Effect of plant-growth regulators, adjuvants and artificial pollination on the fixation and quality of <i>Annona squamosa</i> L cultivars’ fruit

Chagas, Pollyana Cardoso; Crane, Jonathan; Chagas, Edvan Alves; Vendrame, Wagner; Costa, Barbara Nogueira Souza; Rubio Neto, Aurélio; Moura, Elias Ariel de

doi:10.4025/actasciagron.v45i1.62036

ABSTRACT.

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of plant regulators (gibberellic acid and naphthalene acetic acid) and adjuvant LI 700® with and without hand pollination on the fruiting and quality of Annona squamosa L. cultivars. The experiment was conducted in the experimental orchard of the Florida Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC/UF) in Homestead, Florida, USA. The experimental design in random blocks comprised 14 treatments, 10 repetitions and 3 flowers per treatment and per tree for ‘Red’ and ‘Lessard Thai’ cultivars. To assess quality, 9 fruit from each treatment were used, with 3 repetitions and 3 fruit per repetition. High instability was observed in fruit fixation rates between cultivars. The application of growth regulators did not increase fruit fixation in the tested cultivars. The application of naphthalene acetic acid had a deleterious effect on the flowers of the sugar apple cultivars. The most uneven (asymmetrical) fruit was obtained in the treatments with the application of growth regulators. The application of the adjuvant showed toxicity, causing damage to the skin of the fruit. The fruit with the greatest symmetry had the lowest levels of soluble solids and the highest toxicity. The application of growth regulators associated with hand pollination was not efficient, presenting a low percentage of fruit fixation for Annonaceae cultivars. None of the studied treatments produced parthenocarpic fruit (without seeds). The utilization of an adjuvant in the applied concentration caused damage to the fruit peels (darkening) due to toxicity in both cultivars.

Keywords:
fruit quality; gibberellic acid; hand pollination; naphthalene acetic acid; sugar apple cultivars

[1] * Author for correspondence. E-mail: edvan.chagas@embrapa.br

Treatments	NAA^z	GA₃ ^z	LI 700 Adjuvant^z	Hand Pollination	Period of application of the solutions
Treatments	mg 100 L⁻¹		LI 700 Adjuvant^z	Hand Pollination	Period of application of the solutions
T1	0	0	No	No	0
T2	0	0	No	Yes	0
T3	0	0	Yes	No	Female stage
T4	0	0	Yes	Yes	Female stage
T5	450	750	Yes	Yes	Female stage, 1 and 3 WAA
T6	450	1000	Yes	Yes	Female stage, 1 and 3 WAA
T7	450	1250	Yes	Yes	Female stage, 1 and 3 WAA
T8	450	1500	Yes	Yes	Female stage, 1 and 3 WAA
T9	450	750	Yes	No	0
T10	450	1000	Yes	No	0
T11	450	1250	Yes	No	0
T12	450	1500	Yes	No	0
T13	450	1000	No	No	0
T14	450	1000	No	Yes	Female stage, 1 and 3 WAA

*Treatments	Weeks after anthesis (WAA)
	1	3	5	7	9	11	13
	Fruit Set (%)
Cultivar ‘Lessard Thai’
1	10	3	3	3	3	3	-
2	97	97	97	97	97	97	-
3	10	3	3	3	3	3	-
4	63	47	40	40	40	40	-
5	97	80	67	63	63	63	-
6	93	83	63	53	53	53	-
7	90	80	63	60	57	57	-
8	97	90	67	57	57	57	-
9	97	37	3	3	3	3	-
10	97	47	3	0	0	0	-
11	100	63	13	7	7	7	-
12	90	53	13	7	7	3	-
13	97	67	7	3	3	3	-
14	97	80	47	47	47	47	-
CV (%)	39	50	92	100	100	102	-
Cultivar ‘Red’
1	7	3	0	0	0	0	0
2	43	40	37	33	33	33	33
3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	40	33	33	30	30	30	30
5	100	73	40	40	40	40	40
6	100	83	67	57	57	53	53
7	97	77	57	53	53	50	50
8	100	80	63	47	47	43	43
9	80	40	10	7	7	7	7
10	83	43	3	0	0	0	0
11	73	53	10	0	0	0	0
12	87	43	17	7	7	7	7
13	97	33	3	0	0	0	0
14	100	63	33	30	30	30	30
**CV (%)	48	55	90	101	101	99	99

