Higher growth of the apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) fruit cortex is supported by resource intensive metabolism during early development

摘要

Spatial and temporal patterns of fruit growth in apple. Illustration of a longitudinal section of an apple fruit displaying the cortex, pith, seed locules and vascular traces ( ). Apple fruit cluster before (top) and after (bottom) manual excision of fruit at the pedicel as performed for the ‘reduced fruit load’ treatment ( ). Arrow indicates the point of fruit excision. Fruit load reduction was performed at 11 d after full bloom. Fruit diameter ( ), length ( ), and longitudinal sectional areas of pith ( ) and cortex ( ) of apple fruit are presented in relation to time after fruit load reduction treatment. Relative growth rates (RGR) of the pith and cortex tissues during fruit development and in response to fruit load reduction are displayed ( - ). Mean ± S.D. (  = 4) are displayed here. Asterisk indicates significant difference between the control (CL) and reduced fruit load (RL) treatments at α = 0.05