cracks because of high sugar content. ‘Yubeni’ (‘Matsumotowase-Fuyu’ x ‘F-2’) late ripening, deep-reddish orange fruit skin, medium-to-large sized fruit, flat fruit shape, soft texture, juicy, long fruit shelf life, bearing only female flowers, susceptible to physiological fruit drop in the late fruit developmental stage. ‘Tanrei’ and ‘Kinshuu’ (both; ‘Okitsu-2’ x ‘Okitsu-15’) bright red (‘Tanrei’) and deep red (‘Kinshuu’) leaf color when leaves fall in autumn, using those leaves ornamentally as garnish, used as garden plants, poor fruit quality.