New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts
Rootstock as a fruit quality factor in citrus and deciduous tree crops
WILLIAM S. CASTLE
Citrus Research and Education Center
University of Florida, IFAS
700 Experiment Station Road
Lake Alfred, FL 33850
United States
Abstract This mini-review provides a definition of fruit
quality, a comparison of rootstock effects and importance in deciduous and
citrus crops, and a detailed examination of fruit quality in relation to citrus
rootstocks. Fruit quality is defined in simple, complex, and specific terms
recognising that it is eventually a matter of consumer preference. When fruit
quality is measured as physical traits and chemical composition, little
rootstock effect has been demonstrated among deciduous crops as compared to
citrus rootstocks which have well-known effects on more than 10 quality
factors. This difference is explained by comparing the relative importance of
rootstocks for precocity, yield, and tree size control, and through contrasts
in annual phenological cycles, fruit respiratory behaviour, crop load and
canopy management techniques, and the use of clonal rootstocks in citrus and
deciduous fruit trees. Mechanisms of rootstock effect on fruit quality are
discussed using apple,
Malus domestica Borkh. (a climacteric, starch
accumulating fruit), and citrus fruit (which are non-climacteric and accumulate
soluble solids). An argument is presented that apple quality is determined
largely by factors related to crop load and canopy management whereas citrus
fruit and juice quality are closely related to rootstock effects on plant water
relations as evidenced by field trial results, sucrose transport, and
reciprocal fruit grafting studies.
Keywords canopy management; climacteric; crop load
management; fruit grafting; own-rooted; sucrose; water relations
New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 1995, Vol. 23:
383-394
0114-0671/95/2304-0383 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1995
Review
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (959K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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