We tested the hypothesis that whole-tree water consumption of olives (Olea europaea L.) is fruit load-dependent and investigated the driving physiological mechanisms. Fruit load was manipulated in mature olives grown in weighing-drainage lysimeters. Fruit was thinned or entirely removed from trees at three separate stages of growth: early, mid and late in the season. Tree-scale transpiration, c...

1. (45 points) Big monkey (M ) and little monkey (m) live happily in the jungle, but they are often hungry. Both monkeys eat the fruit of a particular tree, which grows high above the ground. They both have two actions: “bang on tree” (B) and “climb to obtain the fruit” (C). Being more senior, big monkey gets to act first. Banging on the tree by big monkey yields 0.6 probability for the fruit t...

Children are not consuming sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables in their habitual diet. Methods derived from associative learning theories could be effective at promoting vegetable intake in pre-school children. The objective of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of different learning strategies in promoting the intake of a novel vegetable. Children aged between 9 and 38 ...

apricot (prunus armeniaca l.) is a species particularly prone to erratic fruit set, and its flower bud drop has been repeatedly reported in different cultivars and growing conditions. a number of potential causes have been explored, but a clear main cause remains elusive. in this study, fruit set was determined for 11 apricot cultivars (‘precoce de tyrinthe’, ‘feriana’, ‘beliana’, ‘priana’, ‘be...

the aim of this study was to determine the most suitable shaking frequency and amplitude for shake harvesting lime fruit (c. aurantifolia). a tractor mounted limb shaker with adjustable shaking frequency and amplitude, powered by the tractor power-take-off shaft was designed and developed for this study. the rotating input power was transmitted to the shaker flywheel through a multiple sheave v...

This study documents the flowering phenology and its potential consequences on a nursery pollination mutualism between a dioecious plant, in which honest male plants, but not cheating females, allow the specific pollinator to reproduce within inflorescences. Very few pollinators were found to emerge during plant anthesis, leading to a low (if any) potential benefit through pollen dispersal. Thi...

orchard intensification is motivated by the desire to produce fruit early in the life of the orchard to rapidly recover establishment costs. intensification is possible using dwarfing rootstocks that control tree size, induce early cropping and produce large quantities of fruit compared to the amount of wood produced. therefore, this study attempts to compare some yield and fruit properties of ...