PEACH FRUIT WEIGHT IS INFLUENCED BY CROP DENSITY AND FRUITING SHOOT LENGTH BUT NOT POSITION ON THE SHOOT

The relationship between peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] fruit position and fruit weight (FW) was studied in experiments involving thinned vs. nonthinned fruiting shoots, shoots with and without axillary shoots, and trees with varying crop densities (CDs). FW was not consistently related to position on the shoot, and the influence of fruit position varied depending on the presence of axillary shoots on the fruiting shoot. PW was best related to fruiting shoot length and total shoot length per fruit (1-year-old plus current-season wood). Mean PW was also influenced by the number of fruit per shoot x CD interaction, a result indicating that FW depends on photosynthate from leaves in the immediate vicinity of the fruit as well as photosynthate from more distant parts of the tree.