Interacting effects of pollination, water and nutrients on fruit tree performance

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Pollination is critical to fruit production, but the interactions of pollination with plant resources on a plant’s reproductive and vegetative features are largely overlooked. We examined the influences of pollination, irrigation and fertilisation on the performance of almond, Prunus dulcis, in northern California. We used a full-factorial design to test for the effects of pollination limitation on fruit production and foliage variables of whole trees experiencing four resource treatments: (i) normal water and nutrients, (ii) reduced water, (iii) no nutrients, and (iv) reduced water and no nutrients.
In each of these combinations, we applied three pollination treatments: handcross pollination, open-pollination and pollinator exclusion. Pollination strongly affected yield even under reduced water and no nutrient applications. Hand-cross pollination resulted in over 50% fruit set with small kernels, while open-pollinated flowers showed over 30% fruit set with moderate-sized kernels. Pollinator-excluded flowers had a maximum fruit set of 5%, with big and heavy kernels. Reduced water interacted with the open- and hand-cross pollination treatments, reducing yield more than in the pollinator exclusion treatment. The number of kernels negatively influenced the number of leaves, and reduced water and no nutrient applications interacted with the pollination treatments. Overall, our results indicate that the influences of pollination on fruit tree yield interact with the plant availability of nutrients and water and that excess pollination can reduce fruit quality and the production of leaves for photosynthesis. Such information is critical to understand how pollination influences fruit tree performance.
Original languageEnglish
JournalPlant Biology
Volume17
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)201-208
Number of pages8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.01.2015

    Research areas

  • Biology
  • Ecosystems Research - Almond, foliage, fruit tree, leaf loss, plant resource limitation, pollination–resource interactions, Prunus dulcis

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. A Gait Pattern Generator for Closed-Loop Position Control of a Soft Walking Robot
  2. Standort- und Belegungsplanung für Maschinen in mehrstufigen Produktionsprozessen
  3. Das Handy: Vom Instrument der Mikrokoordination zur universellen Kontrollmaschine
  4. Narrative consistency across replays of pro-social interactive digital narratives
  5. Challenges in Education A Deweyan Assessment of AI Technologies in the Classroom
  6. Safeguards, financing, and employment in Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa
  7. Rollstuhlbasketball vermitteln und Talente in der Schule spielend finden (RoBaTaS)
  8. Einfluss kontrollierten Brennens auf die Nährstoffdynamik von Sand- und Moorheiden
  9. Callcenter-Design - arbeitswissenschaftliche Planung und Gestaltung von Callcentern
  10. Scale in environmental governance: moving from concepts and cases to consolidation
  11. Heidis Girls und Popstars-Mädchen: inszenierte Lebensträume und harte (Körper-)Arbeit
  12. Notwendige Maßnahmen zur Integration von Gender-Aspekten in gestufte Studiengänge
  13. 70. Tagung der Kommission Arbeitsgruppe für Empirische Pädagogische Forschung (AEPF)
  14. Contrastivity and comparability: Pragmatic variation across pluricentric varieties
  15. The role of learners’ memory in app-based language instruction: the case of Duolingo.
  16. Robust Control as a Mathematical Paradigm for Innovative Engineering Applications
  17. Ausdauerndes Skilanglaufen - gemeinsam in profiliertem Gelände Skitouren bewältigen
  18. Nutzung von Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement-Software in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen
  19. Berücksichtigung von Ökosystemleistungen in privatwirtschaftlichen Entscheidungen
  20. Energiewende als Gemeinschaftswerk? Stand und Perspektiven zur Einbindung der Jugend
  21. Habitat preferences of the Levant Green Lizard, Lacerta media israelica (Peters, 1964)
  22. Nationale Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien - "blinde Flecken" aus und für Genderperspektiven
  23. Different complex word problems require different combinations of cognitive skills
  24. Raf De Bont: Stations in the Field. A History of Place-Based Animal Research, 1870–1930
  25. Managing and accounting for corporate biodiversity contributions mapping the field
  26. Bilanzrechtsmodernisierung: Wandel von einer „offenen“ zu einer „stillen“ Bilanzpolitik
  27. Die Maschine auf der Couch. Oder: Was ist schon 'künstlich' an Künstlicher Intelligenz?
  28. Trace Metal Dynamics in Floodplain Soils of the River Elbe: A Review (vol 38, pg 1349)
  29. Vertrag über die Europäische Union (EUV) : Artikel 26 [Generalsekretär; Hoher Vertreter]
  30. Experimentation of a LiBr–H2O absorption process for long-term solar thermal storage
  31. Der Nationalsozialismus und die Shoah in der deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur