Jae Han Lee

Regrowth of Buds and Flower Bud Formation in Kiwifruit as Affected by Early Defoliation

BACKGROUND: Kiwifruit, which was introduced to Korea in late 1970s, is a warm-temperate fruit tree, whose leaves are easily damaged by wind because of their large size. To produce high quality fruits, efficient windbreak is necessary to protect leaves until harvest. In Korea, typhoons from July onwards usually influence the production of kiwifruit. Damages from typhoons include low fruit quality in the current year and low flowering ratio the following year. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of early defoliation of kiwifruit vines from July to October on the regrowth of shoot axillary buds the current year and bud break and flowering the following year. METHODS AND RESULTS: Scions of kiwifruit cultivar Goldrush were veneer grafted onto five-year-old Actinidia deliciosa rootstocks, planted in Wagner pots (13L) and grown in a rain shelter. Kiwifruit leaves in the proximity of leaf stalk were cut by lopping shears to simulate mechanical damage from typhoon since only leaf stalks were left when kiwifruit vines were damaged by typhoons. Kiwifruit vines were defoliated from July 15 to October 14 with one monthintervals and degrees of defoliation were 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%. All experiments were conducted in the rain shelter and replicated at least five times. Defoliation in July 15 resulted in a high regrowth ratio of 20-40% regardless of degree of defoliation but that in August 16 showed only 5.8% of regrowth ratio in the no defoliation treatment; however, more than 25% of defoliation in August 16 showed 17-23% of regrowth ratio. In September 15, regrowth ratio decreased further to less than 10% in all treatments and no regrowth was observed in October 14. Percent bud break of all defoliation treatments were not significant in comparison to 64.7% in no defoliation except for 42.1% and 42.9% in 100% defoliation in July 15 and August 16, respectively. Floral shoot in the no defoliation treatment was 70.2% and defoliation of 50% or less resulted in the same or increased floral shoot ratio in July 15, August 16, and September 15; however, defoliation in October 14 showed no difference in all treatments. In flower number per floral shoot, 2-3 flowers appeared in no defoliation and only 1 flower was observed when the vines were defoliated more than 50% in July 15 and September 15. In October 14, contrary to the floral shoot ratio, flower number decreased with increased defoliation. CONCLUSION(S): Therefore, it is suggested that dormancy of Goldrush axillary buds, was started in August and completed in October. The effect of defoliation on bud break of axillary buds the following year was insignificant, except for 100% defoliation in July 15 and August 16. From July 15 to September 15, floral bud ratio was significantly reduced when more than 50% of leaves were defoliated compared to no defoliation. Also, the number of flowers per flower-bearing shoot the following year decreased by less than 50% when compared to no defoliation, and this decrease was more prominent in September 15 than July 15 and August 16.

Fruit Quality and Fruit Locule Air Hole of Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa cv. Hayward) Affected by Early Defoliation

BACKGROUND: The fruit quality and flowering characteristics of Kiwifruit (A. deliciosa cv. Hayward) in the following year is known to be affected by the extent and timing of defoliation of the current year. In korea, the production of kiwi, which is a perennial, straggling deciduous warm-temperate fruit, is often restricted by wind damage due to typhoons resulting to defoliation at the middle season of its growing period. In this paper, we report the effect of the different timing of defoliation and severities at the current season to the kiwifruit quality. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty seven-year-old Hayward trees grown under polyethylene film rain-shelter were defoliated in different days from August to September at seven day-intervals. In each day, 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of leaves were removed from the trees. Fruits from each treatment were classified into four floating types (L: lying in bottom, S: standing on bottom, F: floating and SF: floating at the surface of water) by submerging them into tap water. Defoliation of kiwifruit trees in August and September caused air holes in locules of inner pericarp. Increased number of air hole in locules of a fruit was observed in floating types F and SF, and most of the air holes were located in stem end. The defoliation of trees in August significantly reduced the ratio of L-floating type fruits, which have the least number of locule air holes. The extent of defoliation also affected the distribution of the four types, the more leaves removed, the less L-floating type fruits harvested. The weight of fruits from trees defoliated in August was lower than that of fruits from September. Soluble solids content decreased as the number of locule air holes increased. Negative correlations were observed between the extent of defoliation and the weight and soluble solids content of fruits. CONCLUSION: Early defoliation effect on kiwifruit locule air hole occurrence and fruit quality were more severe in August than in September. And also if the defoliation severity is over 25%, severe fruit quality reduction expected to happen due to increase of fruit locule air hole in the inner pericarp.

Effects of foliar fertilization containing titanium dioxide on growth, yield and quality of strawberries during cultivation

We addressed the question of whether it is useful to apply a titanium dioxide (TiO2) solution to promote the growth of strawberry plants in a greenhouse when they suffer from insufficient solar radiation during the winter season. A TiO2 solution was sprayed on strawberry plants three times during the growth period. This treatment occurred once on the 5th day of each month from December to February at concentrations of 50, 100 or 150 mg·kg -1. The control strawberry plants were treated with a foliar solution lacking TiO2. The length of the petiole was inhibited by TiO2 treatments, especially those in January and February. In terms of the fruits, the TiO2 applications were found to increase the yield and hardness of strawberries compared to the control. In addition, the contents of chlorophyll a and b in the leaves of the strawberries were increased by the treatment with TiO2 foliar spray. In contrast, the phenolic compounds of the fruits were decreased as a result of the TiO2 treatments. Combined, our results reveal that the application of TiO2 can promote the yield and quality of strawberry plants sufferings from a shortage of sunlight in a plastic greenhouse during the winter season.