Supporting Peach Growers with a Phenological Approach for Best Management Practices

View the project final report

Commodities

• Fruits: peaches

Practices

• Crop Production: best management practices, phenology, physiology

One of the main grower's concerns every year is the completion of the chilling hour requirement for peach cultivars. During the spring season, peach growers face the challenge of making decisions about the occurrence of freeze events and the possibility of potential damage to the growing peach crops. The understanding of the physiological aspects of the crops and the interaction with events such as dormancy, growth cycle transitions, phenology, and growth development is a key determinant for planning and executing management practices. The goal of this study was to support peach growers with a phenological approach to best management practices. To determine the time required to reach bud break, and to determine the connection between cold and heat accumulation for peach development three peach cultivars (Prunus persica (L.), including Harvester, Redglobe, and Rubyprince were evaluated. Five samples of branch segments with base, mid-section, and Apex buds were collected for every cultivar on different dates, to follow the progression of chill accumulation- dormancy, bud break, and transitions of phenological stages. We evaluated under laboratory conditions the progression and development of floral and vegetative buds, coming from Chilton Alabama for different dates starting from September 2022 until March 2023. Among the cultivars evaluated, Harvester was the earliest cultivar in bud breaks followed by Rubyprince and Redglobe respectively.  In our study, we characterized a total of seven stages for each cultivar based on the peach growth stages in Alabama. We assessed the dynamics of floral and vegetative budbreaks on approximately 1570 buds over two seasons. Out of these, 817 buds did not reach dormancy release due to insufficient chilling hours. In the first season (2021–2022), 173 floral buds reached the budbreak stage, with 46 of them completing the full bloom stage. In the second season (2022–2023), 342 buds reached the full bloom stage out of 580 recorded budbreaks. For the first season, the last sample of floral buds from the 'Harvester' and 'Red Globe' cultivars came from the field with 985 chilling hours accumulated until 18 February 2022. These buds reached budbreak, ensuring successive flower development. Similarly, 'Rubyprince' exhibited successful floral development in buds that accumulated 898 chilling hours. In the second season, most buds reached the full bloom stage with a previous accumulation of chilling hours ranging from 740 to 792 until 24 February 2023. These results highlight the importance of sufficient chilling accumulation for both budbreak and floral development stages leading up to the full bloom stage

• To determine the timing in dormancy and phenological stages transitions in selected peach cultivars for management practices recommendations.

• To analyze the influence of climate variability on phenological stages for selected peach cultivars under Alabama conditions.