Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) Flowering and Fruiting in the Southwestern United States

Abstract

<jats:p>Fifty-six jujube cultivars were observed for their flowering habits and fruiting characteristics at Alcalde, New Mexico. Jujube cultivars were classified as morning blooming type or afternoon blooming type. Among the 56 cultivars observed, 24 belonged to the morning type and 32 belonged to the afternoon type. Eighteen out of the 56 cultivars had their blooming type reported for the first time. The sepal splitting for morning type occurred from sunrise to 1000<jats:sc>hr</jats:sc>, whereas it occurred between 1300 and 1600 <jats:sc>hr</jats:sc> for the afternoon type. Even though their opening time differed, pollen release happened during daytime for both—morning type released pollen in the afternoon and afternoon type released pollen in the late afternoon and the next morning. Rainy and cloudy weather delayed blooming for several hours. Each flower experienced the following stages during blooming: sepal splitting, sepal flat, petal standing, petal and anther separation, petal flat and anther standing, anther flat, and stigma browning; the time and duration of each stage varied with cultivar and blooming type. Flower size varied by cultivar and helps with cultivar identification. Cultivars Li, Li-2, Redland, Qiyuexian, Xiangzao, Teapot, and Daguazao were self-pollinating/self-fruitful in New Mexico. For open pollination, fruit set varied greatly by cultivar. ‘Abbeville’ had the best fruit set each year. Most cultivars had better fruit set from open pollination than self-pollination; however, self-fruitful cultivars Li, Li-2, and Redland had better fruit set with self-pollination than open pollination in some years. Open pollination increased fruit size for all cultivars. ‘Zhongning’, ‘Abbeville’, ‘Jinsi-2’, and ‘Globe’ had high seed percentage from open-pollinated fruit, whereas ‘Lang’, ‘Don Polenski’, ‘Junzao’, and ‘Xingguang’ did not produce fully developed seed in any years but some dark brown empty seedcoat sacs. Seed development was also affected by weather and pollination conditions. Fruit blooming type, pollen release, self-pollination, self-fruitfulness, self-fertility, and seed development are all critical information for jujube breeders, researchers, extension personnel, and growers.</jats:p>

Early Performance of Jujube Fresh Eating Cultivars in the Southwestern United States

“…Source of cultivars. Jujube cultivars were collected in the United States from 2011 to 2012 and imported as scionwood directly from China in 2011 (Yao et al, 2015). The directly imported scionwood was grafted to sour jujube rootstocks (Z. spinosa Hu) at NMSU Alcalde Center and quarantined for 2 years with inspections from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.…”

Jujube, an Alternative Fruit Crop for the Southwestern United States

“…In China, jujubes have day blooming type and night blooming type (Qu et al, 1989). In the United States, they are morning type and afternoon type (Lyrene, 1983;Yao et al, 2015a). The morning type had sepal splitting from early morning to 1000 HR, whereas the afternoon type split between 1200 to 1600 HR.…”

“…The morning type had sepal splitting from early morning to 1000 HR, whereas the afternoon type split between 1200 to 1600 HR. The morning blooming type in the United States is equivalent to the night blooming type, whereas the afternoon type is equivalent to the day type in China (Yao et al, 2015a). The 6-h shift in blooming time could be due to location and climate conditions (Lyrene, 1983;Yao et al, 2015a).…”

“…The morning blooming type in the United States is equivalent to the night blooming type, whereas the afternoon type is equivalent to the day type in China (Yao et al, 2015a). The 6-h shift in blooming time could be due to location and climate conditions (Lyrene, 1983;Yao et al, 2015a). Among the 56 cultivars/selections observed in New Mexico, 24 were morning type and 32 were afternoon type (Table 1) (Yao et al, 2015a).…”

“…The 6-h shift in blooming time could be due to location and climate conditions (Lyrene, 1983;Yao et al, 2015a). Among the 56 cultivars/selections observed in New Mexico, 24 were morning type and 32 were afternoon type (Table 1) (Yao et al, 2015a). Heavy clouds/rainy weather delayed bloom but cultivars belonging to the same type still bloomed at a similar time.…”