Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 4
Temperate Fruit Species
Guglielmo Costa and Angelo Ramina
Abstract
Temperate fruit areas are located between 30° and 50° of latitude in
the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In addition, temperate fruit species may
expand near the Equator using species and/or varieties with low chilling require-
ment or at high elevation to assure chilling requirement. The growing areas of the
main temperate fruit species are listed and briefly characterized. The life cycle of a
deciduous tree propagated from seed is classically divided into juvenility, maturity
and senescence. In the fruit industry, juvenility is overcame by means of vegetative
propagation based either on cutting and/or on grafting, using mature plant material.
The reproductive cycle of a temperate fruit trees lasts 9-15 months and is peculiar
since in the temperate areas it involves two subsequent growing seasons. In the
deciduous species, reproduction starts with phase transition in the first growing
season and ends up with the seed maturation and fruit ripening in the second one.
Physiological and molecular aspects of flower differentiation, micro- and macro-
sporogenesis, bloom, pollination, mechanisms preventing self—fertilization, seed
and fruit development and ripening are discussed.
Keywords
Chilling
·
Dormancy
·
Juvenility
·
Maturity
·
Senescence
Definition and Classification of the Temperate Fruits
at World Level
The latitude between 30° and 50° includes, in the Northern Hemisphere, most
of Europe, Northern Africa, most of Asia Minor, the Eastern States of the Rus-
sian Federation, the United States of America, Southern Canada, Japan, Central
