Fruit Growth Stage Transitions in Two Mango Cultivars Grown in a Mediterranean Environment

Abstract

Studying mango (Mangifera indica L.) fruit development represents one of the most important aspects for the precise orchard management under non-native environmental conditions. In this work, precision fruit gauges were used to investigate important eco-physiological aspects of fruit growth in two mango cultivars, Keitt (late ripening) and Tommy Atkins (early-mid ripening). Fruit absolute growth rate (AGR, mm day−1), daily diameter fluctuation (ΔD, mm), and a development index given by their ratio (AGR/ΔD) were monitored to identify the prevalent mechanism (cell division, cell expansion, ripening) involved in fruit development in three (‘Tommy Atkins’) or four (‘Keitt’) different periods during growth. In ‘Keitt’, cell division prevailed over cell expansion from 58 to 64 days after full bloom (DAFB), while the opposite occurred from 74 to 85 DAFB. Starting at 100 DAFB, internal changes prevailed over fruit growth, indicating the beginning of the ripening stage. In Tommy Atkins (an early ripening cultivar), no significant differences in AGR/ΔD was found among monitoring periods, indicating that both cell division and expansion coexisted at gradually decreasing rates until fruit harvest. To evaluate the effect of microclimate on fruit growth the relationship between vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and ΔD was also studied. In ‘Keitt’, VPD was the main driving force determining fruit diameter fluctuations. In ‘Tommy Atkins’, the lack of relationship between VPD and ΔD suggest a hydric isolation of the fruit due to the disruption of xylem and stomatal flows starting at 65 DAFB. Further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses reveal new insights into the role of abscisic acid in modulating mango fruit ripening

“…Indeed, mango is a climacteric fruit featuring great variation of endogenous ethylene production among different cultivars [ 67 ]. ‘Keitt’ mango, with climacteric and late-ripening behavior, has a relatively lower respiration rate and lower ethylene production compared with other varieties (early or middle ripening varieties) [ 68 , 69 ]. Our results here verified the low ethylene production during fruit ripening, but exogenous ethylene was able to accelerate the ripening process of ‘Keitt’ ( Supplementary Data Fig.…”

“…‘Keitt’ mango, a late-ripening and widely cultivated variety that undergoes a longer ripening stage than most early- or middle-ripening cultivars [ 68 ], was investigated in this study. Approximately 15-year-old mango trees grown in a commercial orchard (Yanbian County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province, 26°43′26″ N, 101°48′54″ E, altitude 1314.7 m) were used as materials.…”

Complementary Use of Ground-Based Proximal Sensing and Airborne/Spaceborne Remote Sensing Techniques in Precision Agriculture: A Systematic Review

“…Common and reliable sensors capable of continuously estimating plant water status include leaf turgor sensors, devices capable of assessing leaf turgor pressure, a parameter directly related to plant water status; sapflow sensors, capable of providing indications of the plant transpiration flows; trunk dendrometers, capable of monitoring trunk fluctuations over time, dependent on the plant hydration status; and Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT) fruit gauges [25]. The latter are low-cost devices that can continuously and very accurately monitor fruit development over the day, providing information about plant water and nutritional status during the fruit growth stage ( [26,27]).…”

Fruit Sizing in Orchard: A Review from Caliper to Machine Vision with Deep Learning

“…Two such functions can be summed to model a double curve, such as displayed by peach in Figure 12 (see also the form of the equation for peach in Table 6). for different commodities, compiled from (a) [108], (b) [109], (c) [110], (d) [111], (e) [112], and (f) [113]. Colored lines are aligned to fruit type.…”

“…Figure12. Typical growth curves for lineal dimensions (diameter or length) from fruit set to harvest for different commodities, compiled from (a)[108], (b)[109], (c)[110], (d)[111], (e)[112], and (f)[113]. Colored lines are aligned to fruit type.…”