Determination of Chilling and Heat Requirements of Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) Cultivars

Determination of chilling and heat requirements of pistachio （Pistacia vera L.） cultivars is important for satisfactory growth and development, particularly when large-scale commercial production is desired. This experiment was conducted to determine chilling requirement inducing vegetative and flower buds of Kalle-Ghuchi, Owhadi, Ahmad-Ahgaei, and Akbari pistachio. Shoots with enough vegetative and flower buds were taken from pistachio trees during autumn 2007 and 2008 when temperature reached to 15°C. Cuttings with flower buds were kept under （5 ± 1）°C for 0, 600, 650, 700, 750, 800, 850, 900, 950, 1 000, 1 050, 1 100, 1 150, 1 200, 1 250, and 1 300 h, respectively, and cuttings with vegetative buds were kept at 51°C until 1 500 h. The results indicated that pistachio cultivars requite chilling time between 750-1 400 h and heat requirements between 8 852-15 420 growing degree hours （GDH）. Consequently, Kalle-Ghuchi had the lowest chilling （750-950 h）, and heat （8 852-9 768 GDH） requirements, Ahmad-Aghaei and Owhadi had intermediate （1 000-1 250 h, 10 656- 13 320 GDH） and Akbari had the highest chilling （1 200-1 400 h） and heat （11 863-15 420 GDH） requirement.

Study on Chilling Requirement of Different Fruit Branch of a Sweet Cherry Cultivar ‘Hongmanao'

With ＇Hongmanao＇, a sweet cherry cultivar from central Shanxi Province, as the experimental material, the chilling requirements of different types of fruit branches （including mixed fruit branch, long fruit branch, medium fruit branch, short fruit branch and blossom fruit branch） were studied by the 0-7.2 ℃ model in a solar greenhouse during 2012-2013. In the greenhouse, the fruit branches of ＇Hongmanao＇ were cultured in water in a thermostatic environment. The results showed that the chilling requirement of leaf buds of ＇Hongmanao＇ was lower than that of its flower buds; and the chilling requirements of the five types of fruit branches ranked as blossom fruit branch＇s〈short fruit branch＇s〈medium fruit branch＇s〈long fruit branch＇s〈mixed fruit branch＇s,

Peculiarity of transcriptional and H3K27me3 dynamics during peach bud dormancy

Bud dormancy facilitates the survival of meristems under harsh environmental conditions.To elucidate how molecular responses to chilling accumulation controlling dormancy in peach buds,chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing to identify the H3K27me3 modifications and RNA sequencing of two peach cultivars with pronounced differences in chilling requirement were carried out,the results showed that genes associated with abscisic acid and gibberellic acid signal pathways play key roles in dormancy regulation.The results demonstrated that peach flower bud differentiation occurred continuously in both cultivars during chilling accumulation,which was correlated with the transcript abundance of key genes involved in phytohormone metabolism and flower bud development under adverse conditions.The more increased strength in high chillingrequirement cultivar along with the chilling accumulation at the genome-wide level.The function of the dormancy-associated MADS-box gene PpDAM6 was identified,which is involved in leaf bud break in peach and flower development in transgenic Nicotiana tabacum(NC89).In addition,PpDAM6 was positively regulated by PpCBF,and the genes of putative dormancy-related and associated with metabolic pathways were proposed.Taken together,these results constituted a theoretical basis for elucidating the regulation of peach bud dormancy transition.

Automatic Monitoring of Chilling Requirement for Sweet Cherry and Its Application in Protected Cultivation

For sweet cherry, the economic benefit of protected cultivation is much higher than that of open field cultivation. However, problems such as nonuniform germination, aberrant flower, abortion, bad fruit setting and delayed maturation appear frequently due to the inaccurate regulation of chilling requirement. In order to solve the problems, an automatic system for monitoring, selecting and recording of chilling requirement in protected cultivation of sweet cherry was designed and developed. The system, which consisted of temperature detection, effective chilling temperature selection, signal conversion and output and chilling accumulation display, had been continuously used in protected cultivation of sweet cherry for 3 years and good effects had been achieved. The system monitored chilling accumu- lation accurately and made it more reasonable for the time selection of greenhouse covering, thus avoiding risks of nonuniform germination, bad fruit setting and de- layed maturation, etc. Under the coordinate application of this system with other modern measuring and controlling techniques such as automatic detection and alarming of temperature and humidity, the environment in greenhouses was regulated precisely that the uniform fruits were obtained and the expected yield, quality and harvest time were achieved.

落叶果树需冷量及其估算模型研究进展

落叶果树的需冷量得到满足,才能顺利完成自然休眠,进行下一个生长发育循环(尤其是正常开花结果),否则其他环境条件再适宜,果树也不萌芽开花,即使萌芽也不整齐,生长结果不良,达不到促成栽培的目的[1].因此,对落叶果树需冷量及其估算的研究至关重要,成为落叶果树设施栽培成败的关键.本文仅就需冷量估算模型进行介绍,以期为设施栽培和更完善的需冷量估算提供理论依据.……

Chilling rather than photoperiod controls budburst for gymnosperm species in subtropical China

The mechanisms regulating spring phenology have been extensively studied in angiosperm species.However,given that gymnosperms and angiosperms diverged 300 million years ago,phenology may be triggered by different cues in gymnosperm species.The regulatory mechanisms of phenology in subtropical regions remain largely unknown.In combination,it remains untested whether subtropical gymnosperm species have chilling requirements and are photosensitive.We conducted a climate chamber experiment with three chilling and three photoperiod treatments to investigate budburst during an 8-week forcing period.We tested whether budburst of eight gymnosperms species(Cryptomeria japonica,Cunninghamia lanceolata,Cupressus funebris,Ginkgo biloba,Metasequoia glyptostroboides,Pinus massoniana,Pseudolarix amabilis and Podocarpus macrophyllus)was photoperiod sensitive or has strong chilling requirements and whether photoperiod or chilling was more important for advancing budburst.Chilling advanced budburst and increased the percentage of budburst for gymnosperm species.Gymnosperm species required moderate chilling days to advance budburst.Interestingly,the forcing requirement for gymnosperm species was higher than that for angiosperms in the same forest,suggesting that gymnosperms may need more cumulative forcing to initiate budburst than do angiosperms.Compared with temperate gymnosperm species in Germany(194-600℃days),the subtropical species studied here had a much higher forcing requirement(814-1150℃days).The effects of photoperiod were minor,suggesting that chilling outweighs photoperiod in advancing budburst of gymnosperm species in this subtropical region.These results reveal that increased winter temperatures with continued global warming may impact not only angiosperms but also gymnosperms,leading to their delayed spring budburst.