Scientia Horticulturae
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doi:10.1016/j.scienta.2010.07.029 | How to Cite or Link Using DOI Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Developmental problems in over-winter off-season longan fruit. II: Development of pericarp structure

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Wei-Hai Yang^{a, b, 1}, Si-Cong Deng^{a, 1}, Xiao-Chuan Zhu^c, Hui-Cong Wang^a, Hong Wu^{d, ,} and Xu-Ming Huang^{a, ,}

^a College of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China

^b South Subtropical Crops Research Institute, Zhangjiang, Guangdong 524091, China

^c Faculty of Materials and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 51000, China

^d College of Life Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China

Received 20 March 2010;  revised 17 July 2010;  accepted 21 July 2010.  Available online 21 August 2010.
   

Abstract

Fruit development was investigated in field and changes in pericarp structure were comparatively studied in over-winter off-season and on-season longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour. cv. Chuliang). The results showed developmental problems including small fruit size, severe fruit cracking and heavy fruit drop in the off-season fruit, although their seed size was not significantly affected compared to the on-season fruit. Anatomical studies showed that off-season longan fruit had a poorly developed pericarp, which was reflected by smaller fresh weight as well as thinner pericarp thickness, thinner spongy tissue, fewer cell layers in the periderm, smaller cell size and fewer cell numbers in the parenchyma tissue at the upper mesocarp, and fewer cell layers in the endocarp. In contrast, the recovery of the sclereids in the mesocarp was higher in the pericarp of the off-season fruit. The poor development of the pericarp in off-season fruit probably caused the small fruit size and severe fruit cracking. It was suggested that the adverse climatic conditions encountered by fruit development in the over-winter off-season longan suppressed cell division and expansion in the pericarp but did not affect sclereid formation.

 

Research highlights

Over-winter off-season longan had a poorly developed pericarp which is related to small fruit size and severe cracking. The adverse climatic conditions encountered by off-season longan suppressed cell division and expansion but affect not sclereid formation in the pericarp.

Keywords: Longan; Off-season; Pericarp structure; Developmental problem

Article Outline

1.

Introduction

2.

Materials and methods

2.1. Materials

2.2. Pericarp section

2.3. Light and fluorescence microscopy

2.4. Statistics

3.

Results

3.1. Comparison of fruit development between on-season and off-season fruits

3.2. Structural modification of pericarp during fruit development

3.3. Difference in pericarp structure between on- and off-season longans

4.

Discussions

4.1. Problems in fruit development in over-winter off-season longan

4.2. Pericarp structure in relation to developmental problems

5.

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

References

Fig. 1. The sketch map of longan pericarp and the tissue positions for observations and measurements.
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Fig. 2. Structural development of the pericarp in on-season (A–D) and off-season (E–H) longans. A: 145.1 ^oD (10 DAA); B: 652.8 ^oD (38  DAA); C: 901.3 ^oD (52 DAA); D: 1680.7 ^oD (94 DAA); E: 171.2 ^oD (34 DAA); F: 665.6 ^oD (89 DAA); G: 886.2 ^oD (117 DAA); H: 1643.4 ^oD (166 DAA); downward thin arrows: periderm; upward arrows: endocarp; V: vascular bundle; asteroids: spongy tissue; Bars = 50 μm.
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Fig. 3. Changes in thicknesses of pericarp (A), spongy tissue (B) and periderm (C) with fruit development in on-season and off-season longan fruits (■ on-season fruit, ○ off-season fruit; vertical bars represent ±SE values of three replicates).
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Fig. 4. Changes in the recovery of sclereid in pericarp with fruit development in on-season and off-season longan fruits (■ on-season fruit, ○ off-season fruit; vertical bars represent ±SE values of three replicates).
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Fig. 5. Changes in number cell layers (A) and cell size (B) in the parenchyma at the upper mesocarp with fruit development in on-season and off-season longan fruits (■ on-season fruit, ○ off-season fruit; vertical bars represent ±SE values of three replicates).
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Fig. 6. Changes in the number of the cell layers (A), cross-diameter (B) and longitudinal diameter (C) of cells in the endocarp with fruit development in on-season and off-season longan fruits (■ on-season fruit, ○ off-season fruit; vertical bars represent ±SE values of three replicates).
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  Table 1.

Parameters related to fruit development in on-season and off-season longan fruits at harvest.

^* Significant difference between on-season and off-season fruits based on t-test.
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Corresponding authors. Tel.: +86 20 85288273; fax: +86 20 85280228.
¹ Both these authors contributed equally to this work.

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Scientia Horticulturae Article in Press, Corrected Proof - Note to users