AOBPreview originally published online on July 30, 2009
Annals of Botany 2009 104(5):957-964; doi:10.1093/aob/mcp181
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Genetic differences in fruit-set patterns are determined by differences in fruit sink strength and a source : sink threshold for fruit set
1 Horticultural Supply Chains, Department Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, PO Box 630, 6700 AP Wageningen, The Netherlands
2 Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions, Ministry of Education, College of Resources and Environment, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China
3 LIAMA, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China
4 Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture, PO Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
* For correspondence. E-mail Maaike.Wubs{at}wur.nl
Received: 8 April 2009 Returned for revision: 20 May 2009 Accepted: 15 June 2009 Published electronically: 30 July 2009
Background and Aims: Fruit set in indeterminate plant species largely depends on the balance between source and sink strength. Plants of these species show fluctuations in fruit set during the growing season. It was tested whether differences in fruit sink strength among the cultivars explained the differences in fruit-set patterns.
Methods: Capsicum was chosen as a model plant. Six cultivars with differences in fruit set, fruit size and plant growth were evaluated in a greenhouse experiment. Fruit-set patterns, generative and vegetative sink strength, source strength and the source : sink ratio at fruit set were determined. Sink strength was quantified as potential growth rate. Fruit set was related to total fruit sink strength and the source : sink ratio. The effect of differences observed in above-mentioned parameters on fruit-set patterns was examined using a simple simulation model.
Key Results: Sink strengths of individual fruits differed greatly among cultivars. Week-to-week fruit set in large-fruited cultivars fluctuated due to large fluctuations in total fruit sink strength, but in small-fruited cultivars, total fruit sink strength and fruit set were relatively constant. Large variations in week-to-week fruit set were correlated with a low fruit-set percentage. The source : sink threshold for fruit set was higher in large-fruited cultivars. Simulations showed that within the range of parameter values found in the experiment, fruit sink strength and source : sink threshold for fruit set had the largest impact on fruit set: an increase in these parameters decreased the average percentage fruit set and increased variation in weekly fruit set. Both were needed to explain the fruit-set patterns observed. The differences observed in the other parameters (e.g. source strength) had a lower effect on fruit set.
Conclusions: Both individual fruit sink strength and the source : sink threshold for fruit set were needed to explain the differences observed between fruit-set patterns of the six cultivars.
Key words: Fruit-set patterns, fruit sink strength, source : sink ratio, threshold for fruit set, Capsicum annuum, cultivars
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