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APPLE AND PEAR TREE ARCHITECTURE A WAY TO IMPROVE ORCHARD MANAGEMENT

P.É. Lauri - INRA

Montpellier, FranceJoint Research Unit SYSTEM (Tropical and Mediterranean Cropping System Functioning

and Management)

2015 WSU Fruit School - Apple and Pear Horticulture

Montpellier

Architectural concepts

Interest for apple: from knowledge to practice

Training and pruning the apple in France:a brief history and where we are now

Pear architecture

Architectural concepts

Plant development is driven by endogenousprocesses, modulated by the environment

Hallé (F), Oldeman (NL), Tomlinson (USA), 1978

tree architecture↕

forestry and sylvigenesis

Botanic: Bell 2008; Barthélémy & Caraglio 2007Fruit-trees: Lauri 2002; Lauri & Laurens, 2005; Costes, Lauri & Regnard 2006

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple – Pear architecture

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple – Pear architecture

1 – Qualitative criteria

Position of flowers on scaffold branches (lateral vs. terminal)

Peach – Prunus persica

Horse chesnut –

Aesculus hippocastanum

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

2 – Architectural models: 22The observed branch framework may be adequately described by a

single model.

e.g., cherry conforms to Rauh's model.

(Hallé et al. 1978)

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

The observed branch framework of other species may be

described by at least two models.

e.g., apple partly conforms to Rauh's

Main architectural features of the Apple tree:

1 - All branches initially orthotropic (upright trunk and branches). Secondary bending usually occurs with fruit load.

2 - Branching: rhythmic.

3 - Flowering: lateral and terminal.

Terminal flowering is typical of Scarrone's model.

5-year-old ‘Starkrimson’ tree / M7

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Scarrone's model.

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

(Hallé et al. 1978)

High frequency

of lateral

flowering

« RAUH

Tendency »

Alternate

bearing

High frequency

of terminal

flowering

« SCARRONE

Tendency »

Regular

bearing

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

‘Starkrimson’ / M7 (5YO) ‘Granny Smith’ / M7 (3YO)

(Lespinasse & Delort, 1986)

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Columnar type

Effects of the environment!

e.g., cold winter winter chilling acrotony

mild winter lack of winter chilling basitony

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Typical conditions in

Southern Brazil

(Schmitz et al. 2014, 2015, 2015)

3 – ReiterationThe architectural sequence is reiterated WITHIN tree crown

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Larch –

Larix decidua

Total reiteration

Crown shyness-Partial reiteration

Heading cut

Apple - ‘Galaxy’

Bending

Pear - ‘Bartlett’

Ficus benjamina

Total reiteration

& Cocos nucifera

No reiteration

Reiteration is an important phenomenon in fruit tree

e.g., Apple

1 – The relationship between reiteration and flowering depends

on the cultivar.

‘Granny Smith’‘Starkrimson’

Strong growth No flowering

= antagonism betweenvegetative growthand flowering

Strong growth Flowering

= no antagonism betweenvegetative growth

and flowering

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Reiteration is an important phenomenon in fruit tree

2 – Granny Smith: growth strategy includes growth fruiting

in terminal position bending reiteration growth etc. (8-

year sequence on M7)

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Architectural concepts (criteria, models, reiteration)

Interest for apple and pear: fromknowledge to practice

Training and pruning the apple in France: a brief history and where we are now

Pear architecture

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Year 1

…

Fruit-tree = « black box »

Concepts of plant architecture to develop a methodology

to analyze vegetative growth and fruiting patterns

2 steps

16

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Year 2

Year 3

1 - Branch growth over consecutive years

Latent - L

Extinction = death of a lateral

(often after F or A)

2 – Type of laterals

17

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Vegetative - V

- F

- A

Interest of the methodology: a posteriori analysis of branching and

fruiting over several years

Sequence of laterals (filiation)

Genotypic differences on two main traits: bourse-over-bourse &

extinction

18

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

&

1st aspect: ability to string bourse-over-bourse

‘Granny Smith’

‘Gala’

3-year-old spurs with

contrasted fruiting patterns

AA

A

A

V

A

Bourse

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Bourse-shoot

‘Chantecler’ & ‘Pitchounette’: parabolic

relation

Fruit-set is dependent on the number

of leaves/leaf area established in the

previous year

= « flower quality » or « floral strength »

in terms of the aptitude to set fruit

NB: same relationship in Mango (Normand

et al. 2009) and in forest trees

Fruit-seti.e., at least one fruit developed

y = -0.002x2 + 0.084x + 0.008

R2 = 0.54

y = -0.001x2 + 0.06x - 0.16

R2 = 0.77

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30

Number of leaves of shoots (bourse & bourse-shoot) on IYW

Fru

itin

g in

te

rm.

Po

s.

on

2Y

W (

rel. f

req

.

ou

t o

f a

ll f

low

. sh

oo

ts)

Pitchounette

Chantecler

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

(Lauri & Corelli-Grappadelli 2014)

Subtending shoot (year N)

Fruit-set (year N+1)

‘Starkrimson’/M7

Bourse-over-bourse =

localized process

What about all spurs on a

branch or a tree?

Spur-type trees have an

alternate bearing on low-vigor

rootstocks (e.g. M9) and a

more regular bearing pattern

on more vigorous rootstocks

(e.g. M7).

desynchronization

synchronization vs. desynchronizationArchitecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

(Lauri & Laurens 2005)

synchronization vs. desynchronization

Apple - ‘Braeburn’: case of synchronization

Pear – ‘Angélys’:

case of desynchronization

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

synchronization vs. desynchronization

Physiological mechanisms?

