Parthenocarpic Fruit Growth Reduces Yield Fluctuation and Blossom-end Rot in Sweet Pepper |
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Authors: | Heuvelink E; Korner O |
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Institution: | Wageningen University, Department of Plant Sciences, Horticultural Production Chains Group, Marijkeweg 22, 6709 PG, Wageningen, The Netherlands Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, Subdepartment of Agricultural Engineering and Physics, Wageningen University, Bomenweg 4, 6703 HD, Wageningen, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | The aim of this work was to investigate whether parthenocarpicfruit growth could avoid flushing, i.e. an irregular yield pattern,in sweet pepper. Plants were grown in a greenhouse compartmentfrom April until August. Half of the plants were grown withouta fruit set treatment (control), whereas parthenocarpic fruitswere allowed to develop on the other plants by preventing self-pollinationand applying auxin to the stigma. For node positions 3 to 17,fruit set per node varied between 21 and 55% for control plantscoefficient of variation (CV) = 11%], whereas auxin-treatedplants showed much less variation in fruit set (4157%;CV = 5%) and average fruit set was higher. In agreement withfruit set, fruit yield was also much more regular in the auxin-treatedplants. Fruit fresh yield varied between 0.2 and 1.0 kg m-2forcontrol plants (CV = 20%), and between 0.4 and 0.8 kg m-2forauxin-treated plants (CV = 9%). Results showed that developingseeds in sweet pepper fruits are the main cause of the abortionof new flowers, and irregular fruit set and yield. Parthenocarpicfruit growth resulted in flatter, 30% smaller fruits, becauseof a reduction in fruit growth rate; the duration of fruit growthwas 1 week longer than for fruits from control plants. Parthenocarpicfruits were hardly affected by blossom-end rot (BER) with only1% of fruits being affected compared to 31% in the control.Total dry mass production was the same for treated and controlplants; however, in auxin-treated plants, 50% of the total drymass was allocated to the fruits, compared to 58% in controlplants. Copyright 2001 Annals of Botany Company Abortion, auxin, BER, blossom-end rot, Capsicum annuum L., flushing, fruit set, irregular yield pattern, parthenocarpy, sweet pepper |
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