Improvement of fruit set in almonds [Prunus dulcis (Miller) DA Webb]

115 Pages·2015·0.87 MB·English

by  Technical Editor

Improvement of fruit set in almonds [Prunus
dulcis (Miller) D.A. Webb] by applying three plant
bioregulators in flowering

Segundo Maita Supliguicha

2015
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal

Improvement of fruit set in almonds [Prunus dulcis (Miller) D.A. Webb]
by applying three plant bioregulators in flowering

Segundo Maita Supliguicha

Thesis
to obtain the degree of

Doctor
en Ciencias de la Agricultura

Santiago, Chile, August 2015
Thesis presented as part of the requirements to obtain the degree of
Doctor en Ciencias de la Agricultura, approved by the

Thesis Committee

Dr. Carlos Sotomayor, Advisor

Prof. Thomas Fichet

Prof. Claudia Bonomelli

Santiago, September 3th 2015
In memory of my son and my father
To my entire family
Acknowledgements

To Government of the Republic of Ecuador, for financing my PhD, scholarship
granted by National Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology and
Innovation.
To Universidad Católica de Cuenca, Republic of Ecuador, for the support provided
during my PhD studies.
I specially thank the Thesis Committee, compounded by Dr. Carlos Sotomayor, Dr.
Thomas Fichet and Dr. Claudia Bonomelli, for their appreciated support on
attaining this thesis.
To Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal (FAIF) of Pontificia Universidad
Católica de Chile, and the Professors, for their high-level-academic training.
To current and preceding Directors in FAIF’s Board of Research and Postgraduate
Studies, for their support and assistance during my PhD studies.
To Departamento de Fruticultura y Enología, Director Dr. Claudia Bonomelli and
Professors and Technicians of the Section Deciduous Fruit Trees, for their support
during the attainment of this thesis.
To my family, for their constant support and understanding.
Content

Chapter 1. General Introduction…………………………………………………….. 1

Chapter 2. Hypothesis and Objectives……………………………………………… 35

Chapter 3. Original Article: The effect of three plant bioregulators on pollen
germination, pollen tube growth and fruit set in almond
[Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb] cvs. Non Pareil and Carmel………. 37

Chapter 4. Original Article: Using three plant bioregulators in flowering
almonds cvs. Non Pareil and Carmel affects the weight and
size of kernels at harvest………………………………………………… 68

Chapter 5. General Discussion and Conclusions………………………………. 95
List of figures

Chapter 1

Figure 1. The molecular mechanism of self-incompatible recognition in fruit
trees of the family Rosaceae……………………………………………… 8

Chapter 4

Figure 1. Relation between variables kernel dry weight according to length
and width of cv. Non Pareil and cv. Carmel. In all the cases in the
phenological stage pink bud in 2015 season……………………………. 88
List of tables
Chapter 1

Table 1. Proposed cross-incompatibility groups in almond……………………….. 9

Table 2. Almond cultivars grouped by approximate bloom periods………………. 11

Chapter 3

Table 1. Percentage of pollen germination in vitro on Non Pareil and Carmel
almond cultivars after 4 hours, in the presence of plant bioregulators
in the 2013 and 2014 growing seasons……………………………………. 49

Table 2. Pollen tube length in Non Pareil and Carmel almond cultivars after
8 hours, in the presence of plant bioregulators in the 2013 and 2014
growing seasons……………………………………………………………… 51

Table 3. Percentage of fruit set in Non Pareil almond cultivar at 60 days after
full bloom, with plant bioregulators treatments at two phenological
stages (2013 and 2014)…………………………………………………….. 53

Table 4. Percentage of fruit set in Carmel almond cultivar at 60 days after full
bloom, with plant bioregulators treatments at two phenological stages
(2013 and 2014)……………………………………………………………… 54
Chapter 4

Table 1. Effect of plant bioregulators on kernel dry weight (g) of cv. Non
Pareil almonds in two phonological stages during two seasons………… 79

Table 2. Effect of the plant bioregulators on kernel dry weight (g) in cv. Carmel
almond in two phonological stages and two seasons……………………. 81

Table 3. Effect of the plant bioregulators on kernels length and width (mm) in
the cv. Non Pareil almond in two phonological stages, season 2014….. 82

Table 4. Effect of the plant bioregulators on kernel length and width (mm) of
cv. Non Pareil almonds in two phonological stages in 2015 season…… 83

Table 5. Effect of the plant bioregulators on kernel length and width (mm) of
cv. Carmel almonds in two phonological stages in 2014 season……….. 85

Table 6. Effect of plant bioregulators on kernels length and width (mm) on
almond cv. Carmel in two phonological stages in 2015 season………… 86

Table 7. Summary of the regression analysis of the variable kernels dry
weight according to the variables length and width of almonds
cvs. Non Pareil and Carmel in 2014 and 2015 seasons…………………. 8