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AOBPreview originally published online on February 23, 2004
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Annals of Botany 93: 455-468, 2004
© 2004 Annals of Botany Company

Identification of Biomechanical Factors Involved in Stem Shape Variability between Apricot Tree Varieties

TANCREDE ALMÉRAS*,1, EVELYNE COSTES1 and JEAN-CLAUDE SALLES1

1 UMR 1098 Biologie du développement des Espèces Pérennes Cultivées, INRA-ENSAM-IRD-CIRAD, Equipe ‘Architecture et Fonctionnement des Espèces Fruitières’, 2 Place Viala, 34060 Montpellier Cedex 1, France

* For correspondence. E-mail t_almeras{at}hotmail.com

Received: 31 July 2003; Returned for revision: 3 November 2003; Accepted: 3 December 2003; Published electronically: 23 February 2004

• Background and Aims Stem shape in angiosperms depends on several growth traits such as elongation direction, amount and position of axillary loads, stem dimensions, wood elasticity, radial growth dynamics and active re-orientation due to tension wood. This paper analyses the relationship between these biomechanical factors and stem shape variability.

• Methods Three apricot tree varieties with contrasting stem shape were studied. Growth and bending dynamics, mechanical properties and amount of tension wood were measured on 40 1-year-old stems of each variety during one growth season. Formulae derived from simple biomechanical models are proposed to quantify the relationship between biomechanical factors and re-orientation of the stems. The effect of biomechanical factors is quantified combining their mechanical sensitivity and their actual variability.

• Key results Re-orientations happened in three main periods, involving distinct biomechanical phenomena: (a) passive bending due to the increase of shoot and fruit load at the start of the season; (b) passive uprighting at the fall of fruits; (c) active uprighting due tension wood production at the end of the season. Differences between varieties mainly happened during periods (a) and (b).

• Conclusions The main factors causing differences between varieties are the length/diameter and the load/cross-sectional area ratios during period (a). Wood elasticity does not play an important role because of its low inter-variety variability. Differences during period (b) are related to the dynamics of radial growth: varieties with early radial growth bend weakly upward because the new wood layers tend to set them in a bent position. The action of tension wood during period (c) is low when compared with passive phenomena involved in periods (a) and (b).

Key words: Biomechanics, modelling, tree architecture, stem shape, growth dynamics, re-orientation, Prunus armeniaca.


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