Frost Damage Mitigation in Flowers and Fruitlets of Peach and Almond from the Application of a Multi-Attribute Approach Biostimulant
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Publication date
2024-06-08ISSN
2223-7747
Abstract
To prevent frost damage in fruit trees, growers employ passive and active methods, and one of these second methods is the use of biostimulant compounds against abiotic stress. In this study, two trials were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a multi-attribute approach biostimulant—containing α-tocopherol, boron, and glycols, in peach (‘UFO-4’ cultivar) and almond (‘Vairo’ cultivar) trees. In a first trial, one-year-old shoots with flowers were collected after 24 h, 48 h, and 96 h of the biostimulant applications. Two different application rates of the product (1000 and 2000 cc ha−1) were tested and compared to an untreated control. In a second trial, one-year-old shoots with fruitlets were collected after 24 h of the biostimulant applications. In this case, only an application rate (2000 cc ha−1) was tested. In the two trials, the collected one-year-old shoots were subjected to different frost temperatures using a controlled environment chamber. The damage level was assessed by a morphological analysis of the flowers and fruitlets 96 h after each frost cycle simulation. The lethal temperatures (LT10, LT50, and LT90) of each treatment were calculated by probit analysis. The product applied 24 h and 48 h before the frost simulations significantly decreased the LT10 and LT50 in 1.5 °C in peach flowers, and 2.5 °C in almond flowers (a temperature reduction of 50% and 75%, respectively). These results were more consistent when the application volume was 2000 cc ha−1, instead of 1000 cc ha−1. Significant differences between treated and non-treated fruitlets were observed only in almond fruitlets, with LT10 and LT50 being 0.5 °C lower in treated fruitlets (20% reduction). In conclusion, the multi-attribute approach biostimulant applied 24 or 48 h before the frost reduced the mortality of peach and almond flowers, but its effectiveness to protect fruitlets after bloom was inconsistent.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
632 - Plant damage, injuries. Plant diseases. Pests, organisms injurious to plants. Plant protection
633 - Field crops and their production
Pages
16
Publisher
MDPI
Is part of
Plants
Citation
Torres, Estanis, and Xavier Miarnau. 2024. “Frost Damage Mitigation in Flowers and Fruitlets of Peach and Almond from the Application of a Multi-Attribute Approach Biostimulant.” Plants 13 (12): 1603–3. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13121603.
Program
Fructicultura
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2756]
Rights
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/