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JXB Advance Access published online on August 30, 2005
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/eri264
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© The Author [2005]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Received May 13, 2005
Accepted July 5, 2005

RESEARCH PAPER

13C-photosynthate accumulation in Japanese pear fruit during the period of rapid fruit growth is limited by the sink strength of fruit rather than by the transport capacity of the pedicel

Caixi Zhang 1, Kenji Tanabe 2*, Fumio Tamura 2, Kazuhiro Matsumoto 2, and Akira Yoshida 3

1 Laboratory of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Tottori, 680-8533, Japan; Department of Plant Science, College of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 201101, China
2 Laboratory of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Tottori, 680-8533, Japan
3 Tottori Horticultural Experiment station, Tottori, 689-2221, Japan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Kenji Tanabe, E-mail: tanabe{at}muses.tottori-u.ac.jp


  Abstract

In Japanese pear, the application of GA3+4 during the period of rapid fruit growth resulted in a marked increase in pedicel diameter and bigger fruit at harvest. To elucidate the relationship between pedicel capacity and fruit growth and to determine the main factor responsible for larger fruit size at harvest, fruit growth and pedicel vascularization after GA application were examined and the carbohydrate fluxes were monitored in a spur unit by non-invasive techniques using 13C tracer. Histological studies of fruit revealed that GA increased the cell size of the mesocarp but not the cell number and core size. The investigation of carbon partitioning showed that an increase in the specific rate of carbohydrate accumulation in fruit or the strength of fruit should be responsible for an increase of fruit weight in GA-treated trees. Observation of pedicel vascularization showed that an increase in pedicel cross-sectional area (CSA) by GA application mainly resulted from phloem and xylem CSA, but it is unlikely that an increase in the transport system is the direct factor for larger fruit size. Therefore, it can be concluded that larger fruit size resulting from GA application during the period of rapid fruit growth caused an increase in the cell size of the mesocarp and increased carbon partitioning to the fruit. Although GA is closely involved with pedicel vascularization, it seems that photosynthate accumulation in fruit is limited by the sink strength of fruit rather than by the transport capacity of the pedicel.

Keywords: 13C labelling; fruit growth; gibberellins; Japanese pear; pedicel vascularization; Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai; sink strength.
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