Marie-Pier Fournier1, Maxime C Paré1, Valentina Buttò1, Sylvain Delagrange2, Jean Lafond3, Annie Deslauriers1. 1. Laboratoire d'écologie végétale et animale, Département des Sciences Fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, QC, Canada. 2. Département des Sciences Naturelles, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Gatineau, QC, Canada. 3. Direction générale des sciences et de la technologie, Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada, Gouvernement du Canada, Normandin, QC, Canada.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Understanding how plant allometry, plant architecture and phenology contribute to fruit production can identify those plant traits that maximize fruit yield. In this study, we compared these variables and fruit yield for two shrub species, Vaccinium angustifolium and Vaccinium myrtilloides, to test the hypothesis that phenology is linked to the plants' allometric traits, which are predictors of fruit production. METHODS: We measured leaf and flower phenology and the above-ground biomass of both Vaccinium species in a commercial wild lowbush blueberry field (Quebec, Canada) over a 2-year crop cycle; 1 year of pruning followed by 1 year of harvest. Leaf and flower phenology were measured, and the allometric traits of shoots and buds were monitored over the crop cycle. We hand-collected the fruits of each plant to determine fruit attributes and biomass. KEY RESULTS: During the harvesting year, the leafing and flowering of V. angustifolium occurred earlier than that of V. myrtilloides. This difference was related to the allometric characteristics of the buds due to differences in carbon partitioning by the plants during the pruning year. Through structural equation modelling, we identified that the earlier leafing in V. angustifolium was related to a lower leaf bud number, while earlier flowering was linked to a lower number of flowers per bud. Despite differences in reproductive allometric traits, vegetative biomass still determined reproductive biomass in a log-log scale model. CONCLUSIONS: Growing buds are competing sinks for non-structural carbohydrates. Their differences in both number and characteristics (e.g. number of flowers per bud) influence levels of fruit production and explain some of the phenological differences observed between the two Vaccinium species. For similar above-ground biomass, both Vaccinium species had similar reproductive outputs in terms of fruit biomass, despite differences in reproductive traits such as fruit size and number.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Understanding how plant allometry, plant architecture and phenology contribute to fruit production can identify those plant traits that maximize fruit yield. In this study, we compared these variables and fruit yield for two shrub species, Vaccinium angustifolium and Vaccinium myrtilloides, to test the hypothesis that phenology is linked to the plants' allometric traits, which are predictors of fruit production. METHODS: We measured leaf and flower phenology and the above-ground biomass of both Vaccinium species in a commercial wild lowbush blueberry field (Quebec, Canada) over a 2-year crop cycle; 1 year of pruning followed by 1 year of harvest. Leaf and flower phenology were measured, and the allometric traits of shoots and buds were monitored over the crop cycle. We hand-collected the fruits of each plant to determine fruit attributes and biomass. KEY RESULTS: During the harvesting year, the leafing and flowering of V. angustifolium occurred earlier than that of V. myrtilloides. This difference was related to the allometric characteristics of the buds due to differences in carbon partitioning by the plants during the pruning year. Through structural equation modelling, we identified that the earlier leafing in V. angustifolium was related to a lower leaf bud number, while earlier flowering was linked to a lower number of flowers per bud. Despite differences in reproductive allometric traits, vegetative biomass still determined reproductive biomass in a log-log scale model. CONCLUSIONS: Growing buds are competing sinks for non-structural carbohydrates. Their differences in both number and characteristics (e.g. number of flowers per bud) influence levels of fruit production and explain some of the phenological differences observed between the two Vaccinium species. For similar above-ground biomass, both Vaccinium species had similar reproductive outputs in terms of fruit biomass, despite differences in reproductive traits such as fruit size and number.
Authors: Ian J Wright; Peter B Reich; Mark Westoby; David D Ackerly; Zdravko Baruch; Frans Bongers; Jeannine Cavender-Bares; Terry Chapin; Johannes H C Cornelissen; Matthias Diemer; Jaume Flexas; Eric Garnier; Philip K Groom; Javier Gulias; Kouki Hikosaka; Byron B Lamont; Tali Lee; William Lee; Christopher Lusk; Jeremy J Midgley; Marie-Laure Navas; Ulo Niinemets; Jacek Oleksyn; Noriyuki Osada; Hendrik Poorter; Pieter Poot; Lynda Prior; Vladimir I Pyankov; Catherine Roumet; Sean C Thomas; Mark G Tjoelker; Erik J Veneklaas; Rafael Villar Journal: Nature Date: 2004-04-22 Impact factor: 49.962
Authors: Sarathi M Weraduwage; Jin Chen; Fransisca C Anozie; Alejandro Morales; Sean E Weise; Thomas D Sharkey Journal: Front Plant Sci Date: 2015-04-09 Impact factor: 5.753