Abstract
Leaf damage/defoliation caused by pests or phytotoxic damage following chemical application can result in loss of leaf area at any time during the growing season. Four trials were conducted to examine the impact of severity and time of foliar damage on fruit set and quality in apple. Trees tolerated light to moderate leaf damage throughout the season with no significant effect on fruit set and thus crop load. Where 75% or more of the leaf surface was lost, fruit set was reduced and fruit quality was affected. Complete loss of leaves up to three weeks after full bloom (wAFB) resulted in very low or no fruit set, but from 9 wAFB crop load was not affected by leaf damage. Loss of terminal shoot leaves had no effect on fruit set, but spur leaves were critical early in the season with the impact lessening from 6 wAFB. This study has demonstrated that low levels of foliar damage have little effect on fruit size or quality, but high levels can impact on both set and quality. Fruit quality was reduced following leaf damage during the period 6–12 weeks after full bloom which is the critical period for cell division in the fruit as well as flower initiation for the following year. High levels of leaf damage also reduced fruit size in spite of reduced crop load levels, most likely the result of a reduction in carbohydrate assimilation during the cell division phase of fruit development.
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Claims 11
Claim · model-written summary
Light to moderate leaf damage did not significantly change fruit set or crop load.
- Taxon
- apple
Malus domesticat0 - Treatment
- light to moderate leaf damagee0
- Outcome
- fruit set and thus crop loade0
- Direction
- no significant effecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“apple”
e0“Trees tolerated light to moderate leaf damage throughout the season with no significant effect on fruit set and thus crop load”
Claim · model-written summary
Loss of at least 75% of leaf surface reduced fruit set.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- 75% or more of the leaf surface was loste0
- Outcome
- fruit sete0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“apple”
e0“Where 75% or more of the leaf surface was lost, fruit set was reduced”
Claim · model-written summary
Loss of at least 75% of leaf surface affected fruit quality.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- 75% or more of the leaf surface was loste0
- Outcome
- fruit qualitye0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“apple”
e0“Where 75% or more of the leaf surface was lost, fruit set was reduced and fruit quality was affected”
Claim · model-written summary
Complete defoliation through three weeks after full bloom caused very low or absent fruit set.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- Complete loss of leaves up to three weeks after full bloom (wAFB)e0
- Outcome
- fruit sete0
- Direction
- very low or noe0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“apple”
e0“Complete loss of leaves up to three weeks after full bloom (wAFB) resulted in very low or no fruit set”
Claim · model-written summary
From nine weeks after full bloom, leaf damage did not affect crop load.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- leaf damagee0
- Outcome
- crop loade0
- Direction
- not affectede0
- Qualifier
- from 9 wAFBe0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“apple”
e0“from 9 wAFB crop load was not affected by leaf damage”
Claim · model-written summary
Terminal shoot leaf loss did not affect fruit set.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- Loss of terminal shoot leavese0
- Outcome
- fruit sete0
- Direction
- no effecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“apple”
e0“Loss of terminal shoot leaves had no effect on fruit set”
Claim · model-written summary
Spur leaves were critical to fruit set early in the season, with their impact lessening from six weeks after full bloom.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticat0
- Organ / stage
- spur leavese0
- Outcome
- impacte0
- Direction
- lesseninge0
- Qualifier
- from 6 wAFBe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“apple”
e0“spur leaves were critical early in the season with the impact lessening from 6 wAFB”
Claim · model-written summary
Low foliar damage had little effect on fruit size or quality.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- low levels of foliar damagee0
- Outcome
- fruit size or qualitye0
- Direction
- little effecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“apple”
e0“low levels of foliar damage have little effect on fruit size or quality”
Claim · model-written summary
Leaf damage at six to twelve weeks after full bloom reduced fruit quality.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- leaf damagee0
- Outcome
- Fruit qualitye0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Qualifier
- 6–12 weeks after full bloome0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“apple”
e0“Fruit quality was reduced following leaf damage during the period 6–12 weeks after full bloom”
Claim · model-written summary
High leaf damage reduced fruit size despite lower crop load.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- High levels of leaf damagee0
- Outcome
- fruit sizee0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Qualifier
- in spite of reduced crop load levelse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“apple”
e0“High levels of leaf damage also reduced fruit size in spite of reduced crop load levels”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors attribute smaller fruit after severe leaf damage to reduced carbohydrate assimilation during fruit cell division.
- Taxon
- appleMalus domesticat0
- Outcome
- reduction in carbohydrate assimilatione0
- Qualifier
- cell division phase of fruit developmente0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“apple”
e0“most likely the result of a reduction in carbohydrate assimilation during the cell division phase of fruit development”
The same questions in other papers
light · yield · Malus domestica (apple)Positive and negative results
4 papers in the same direction as this paper · 6 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
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See all 11 papers →application · quality: general · Malus domestica (apple)Positive and negative results
9 papers in the same direction as this paper · 11 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
17 papers more in this group
See all 21 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.