Anthocyanins in the fruit of the Chinese bayberry (Myrica rubra Sieb. & Zucc.) are a major focus of research. In the current study, we investigated anthocyanin, total flavonoid, and phenolic acid profiles, as well as the expression of genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis, during fruit development in eight cultivars of Chinese bayberry. Total flavonoid and phenolic acid levels were relativ...

Fruit development in higher plants normally requires pollination and fertilization to stimulate cell division of specific floral tissues. In some cases, parthenocarpic fruit development proceeds without either pollination or fertilization. Parthenocarpic fruit without seed has higher commercial value than seeded fruit. Several apple (Malus domestica) mutants (Rae Ime, Spencer Seedless and Welli...

Chilling injury (CI) symptoms in avocado (Persea americana Mill.) fruit, expressed as mesocarp discoloration, were found to be associated with embryo growth and ethylene production during cold storage. In cvs Ettinger and Arad most mesocarp discoloration was located close to the base of the seed and was induced by ethylene treatment in seeded avocado fruit. However, ethylene did not increase me...

Fatty acids and amino acids serve as ester precursors, in addition to lipoxyaenase (LOX; EC 1.13.11.12), alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH; EC 1.1.1.1) and alcohol o-acyltransferase (AAT; EC 2.3.1.84) activities, were assessed during maturation of climacteric and nonclimacteric muskmelons. The results showed that the levels of the main fatty acids related to aroma formation containing oleic acid, lino...

Phloem unloading plays a pivotal role in photoassimilate partitioning and the accumulation of sugars in sink organs, e.g. fruit. Here, we investigated the pathway of sucrose unloading in kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciasa cv. Qinmei) using a combination of electron microscopy, transport of the phloem-mobile symplastic tracer carboxyfluorescein and enzyme activity and gene expression assays. Our str...

In general, the quality of fruits depends on local conditions experienced by the fruit during its development. In cotton, fruit quality, and more specifically the quality of the fibre in the fruit, depends on interactions between fruit position in the plant architecture, temperature and agronomic practices, such as sowing time, mulching with plastic film and topping of the plant's main stem and...

Fruit ripening is the summation of changes rendering fleshy fruit tissues attractive and palatable to seed dispersing organisms. For example, sugar content is influenced by plastid numbers and photosynthetic activity in unripe fruit and later by starch and sugar catabolism during ripening. Tomato fruit are sinks of photosynthate, yet unripe green fruit contribute significantly to the sugars tha...

Background: High intake of fruit juices and soft drinks contributes to excessive weight gain and obesity in children. Furthermore, parenting practices play an important role in the development of children's dietary habits. The way parents play this role in the development of their children's choices of beverages is still unclear. Objectives: To study the associations: (1) of both fruit juices a...

The Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) is an important quarantine pest around the globe. Although measures for its control are implemented worldwide through IPM and male annihilation, there is little effect on their population. Hence, there is a need for new strategies to control this minacious pest. A strategy that has received negligible attention is the induction of 'natural pl...

to evaluate the effect of shoot girdling, fruit thinning, urea, sucrose and zinc on inflorescence bud retention in pistachio, an experiment comprised of 12 treatments including girdling, fruit thinning, application of urea (0.5%), and sucrose (3 and 5%) and their combination of the first two with urea plus zinc sulfate (0.05 and 0.1% of pure zinc) as well as a combination of the two with urea, ...