FLOWERING AND FRUIT SETTING

Flowering and Fruit setting

Plants are sessile organisms that have developed mechanisms to achieve their main objective:
to reproduce, that is, to produce fruits.

An efficient reproductive process is essential for a good production.

Flowering marks the transition from vegetative to reproductive phase of the plant. This phase ends with the maturity of fruits and, consequently of seeds. Later, if each seed has appropriate conditions, will become a new plant.

The biological function of the flower consists in harbouring the sexual reproductive processes developed by plants to perpetuate the specie.

During pollination, the pollen grains are transported from the anther to the stigma, they germinate, forming the pollen tube that crosses through the style, penetrates the ovary and fertilizes the ovum.
After fertilization, the flower becomes fruit in the process known as fruit setting.

Fruit development begins after fertilization for rapid growth of the ovary tissues. The first stage is characterized by numerous cellular divisions. When cellular divisions decrease, the fruit continues to grow through cellular expansion until its final size.

In this stage begins to accumulate starch, organic acids and other substances. Finally, the ripening is characterized by the generation of a high variety of chemical and structural changes that determine the aroma, color, texture and final biochemical composition of fruit.

We highlight four requirements to produce a good fruit setting:

• It is necessary a mature, well-formed and nourished floral buds to produce flowering properly.
• A favourable temperature for a good germination, pollen tube growth and fertilization.
• An adequate supply of nutrients when the ovary begins development, because the initial fruits development depends on the nutritional contribution.
• And a hormonal regulation control.

Text developed by Artal Smart Agriculture.