Influence of temperature on the development of peach fruit in a subtropical climate region

Abstract

Understanding the growing process and fruit size differences among peach cultivars is extremely important in the technological domain of the crop and can provide information to improve the proper crop management (thinning and harvesting seasons) and the crop breeding of fruits with a larger caliber. However, this information is still incipient in subtropical regions and requires further research, especially in Brazil. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of temperature on the growing of four peach cultivars (Tropical, Aurora-2, Ouro Mel-4, and Biuti) under subtropical conditions of field cultivation. Fruit development was determined every two weeks throughout the cycle with 30 fruits from previously identified branches from six different plants of each cultivar. Regarding the thermal accumulation in growing degree-days (GDD), the cultivar ‘Tropical’ showed the lowest agronomic fruit properties (size and mass) and required a lower GDD accumulation during the development stages of the fruits, whereas the cultivar ‘Biuti’ showed higher thermal requirements and higher agronomic properties. The number of cells had greater influence on the final fruit size than the cell area.