Apple Seeds Research Articles

Minor oil-producing crops of the United States

The pits and nuts of almond, Persian walnut, pecan, filbert, tung, apricot, prune, peach, cherry and plum; the fruit pulp of avocado and olive; and the seeds of citrus fruits, grape, apple, pear, cranberry and numerous other domestically cultivated plants are sources of valuable oils already in use.

Hormones and 'Drop' of Apple Fruits

THE abscission or dropping of apple and other fruits after fertilization is sometimes a valuable natural method of tellening the crop, but is often the source of muel loss of fruit. L. C. Luckwill has studied the relation to this 'drop' of a hormone in apple seeds (J. Hort. Sci., 24, No. 1, 32 ; June1948). He devised a quantitative method of measuring the hormone extract by treatment of tomato ovaries (ibid., 19) and was able to show that the appearance of the hormone in the seed coincided with cessation of the post-blossom drop. In the variety Beauty of Bath, the hormone appeared 25-30 days after petal-fall. Seeds of nearly ripe apples had little hormone, and its disappearance corresponded with the occurrence of pre-harvest dropping of the fruit. Moreover, seeds from 'June-drop' fruitlets of two other varieties contained much less hormone than those of fruits which remained on the tree. This hormone can be extracted from the seeds with boiling water, and though it stimulates the development of tomato ovaries, it does not appear to initiate fruit growth in the apple. It does, in fact, appear to be concerned chiefly with the control of fruit drop.

The Hormone Content of the Seed in Relation to Endosperm Development and Fruit Drop in the Apple

Apple seeds at certain stages of development have been shown to contain a hormone which can be extracted with boiling water and which is active in stimulating the development of unpollinated tomato ovaries. Use has been made of this latter fact to detect and measure the amount of hormone present in the seeds at various stages of development, using the methods described in the previous paper (see pp. 19 to 31).In the variety Beauty of Bath the appearance of the hormone in the seed at 25-30 days after petal-fall corresponded with the cessation of the post-blossom drop, and the disappearance of hormone from the seeds of nearly ripe apples was correlated with the occurrence of the pre-harvest drop. The seeds from “ June drop ” fruitlets of two other varieties contained much less hormone than those from fruitlets remaining attached to the tree, and from this and other evidence it is concluded that this hormone is concerned with the control of fruit drop. It appears to be produced in the endosperm tissue of the...

HEREDITARY (SEED-BORNE) SYMBIOSIS IN CASUARINA EQUISETIFOLIA forst

EVERY Gasuarina equisetifolia plant examined has beenfound to have mycelia of Phomopsis casuarince F. Tassi extending throughout into every organ, beginning from theseed-coat. Cutting a section of the seed-coat of Gasuarina and staining in picro-nigrosin or cotton blue one cansee finely branched and septate hyphae within the tegmen(see accompanying illustration). Only the resting embryowith two cotyledons is free from fungal infection. In samples of tomato and apple seeds from some apparently healthy fruits from Calcutta markets, I have seen a networkof copiously branched and septate hyphse in the tegmen under the microscope. Dennis1 recently remarked that “fungi capable under favourable circumstances of parasitizing economic plants such as potato, tomato and apple may be found in nature as saprophytes on herbaceous weeds ”. I wonder whether Dennis had examined microscopically sections of clean seeds of the various economic plants to locate any possible Phoma hyphae within the tegmen beforeplanting them in the virgin soil. Oxley and Jones2 found, under the epidermis of maize seeds and seeds of many samples of English wheat and some Canadian wheat, abundant mycelia in the vegetative condition which they have not been able to identify nor to bring out in pure culture. In some samples of local wheat and maize seeds and some American maize, I have also obtained distinctly septate and branched hyphse beneath the testa within the tegmen ; from a maize sample Ascochyta sp. has been isolated in pure culture in malt agar tube, the seed germinated well in the course of five days and the fungus came out with two-celled, oblong and muticate conidia. Bessey3 andDennis1 regard Ascochyta as essentially a Phoma with two-celled conidia. It would be of interest to know the function of these hyphse within the seed coat, whether theyhave any connexion with germination and growth of the wheat and maize plants.

Isolation of Phloridzin from Apple Seeds

IN a recent communication1, the preparation of apple seed extracts capable of stimulating the development of unfertilized tomato ovaries was described. Treatment of the seeds with water at 100° C. for 15 minutes gave, on cooling, a crystalline substance which preliminary tests indicated was possibly glycosidic in nature. While not possessing the fructigenic activity shown by the aqueous filtrate, this compound disappeared at the stage when the extracts were no longer active, and consequently further investigation was indicated.

A Fruit-setting Hormone from Apple Seeds

IN the apple, fruit size and shape are known to be closely correlated with the number and position of the fertile seeds, an observation which suggests that the developing seed may be the source of a hormone which initiates and controls the growth of the fruit. Experimental evidence supporting this has recently been obtained for the apple variety Crawley Beauty, from the young seeds of which it has been found possible to prepare extracts which are active in stimulating the development of unfertilized tomato ovaries.

A sterol from apple seeds and cherry seeds

A sterol from apple seeds and cherry seeds

Management of Apple Trees in Massachusetts

There is no evidence to show that Malus coronaria or any other native American crabapple existed in New England prior to the advent of the white man.' The common cultivated apple (Malus pumila) came to us from Europe, but it did not originate there. The most authoritative opinion is that it came from the northwestern Himalayas where there are great forests of apples in places where they could hardly have been introduced by man. Apples were brought to Europe in prehistoric times, however, for charred seeds and cores have been found in the remains of the villages of the ancient Swiss Lake dwellers. Prehistoric peoples probably carried the apple all over Europe and Asia. The apple is mentioned, according to U. P. Hedrick (Systematic Pomology, Macmillan, 1925, page 109), by the earliest writers on agriculture in China, India, Greece, Italy, France, Germany, and England. The early colonists brought apple seeds and a few trees to North America. The apple found here a congenial home and soon produced innumerable seedlings as it spread out from the colonies. Seeds, scions, and trees went westward with the covered wagons. Johnny Appleseed carried bags of seeds from New England cider mills into the Ohio Valley and planted them in clearings. There must have been many apple planters of less renown. Nearly all of our cultivated apples have been selected from these wild seedlings, but recently a few like Cortland have been produced from experimental crosses. The original Baldwin tree was found near Lowell, Massachusetts; the original McIntosh tree grew in Ontario, Canada, and so on. Following establishment of the apple in this country many wild trees began to appear where seed had been deposited in places favorable to germination and growth until today it is uncommon to traverse a northeastern forest and not find seedling apple trees. Palatability and availability combined have made apple the number one food for wildlife in the northeast. It has, therefore, become an important subject for both research and management. Bark, twigs, buds, and fruits all are eaten. The cottontail, snowshoe hare, deer, woodchuck, muskrat, fox, mice, grouse, quail, pheasant, crow, grackle, and numerous other mammals and birds feed on apple. The scaly bark is pitted with holes where woodpeckers have sought the sap, and in the spring and early summer the hollow limbs and trunks harbor wildlife broods and lit-