2011 Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 87-92
We investigated the effects of plastic house cultivation, temperature and day length during late autumn on induction of endodormancy in the Japanese pear ‘Gold Nijisseiki’. The plastic house cultivation advanced the initiation and development of flower bud by about 20 days compared with that under open-field cultivation. However, the plastic house cultivation was hardly effective in the induction and development of endodormancy of either flower or leaf buds. The potting experiment demonstrated that the lack of chilling inhibited the induction of bud dormancy, but the 16 hours photoperiod did not prevent dormancy induction. Temperature of 5°C was effective for inducing leaf bud endodormancy in the cuttings, whereas a temperature of 15°C was in effective. Leaf bud ABA concentrations in open-field cultivated ‘Gold Nijisseiki’ were increased with the induction of endodormancy by chilling in mid-November. However, the ABA concentrations in un-chilled plants were lower. In conclusion, the endodormancy of the Japanese pear ‘Gold Nijisseiki’ was mainly induced by low temperatures in autumn.