*Treatments	Shape (%)	Toxicity (%)	Shape (%)	Toxicity (%)
*Treatments	Cultivar ‘Lessard Thai’		Cultivar ‘Red’
2	94.44 a	0 b	91.66 a	0 b
4	69.44 b	11.11 b	67.77 ab	19.44 b
5	77.77 ab	50.00 a	63.88 b	55.55 a
6	86.11 ab	50.00 a	72.22 ab	75.00 a
7	77.77 ab	44.44 a	72.22 ab	63.88 a
8	77.77 ab	33.33 a	72.77 ab	61.11 a
14	77.77 ab	0 b	69.44 ab	0 b
C.V. (%)	10.99	30.35	13.49	33.85

*Treatments	FL	FD	FM	PSM	SM	NS	Pulp
Cultivar ‘Lessard Thai’
2	87.92 a	89.27 a	309.26 a	161.52 a	17.16 a	40.33 a	41.92 a
4	84.89 a	81.91 a	251.90 ab	111.38 b	18.00 a	43.33 a	47.45 a
5	77.21 a	79.69 a	215.00 b	109.22 b	14.37 a	35.22 a	42.28 a
6	83.05 a	83.28 a	259.31 ab	113.63 b	16.96 a	42.33 a	49.47 a
7	86.89 a	87.14 a	289.62 ab	135.88 ab	21.47 a	55.55 a	45.66 a
8	86.21 a	84.85 a	268.37 ab	113.08 b	29.9 a	48.77 a	46.10 a
14	76.70 a	78.71	216.01 b	101.35 b	15.26 a	40.55 a	45.34 a
C.V. (%)	4.99	4.98	12.73	12.49	18.78	20.04	10.88
Cultivar ‘Red’
2	89.90a	100.62a	400.10a	206.35a	20.93a	45.33a	42.78 a
4	78.92ab	85.82ab	246.15bc	139.34abc	12.42abc	25.55ab	36.76 a
5	68.88b	69.79b	143.21c	71.06c	7.13c	17.44b	43.99 a
6	79.15ab	80.14b	230.72bc	115.87bc	11.08bc	27.00ab	44.95 a
7	72.95b	78.71b	204.84bc	104.88bc	7.44c	17.66b	44.36 a
8	85.03ab	85.95ab	288.32ab	148.03ab	16.72ab	41.00a	44.05 a
14	79.88ab	78.51b	219.05bc	115.75bc	11.93bc	29.44ab	38.76 a
C.V. (%)	7.22	4.46	20.28	19.38	24.3	26.96	8.72

*Treatments	SS	pH	TA	Ratio
Cultivar ‘Lessard Thai’
2	22.27 a	4.86 b	0.21 a	105.24 a
4	23.34 a	5.05 a	0.22 a	110.49 a
5	24.01 a	5.02 a	0.19 a	130.70 a
6	22.66 a	4.99 ab	0.21 a	106.82 a
7	23.58 a	5.07 a	0.23 a	105.42 a
8	23.57 a	5.02 a	0.23 a	105.72 a
14	23.20 a	5.08 a	0.21 a	115.23 a
C.V. (%)	3.82	0.85	2	11
Cultivar ‘Red’
2	23.54 ab	4.84 d	0.21 a	115.04 a
4	23.92 ab	5.07 ab	0.24 a	100.43 a
5	23.51 ab	5.18 a	0.19 a	128.03 a
6	24.43 ab	5.04 abc	0.20 a	127.69 a
7	23.92 ab	4.93 bcd	0.19 a	131.23 a
8	25.16 a	4.96 bcd	0.22 a	112.40 a
14	22.52 b	4.87 cd	0.21 a	110.21 a
C.V. (%)	2.93	1.01	1.67	10.47

Brasil

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Effect of plant-growth regulators, adjuvants and artificial pollination on the fixation and quality of Annona squamosa L cultivars’ fruit

ABSTRACT.