Long proleptic and sylleptic shoots in peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) trees have similar, predetermined, maximum numbers of nodes and bud fate patterns
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Author
Prats-Llinàs, Maria Teresa
López, Gerardo
Fyhrie, Katherine
Pallas, Benoît
Guédon, Yann
Costes, Evelyne
DeJong, Theodore M.
Publication date
2019-01-03ISSN
0305-7364
Abstract
Background and Aims
In peach (Prunus persica) trees, three types of shoots can be distinguished depending on the time of their appearance: sylleptic, proleptic and epicormic. On proleptic shoots, an average of ten phytomers are preformed in dormant buds prior to shoot growth after bud-break, whereas all phytomers are considered neoformed in sylleptic and epicormic shoots. However, casual observations indicated that proleptic and sylleptic shoots appear quite similar in number of phytomers and structure in spite of their different origins. The goal of this research was to test the hypothesis that both proleptic and sylleptic shoots exhibit similar growth characteristics by analysing their node numbers and bud fate patterns. If their growth characteristics are similar, it would indicate that the structure of both types of shoots is primarily under genetic rather than environmental control.
Methods
The number of phytomers and bud fate patterns of proleptic and sylleptic shoots of four peach cultivars grown in the same location (Winters, California) were analysed and characterized using hidden semi-Markov models. Field data were collected during winter 2016, just prior to floral bud-break.
Key Results
Sylleptic shoots tended to have slightly fewer phytomers than proleptic shoots of the same cultivars. The bud fate patterns along proleptic and sylleptic shoots were remarkably similar for all the cultivars, although proleptic shoots started growing earlier (at least 1 month) in the spring than sylleptic shoots.
Conclusions
This study provides strong evidence for the semi-deterministic nature of both proleptic and sylleptic shoots across four peach cultivars in terms of number of phytomers and bud fate patterns along shoots. It is apparent that the overall structure of shoots with similar numbers of phytomers was under similar genetic control for the two shoot types. Understanding shoot structural characteristics can aid in phenotypic characterization of vegetative growth of trees and in providing a foundation for vegetative management of fruit trees in horticultural settings.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Accepted version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
631 - Agriculture in general
Pages
38
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Is part of
Annals of Botany
Citation
Prats-Llinàs, Maria Teresa, Gerardo López, Katherine Fyhrie, Benoît Pallas, Yann Guédon, Evelyne Costes, and Theodore M DeJong. 2019. "Long Proleptic And Sylleptic Shoots In Peach (Prunus Persica L. Batsch) Trees Have Similar, Predetermined, Maximum Numbers Of Nodes And Bud Fate Patterns". Annals Of Botany 123 (6): 993-1004. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1093/aob/mcy232.
Grant agreement number
INIA/Programa Nacional de Proyectos de Investigación Fundamental/RTA2012-00059-C02-01/ES/Manejo del riego deficitario en olivo superintensivo en el norte de España/
Program
Ús Eficient de l'Aigua en Agricultura
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2820]
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/