Floral biology of 'Bulida' apricot trees subjected to postharvest drought stress

摘要

Drip irrigated Bulida apricot trees (Prunus armeniaca on Real Fino apricot rootstock) were submitted to drought stress by withholding irrigation for 2 different postharvest periods for 2 consecutive years in SE Spain. The first treatment (T-1) started immediately after harvest, and lasted 1.5 months, while the second treatment (T-2) started when the first treatment finished and lasted 2 months. These stress treatments were compared with a control treatment (T-0), which was irrigated throughout theyear so that it received an amount of water equivalent to 100% of the crop evapotranspiration demand. Flowers from the 3 treatments showed similar quality (fresh weight, petal surface area and pistil length) and frequent macrostyly (stigma located abovethe anthers). A lower percentage of pollen germination was observed in grains from the following year's flowers in plants from the T-1 treatment. The T-1 drought stress also induced a significant decrease in fruit yield, due to an increase in fruitlet drop. The T-2 treatment did not affect these processes and was not critical as regards apricot yield. The fruits harvested met the required standards of quality in all treatments.