New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts
Seasonal and regional variation in budbreak and flowering
of kiwifruit vines in New Zealand
H. G. McPHERSON
The Horticulture and Food Research Institute
of New Zealand
Mt Albert Research Centre
Private Bag 92 169
Auckland, New Zealand
A. J. HALL
C. J. STANLEY
The Horticulture and Food Research Institute
of New Zealand
Batchelar Research Centre
Private Bag 11 030
Palmerston North, New Zealand
Abstract Measurements of the timing and amount of budbreak
and flowering in `Hayward' kiwifruit were made over 4 years in six regions of
New Zealand. There was a large variation in the vine attributes measured. The
number of flowers produced/winter bud varied 5-fold between the worst site-year
combination and the best. The time of 50% budbreak varied by 32 days and the
time of 50% flowering by 25 days. The proportion of flowers on the distal (tip)
two buds ranged in a single year from a low of 10% at one site to > 65% at
another on canes which had an average of 21 buds. The number of flowers/winter
bud is considered to be made up of four components: the proportion of budbreak,
the proportion of floral buds, the number of inflorescences/floral bud, and the
number of flowers/inflorescence. The proportion of budbreak and the proportion
of floral buds were found to be most important in determining the number of
flowers produced/winter bud, and both of these components were significantly
higher at the cooler, southern, sites. The vines measured in this survey were
all chosen from a single block in a single orchard within each region, so
between-vine variation was minimised. Despite this, total between-vine
variation accounted for nearly 40% of the observed variance in the proportion
of budbreak and about a quarter of the observed variance in the number of
flowers/winter bud and the proportion of floral buds. Differences between
regions were significant for all vine attributes measured except the number of
inflorescences/floral bud, with cooler sites generally breaking bud earlier and
producing more flowers. When averaged over all 4 years, the number of
flowers/winter bud was over twice as high at the coolest site than at the
warmest, and budbreak occurred more than 3 weeks earlier. The proportion of
flowers on the tip two buds varied from an average of < 17% at one site to
> 50% at the warmest site. Year-to-year differences were generally not
significant when averaged over all regions, except that flowering tended to be
early or late at all sites in the same years. Year-to-year variation was
however very important within each region. Over 50% of the variance in the
number of inflorescences/floral bud was the result of year-to-year variation,
and over a third of the variance of the number of flowers/winter bud. At the
warmest site, both the number of flowers/winter bud and the proportion of
flowers borne by the tip two buds varied more than 2-fold in consecutive years.
It is this between-season variation that is of major significance in orchard
management. It is also important for the industry at large because of the need
to organise transport, storage, and marketing on a region-by-region basis.
Keywords kiwifruit; Actinidia deliciosa; phenology;
bud development; flowering times
New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticulrural Science, 1994, Vol. 22:
263-276
0114-0671/94/2203-0263 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1994
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