Increases in fruit weight of cultivated vegetables and fruits accompanied the domestication of these crops. Here we report on the positional cloning of a quantitative trait locus (QTL) controlling fruit weight in tomato. The derived allele of Cell Size Regulator (CSR-D) increases fruit weight predominantly through enlargement of the pericarp areas. The expanded pericarp tissues result from incr...

Despite the success of breeding programmes focused on increasing fruit size, relatively little is known about the anatomical and physiological changes required to increase reproductive allocation. To address this gap in knowledge, we compared fruit/ovary anatomy, vascular structure and phloem transport of two varieties of giant pumpkins, and their smaller fruited progenitor under controlled env...

in this study the effects of plant growth regulators including; ga3 (0 and 50 mg/l) and ethephon (0 and 500 mg/l) were studied on the quality properties of two grape cultivars (perlette and yaghuti). at the harvest time, some physicochemical characteristics such as fruit cluster weight, fruit diameter, length, volume and l/d ratio, flesh firmness, fresh weight, ta, ph, tss and fruit color were ...

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill.) represents a model species for all fleshy fruits due to its biological cycle and the availability of numerous genetic and molecular resources. Its importance in human nutrition has made it one of the most valuable worldwide commodities. Tomato fruit size results from the combination of cell number and cell size, which are determined by both cell division and ...

An increasing world population and the competitive nature of the stone fruit market, particularly nectarines [(Prunus persica var. nectarine)], demand the selection of fruit with high quality attributes, flavor, and a wide range of maturity. Information on this subject is limited at the present time. In search of superior nectarines, a trial was conducted to study growing degree days (GDD), ful...

Variation in plant and floral size can have conflicting effects on pollination and fruit production in flowering plants. This research examines the contributions of plant height, flower size and pollinator visitation to reproductive success in four populations of Iris tuberosa. The plants were pollinated exclusively by hymenopteran species, primarily during sunny days. Pollination supplementati...

In an effort to determine the genetic basis of exceptionally large tomato fruits, QTL analysis was performed on a population derived from a cross between the wild species Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium (average fruit weight, 1 g) and the L. esculentum cultivar var. Giant Heirloom, which bears fruit in excess of 1000 g. QTL analysis revealed that the majority (67%) of phenotypic variation in frui...

Fruit initiation in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) is generally repressed until fertilization occurs. However, mutations in AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR8 (ARF8) uncouple fruit initiation from fertilization, resulting in the formation of seedless, parthenocarpic fruit. Here we induced parthenocarpy in wild-type Arabidopsis by introducing either the mutant genomic (g) Atarf8-4 sequence or gAtARF8:be...

in order to evaluation of squash (cucurbita pepo) seed yield per fruit and its relations with other characteristics of fruit include: length, diameter, length: diameter ratio (fruit shape), flesh thickness, thousand seed weight and fruit weight, an experiment was conducted using 24 accessions of squash as a randomized complete-block design with three replications. morphological traits were eval...

The study was undertaken to envisage the effect of growth regulators on preharvest fruit drop and quality of Kinnow mandrin (Citrus reticulata Blanco). Various concentration of 2, 4-D, GA3 and NAA were applied during the last week of November, 2005 to check the impact of various treatments on preharvest fruit drop, yield and fruit quality. Exogenous application of growth regulators significantl...