Relations with hydraulics

(Han et al., 2007; Lauri et al., 2008)

2nd aspect: spur extinction

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

3rd aspect: bourse-over-bourse extinction

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1Bourse over bourse (frequency)

exti

nct

ion

(fr

eq

ue

ncy

)

Granny Smith

Red Winter

Jonagold

Royal GalaMelrose

R. des Reinettes

O. Spur

Delicious

Fuji

Braeburn

TYPE IV

TYPE II

Golden Delicious(Lauri et al., 1995,

1997, … 2014)

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Each cultivar has its own architectural strategy related to the bearing pattern (bourse-over-bourse, extinction, de/synchronization,

latency, shoot length…)

Suggest a negativerelationship between spurdensity and bourse-over-bourse.

Idea to do « artificial spurextinction » on cultivars with low bourse-over-bourse.

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

NB: flower/fruitlet thinning vs. artificial spur extinction

Artificial extinction, especially on flowering

spurs (…; Tustin et al.; van Hooijdonk et al.)

Flower or fruitlet thinning

(… Kon et al. 2013)

Branch Gauge to

objectively balance

the nb of fruits / cm²

of fruiting branch

cross-section area

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Architectural concepts (criteria, models, reiteration)

Interest for apple and pear: fromknowledge to practice

Training and pruning the apple in France:a brief history and where we are now

Pear architecture

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

‘Pink Lady’ – 5-6 year-old trees.

An obvious effect of training and pruning strategies on fruiting

Challenge: how to use the knowledge on tree architecture to establish rulesfor training and pruning…

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Phenotype: native tree architecture responses to manipulations

Paradigm: « trunk – fruiting branch - fruiting spur »

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Vertical Axis(Lespinasse 1977,

1980)

Solaxe(Lespinasse &

Lauri 1996)

CentrifugalTraining

(Lauri 2009)

Salsa(Lauri et al. IHC 2014)

Paradigm: « reiterative trunk–

fruiting spur »

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

‘Braeburn’/M7- 9YO (INRA) ‘Granny Smith’/M7- 3YO (INRA)

Strong variations of branching depending on the cultivar (especially immediate branching in the 1st year of planting)

‘Braeburn’: well adapted to a cylindrical shape, Centrifugal Training

‘Granny Smith’: interest to use ALL reiterative trunks

Basic principles To improve leaf functioning + return-bloom + fruit quality (color…)

Canopy Porosity & Fruiting Shoot Autonomy

Single vertical trunk:

need to partition the vigor towards fruiting shoot

trunk fruiting branch fruiting shoot

2 or more reiterative trunks:

less vigourous than a single trunk

reiterative trunk fruiting shoot

satisfactory yield quantity and quality

lower labour inputs, due to less time for training and pruning to shape the tree.

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

y = -0.002x2 + 0.084x + 0.008

R2 = 0.54

y = -0.001x2 + 0.06x - 0.16

R2 = 0.77

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30

Number of leaves of shoots (bourse & bourse-shoot) on IYW

Fru

itin

g in

te

rm.

Po

s.

on

2Y

W (

rel. f

req

.

ou

t o

f a

ll f

low

. sh

oo

ts)

Pitchounette

Chantecler

Architectural concepts (criteria, models, reiteration)

Interest for apple and pear: fromknowledge to practice

Training and pruning the apple in France:a brief history and where we are now

Pear architecture

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Tree scale: different types of laterals along the main axes, immediate / delayed laterals (IL/DL)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

‘Angélys’ ‘Conférence’ ‘D. comice’ ‘Williams’

Me

an

nb

of

late

rals

c b a a cc b a

1st year 2nd year

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

Pear architecture studies and training and pruning: greatlyinspired from progresses in apple

1st year - Immediate

2nd year - Delayed

(Lauri et al., 2002)

R2

= 0.912

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

-0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

Differential in IL : (IL-DL)/(IL+DL)

WilliamsHarrow Sweet

Delwilmor

P. Crassane

HW608

Abbé Fetel

D. Comice

Conférence AngélysMea

n n

b o

f fl

ow

er

clu

ste

r

Tree scale: high immediate branching vs. delayedbranching high flowering

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

(Costes et al., 2004)

Interest of SALSA-type trees

Branch scale: flowering – synchronization vs. desynchronizationThe examples of ‘Doyenne du Comice’ and ‘Angélys ’

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

‘D du Comice’: high synchronization of flowering Low fruit-set (competitions) Low productivity

’Angélys’: desynchronization of flowering from3YW onwardsMore regular bearing

Training and pruning pear

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

As for apple, a main issue is to decrease spur density especiallyon high flowering cultivars

Usual training systems cannotsolve this problem

NB: chemical thinning only recently allowed in France (benzyladénine (Maxcel –Exillis), NAA (Rhodofix), métamitrone (Brévis))

Training and pruning pear – Experiment on ‘Guyot’ to decreasealternate bearing: artificial extinction on vegetative spurs in OFF year

Architecture - Knowledge to practice - Training & pruning the apple - Pear architecture

(Florens et al., 2014)

Heading cuts &

chemical thinning

Vegetative Spur Extinction &

chemical thinning

Thank you for your attention