Certain varieties of many species of plants develop their fruits parthenocarpically or without fertilization. The apple and pear occasionally produce parthenocarpic fruits but generally under special nutritive conditions (10). In some varieties of grapes, figs, bananas, and oranges, parthenocarpy is of great economic importance (4, 14). Because of this naturally occurring phenomenon, attention ...

grown in California because of its high productivity, wide soil adaptability, seedless fruit, and versatility for use in different grape and raisin products. About 95 percent of California raisins are currently produced from ‘Thompson Seedless’ grapes, followed by ‘Fiesta’ (3 percent) and ‘Zante Currant’ (1.5 percent). The remainder are produced from ‘DOVine,’ ‘Muscat of Alexandria,’ “Sultana” ...

There is a large genetic diversity for fruit size and yield in watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai var. lanatus]. Current cultivars have high fruit quality but may not be the highest yielders. This study was designed to estimate variance components and heritability of fruit yield (Mg·ha), fruit count (th·ha), and fruit size (kg/fruit) in a cross involving high-yielding ‘Mount...