ABSTRACT
Fennel plant (Foeniculum vulgare, Mill.) is one of most widely used plants in food and medicine. Our study aimed to show the response of fennel plants from Egypt and China planted in Egypt to foliar application of benzyladenine (BA) at various concentrations; control, 50, 100 and 150 ppm. The obtained results indicated that treated fennel plants with BA resulted in a significant increase in the vegetative growth, number of umbels/plant, fruit, yield and oil yield per plant and feddan as well as main components, total phenolic contents and antioxidant activity of essential oils compared to untreated plants. In general, the application of benzyladenine was more effective on Egyptian fennel plants than that of Chinese plants. Egyptian fennel plants gave higher values of growth, fruit yield, oil percentage and oil yield than Chinese plants. However, the major components, TPC and antioxidant activity (DPPH %) had higher values in Chinese essential oil than Egyptian essential oil. The highest values of all studied parameters were obtained by using BA at 100 ppm. GC–MS analysis of the volatile oils showed that the major components were trans-anethole followed by fenshone, ?- pinene and D-limonene, respectively for both essential oils. 100 ppm of BA gave the highest values of trans-anethole content and radical scavenging activities of oils. Therefore, we concluded that spraying fennel plants with 100 ppm BA can be used for obtaining higher vegetative growth, fruit and quantity and quality of oil.
ABSTRACT
Peach tree thinning, whichaims at reducing plant load so as to ensure productivity and fruit quality, has been manually carried out within a short period of time in the stage of fruit development. Due to the need and shortage of qualified man power, chemical thinning is one of the alternatives that can solve these difficulties found in manual thinning. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of different products which have been applied either alone or in combination to fruit thinning of peach tree cultivars 'Sensação' and 'Maciel' in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state, Brazil. The experiment was conducted in the 2015/2016 crop in a commercial peach orchard located in Morro Redondo, RS, Brazil. The following seven treatments were carried out 40 days after full bloom (DAFB): plants with no thinning, manual thinning, metamitron, benzyladenine, benzyladenine + metamitron, ethephon, ethephon + metamitron. Fruit abscission, effective fructification, number of fruits and production per plant, mean mass and fruit classification into caliber classes, epidermis color, pulp firmness and soluble solids were evaluated. Production and number of fruits per plant decreased excessively, whereas fruits placed in categories of higher caliber increased when ethephon was either used alone or in combination with metamitron. When both metamitron and benzyladenine were applied, either alone or in combination, they led to fruit abscission and resulted in mean fruit size and weight, at harvest time, similar to those found in manual thinning. Application of chemical products either alone or in combination may be an alternative of peach tree thinning in orchard management.
O raleio em pessegueiro visa reduzir a carga da planta para assegurar a produtividade e a qualidade dos frutos, sendo realizado manualmente em um curto período durante a etapa de desenvolvimento dos frutos. Devido à exigência e falta de mão de obra qualificada, o raleio químico é uma das alternativas para suprir essa demanda encontrada no raleio manual. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito de diferentes produtos aplicados de forma isolada ou combinada no raleio de frutos de pessegueiros das cultivares Sensação e Maciel na região de Pelotas. O experimento foi conduzido na safra 2015/2016, em pomar comercial de pessegueiro localizado no município de Morro Redondo, RS. Foram realizados sete tratamentos aos 40 dias após a plena floração, consistindo em plantas sem raleio, raleio manual, metamitron, benziladenina, benziladenina + metamitron, ethephon, ethephon + metamitron. Avaliou-se a abscisão dos frutos, frutificação efetiva, número de frutos e produção por planta, massa média e classificação dos frutos em classes de calibre, coloração da epiderme, firmeza de polpa e sólidos solúveis. A produção e o número de frutos por planta reduziram excessivamente, enquanto a alocação dos frutos em categorias de maior calibre aumentou, quando utilizado o ethephon isolado ou em combinação com o metamitron. O metamitron e a benziladenina aplicados isolados ou em combinação promoveram a abscisão dos frutos e resultaram em tamanho e peso médio dos frutos na colheita semelhantes aos provenientes do raleio manual. Aplicação de produtos químicos isolados ou em combinação pode ser uma alternativa de manejo dos pomares para o raleio de pessegueiros.
Subject(s)
Prunus persica , Crop Production/methods , Crop ProductionABSTRACT
An efficient, highly reproducible protocol for multiple shoot induction and plant regeneration of Pongamia pinnata has been successfully developed using cotyledonary node explants. This study also demonstrates that preconditioning of explant stimulates production of multiple shoots from cotyledonary nodes of P. pinnata. The highest direct shoot regeneration (90 percent) with an average of 18.4 +/- 3.1 shoots/explant were obtained when cotyledonary node explants were excised from seedlings germinated on Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with benzyladenine (BA) 1 mg l-1, and subsequently cultured on MS media with 1 mgl-1 thidiazuron (TDZ). Scanning electron microscope observations of cotyledonary node (CN) explants excised from pre-conditioned and normal seedlings, revealed larger buds with rapid development in BA-preconditioned CN explants. The addition of adenine sulphate significantly increased the average number of shoots per explant. The highest direct shoot regeneration (93 percent) with an average of 32.2 +/- 0.93 shoots/explant was obtained from BA-preconditioned CN when cultured on MS media supplemented with 1 mg l-1 TDZ and 200 mg l-1 adenine sulphate (ADS). Repeated shoot proliferation was observed from BA preconditioned CN explants up to 3 cycles with an average of 15 shoots/explant/cycle when cultured on MS media supplemented with 1 mg l-1 TDZ and 150 mg l-1 L-glutamine, thus producing 45 shoots/CN explant. Shoots were elongated on hormone free MS media and rooted on 1/2 MS media supplemented with 1 mg l-1 of IBA. Rooted shoots were successfully acclimatized and established in soil with 80 percent success. The highly regenerative system developed in this investigation for this important tree could be a useful tool for genetic transformation.