In dryland agroecosystems, intercropping fruit trees with legumes is often an important option for maintaining and improving soil N quality fertility. The relationships of fine root length density (FRLD), water content (SWC), NO3−-N (SNC) in agroforestry systems essential optimal orchard management. Our objective was to understand the temporal spatial dynamics FRLD, SWC, SNC apple–soybean syste...

11 Organic tree fruit producers often rely on tillage in the tree row to control weeds and disrupt 12 rodent pest habitat. This inexpensive practice can potentially damage the trees’ trunk and roots, 13 thereby reducing yield and fruit quality. In contrast, mulching under the trees to suppress weeds 14 often improves tree performance but at a high initial installation cost, whereas flame weedin...

BACKGROUND Transgenic trees currently are being produced by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and biolistics. The future use of transformed trees on a commercial basis depends upon thorough evaluation of the potential environmental and public health risk of the modified plants, transgene stability over a prolonged period of time and the effect of the gene on tree and fruit characteristics. ...

Genetic studies of response to water deficit in adult trees are limited by low throughput of the usual phenotyping methods in the field. Here, we aimed at overcoming this bottleneck, applying a new methodology using airborne multispectral imagery and in planta measurements to compare a high number of individuals.An apple tree population, grafted on the same rootstock, was submitted to contrasti...

The contribution of nitrogen (N) supply is an essential source for the growth of apple trees from budding to fruiting. In new apple-producing regions of north China, such as the Shenyang area, air temperature rises rapidly, while in contrast, soil temperature rises very slowly. In such weather conditions, the amount of nitrogen absorbed by the roots is not sufficient for the growth and developm...

Proanthocyanidins (PAs) are products of the flavonoid pathway, which also leads to the production of anthocyanins and flavonols. Many flavonoids have antioxidant properties and may have beneficial effects for human health. PAs are found in the seeds and fruits of many plants. In apple fruit (Malus × domestica Borkh.), the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway is most active in the skin, with the flava...