Effects of inflorescence removal on the fruit set of the remaining inflorescences and development of the laterals on one year old apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) branches

SummaryInflorescences are known to be important physiological sinks especially when they set fruit. The effect, over two successive years, of inflorescence removal on one year old wood was investigated on apple (Malus domestica Borkh.). The study was carried out on medium vigour (around 30 cm) branches of cv. Granny Smith. On one set of branches (control) the inflorescences were untreated, while on two other sets, one-third and two-thirds of inflorescences (spur leaves, bourse-shoot and flower cluster) were removed at full bloom. The first analysis investigated the fruit setting ability of remaining inflorescences. The results generally confirmed previous results on the positive correlation between the number of leaves and flowers of the inflorescence and fruit set, and also the higher fruit set on two year old wood as compared with one year old wood. On one year old wood, inflorescence removal treatments tended to increase the fruit set of inflorescences with a low number of leaves and flowers leading to a level of fruit set similar to that of inflorescences with a larger number of leaves and flowers. On two year old wood, in the following year, only the two-thirds treatment increased fruit set consistently compared with the control. A second analysis investigated the effect of inflorescence removal on lateral shoot development. It was shown that the treatments had a little effect on quantitative growth (length, diameter) of the laterals per se. On the other hand, the removal of two-thirds of the inflorescence significantly stimulated the development of fruitful inflorescences the following year. Results are discussed in relation to the local versus global physiological integration at the branch level.