pss 211 tree fruit culture history and origin
TRANSCRIPT
PSS 211 Tree Fruit CultureHistory and Origin
M. Elena Garcia Ph.D.
Back to PSS 221 Notes
Fruit Trees• Why?
History and Origin
• Family: Rosaceae• Subfamily: Pomoideae• Subfamily: Prunoideae
History and Origin: Pomes
• Subfamily: Pomoideae• Pome fruits
• Malus (apple)• Pyrus (pear)• Cydonia (quince)
History and Origin: Drupes
• Subfamily Prunoideae• Drupes or stone fruits
• Prunus (peach, nectarine, cherry, apricot, plum, and almond)
History and Origin
• Temperate zone, deciduous trees• Origin in areas with cold winters• Mechanisms for winter dormancy and
spring budbreak and flowering
• Generally adapted for animal dispersal• Colorful fruit• Often seeds are poisonous
History and Origin: Malus
• Malus• Native to the Caucasian Mountains
(Russia)• ~ 28 species, mostly European, some
American (some crabapples)• Obligate cross-pollination • Malus x domestica- the domestic apple
Geography
Geography
Historical Background: Apple
• Cultivated by primitive man• Evidence of domestication by 10th
century B.C.• In 9th B.C., in The Odyssey,Homer
wrote about apple trees
Historical Background (Apple)
• Propagation• Greece ~ 300 B.C.• Romans refined the practice• Extremely important
• Heterozygous• Difficult to root
Historical Background (Apple)
• 3rd century B.C.• 7 varieties
• 1st century A.D.• 36 varieties
• Today• >10,000 varieties
Historical Background (Apple)
• Pearmain• Oldest European named cultivar still in
existence
• Roxbury Russet• First American named apple
Roxbury Russet
Vermont Apple Industry
• Colonial - prior to 1800• Seedlings or ‘natural varieties’
• Cider-apple time - 1800-1875• in1810 :125 distillers/12300 gal brandy
• Farm orchards - 1875-1890• Commercial - 1910-1940• Specialized commercial - 1940-date
McIntosh
McIntosh
McIntosh
• Frosty mornings and bright sunny days• beautiful coloring • flavor development
McIntosh
• Ontario farm (1811)• Brought to Newport VT in 1868
History and Origin (Pyrus)
• Subfamily: Pomoideae• Pyrus (pear)• Native to most Europe, the Near East and
temperate AsiaOne ornamental evergreen species in Japan
• ~ 20 species
History and Origin (Pear)
• Pyrus (pear)• Obligate cross-pollination• Pyrus communis- common or European
pear• Pyrus pyrifolia- Chinese or sand pear
History and Origin (Pear)
• Pyrus communis- Common or European pear
• Domestication~ 2500 years ago during• ~ 300 BC Theophrastus recorded 3
cultivars• ~ 50 BC, Romans knew 40 cultivars• By 1600, in Europe, 1600 cultivars
History and Origin (Pear)• Common pear• Most older cultivars were firm, crisp
types • Today’s cultivars are soft buttery• Introduced to North America in the 17th
century• Not many new cultivars have been
developed
History and Origin (Pear)
• Pyrus pyrifolia- Chinese or Sand pear• Brought to California by Chinese
immigrants
History and Origin (Drupes)
• Subfamily Prunoideae• Drupes or stone fruit• Prunus• ~ 150 species• Most abundant in temperate zone, but a
few species are found in tropical mountains
History and Origin (Prunus)
• Prunus• Subgenus: Amygdalus• Subgenus: Prunophora• Subgenus: Cerasus
History and Origin
• Prunus• Subgenus: Amygdalus
• Prunus persica (peach and nectarine)• Mostly self-fertile• Prunus amygdalus (almond)• Obligate cross-pollination
History and Origin (Peach)
• Wild peaches• Western China, Tibet
• Wild almonds• Mediterranean basin and Southwestern
Asia
Geography (Peach)
History and Origin (Peach)
• Peaches• Archeological remains ~ 4000 BC• Object of reverence in Chinese culture• Introduced to Europe at the beginning of
the Christian era• Very adaptable
History and Origin (Almond)
• Prunus amygdalus - Almond• Neolithic and Bronze age• Remains of plantings~ 3000BC• Not adapted for bird dispersal• Recessive gene for not producing cyanide
History and OriginPrunophora
• Subgenus: Prunophora• Prunus domestica - European plum• Prunus americana - North American plum
History and Origin (Plum)
• Prunus domestica- European plum• Center of origin : Europe• Domestication in Rome and Greece• Hexaploid (2N= 48)
• cross between a 2n=16 and 4n=32• Very few new cultivars• Prunes
History and Origin (Plum)
• Prunus americana- North American plum
History and Origin (Apricot)
• Prunus armeniaca- Apricot• Center of origin• Manchuria, Siberia, and Korea
Geography
History and Origin (Cherry)
• Subgenus: Ceraus• Prunus avium- sweet cherry• Prunus ceraus-sour cherry
Origin (Cherry)• Subgenus: Ceraus• Prunus avium- sweet cherry
• Northwestern Europe to Russia• Obligate cross pollinator
• Prunus ceraus-sour cherry• Origin- South Eastern Europe• Some cultivars may be as hardy as apples• Will cross to form hybrids (Duke)• Some sweet cherry cultivars are self-sterile
Cultivars and Rootstocks (Tree fruits)
• Most commercially sold fruit trees consist of two parts
Scion
RootstockGraft union
Botany and History
• Most fruit trees require cross pollination• You must have two different cultivars in
order to have fruit
Apple propagation
• Asexual propagation or cloning
• When you take part of one plant, place it into another plant, and let them grow together as a new organism
When the pollen grain germinates and fertilizes the egg, fertilization takes place.
After fertilization, the seed forms
Sexual Reproduction
Asexual propagation used in fruit trees
• Grafting
• Budding
Major limitation• Winter Minimum Extremes• Vermont in hardiness zones 3, 4, and 5• usually determined by latitude, weather
fronts, difficult to avoid• depends on how cold, duration, pre-
freeze environment (hardening)
Major limitation
• large differences in hardiness in species, some difference in cultivar
• health of plant contributes to hardiness• avoidance measures - mulching, snow
cover• cold can damage buds, shoot tips,
canes, crowns, whole plants
Vermont Hardiness
Zones
Major limitation
• Spring Frosts• short duration• result of inversion• temperatures of 30° to 25° F commonly• damage is due to tissues exposed to
surrounding cold
Chilling hour requirements
800-1700Apple
500-1400Pear
400-700Peach
300-600Apricot
Approximately chilling hours (<7 C) to break winter rest for fruit tree species
Critical temperatures for bud killCritical temperatures in degree F at which 90% of the flower buds are killed at various stages of development
2525*25252115102Apple (McIntosh)
Bud developmental stages* Indicates full bloom
24*2115951.4Peaches
25*252421171495Cherry
322524*2219148-0.4Apricot
2423*232319156.8-0.4Pear
2527*26252415102Apple(Red Del)
8 7654321Species
Cultivar and Rootstock
• What to look for in a cultivar• Type of fruit• Disease resistance• Type of tree• Cold hardiness• Pollination