Browsing by Author "De Villiers, Michiel Hendrik Jacobus"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Mechanical and chemical thinning of stone fruit
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) De Villiers, Michiel Hendrik Jacobus; Theron, K. I.; Steyn, Willem J.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Horticultural Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Producing fruit of the appropriate size and high quality is of the upmost importance to realize a profit in the fruit industry. This can be achieved through bloom or fruitlet thinning to reduce the number of fruit left on the tree. The cost of production is rising and labour cost forms a large part of the total production cost. Thinning of stone fruit is labour intensive and expensive, so an alternative to hand thinning needs to be found. Two alternatives are chemical and mechanical thinning. Chemical thinners are not routinely used in stone fruit as it is in pome fruit production and gibberellins were evaluated in this study. The Darwin 300TM was evaluated as a mechanical alternative to hand thinning. It thins flowers during bloom, before fruitlet thinning by hand is performed. In our trials on nectarines and Japanese plums the objective of reducing the time required for hand thinning was achieved, with the Darwin 300TM reducing the time required by up to 50%. When the time required to thin was reduced too much it also reduced the yield, but this could be overcome by lowering the rotor speed or using different strategies during supplementary hand thinning at the fruitlet stage. The bloom thinning and reduction in yield led to an increase in the fruit size. Care should be taken when using the Darwin 300TM as the earlier thinning could increase pit splitting and/or fruit cracking, especially in cultivars that are sensitive to these defects. The optimal rate of thinning needs to be determined for each cultivar individually. The application of gibberellic acid (GA3) and gibberellin A4+7 (GA4+7) at the pit hardening stage in the previous season could decrease the number of flowers for the following growing season. There was no effect on the yield at harvest or fruit size in the season of GA3 and GA4+7 applications, but the fruit firmness was increased. This effect was more pronounced for the GA4+7 applications. Our objective of reducing the time required for thinning was achieved in some but not all cultivars. The yield was not significantly reduced, with the fruit maturity only delayed in ‘African Rose’ plum. Again no increase in fruit size was found, but the fruit firmness was again increased. The GA-applications therefore were not satisfactory in their reduction of the time required for hand thinning. A positive effect is the increase in fruit firmness, which could possibly increase the storage potential of the fruit without having negative effects on the other aspects of fruit quality but this needs further evaluation.