IR-4 Final Report Year 3: Bloom 2012 to harvest 2013 Use of GA3 to Increase Yield of the 'Hass' Avocado:

Demonstration of a Dose Response Carol J. Lovatt, Professor of Plant Physiology, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences-072, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0124 Abstract The overall goal of this research is to add avocado to an existing gibberellic acid (GA3) label. GA3 is exempt from the requirement of a tolerance for residues in the United States (Federal Register, 1999). For California, the Department of Pesticide Registration requires efficacy data and dose response data for yield parameters. These data should be collected in orchards in different areas of the State and can consist of an increase in total yield, yield of commercially valuable size fruit or average fruit size on an annual basis, in either the on- or off-crop year of an alternate bearing orchard, averaged across years by repeated measure analysis, or cumulative yield. The objective of this research was to effect of increasing GA3 doses on Hass avocado yield. GA3 (0, 9.5, 24, 59 and 148 g GA3/acre) applied to cauliflower stage inflorescences resulted in a bell curve with the highest total yield and yield of commercially valuable size fruit as kg or number of fruit per tree achieved with GA3 at 24 g/acre in the first year of treatment at each site. Doses of GA3 59 g/acre reduced yield 20% to 30% in Year 1. The treatments were applied to the same trees the following year. In Orchard 1, trees receiving the label rate (24 g GA3/acre) produced more fruit and more commercially valuable size fruit than the untreated control trees, but trees treated with 59 g/acre, which produced low yields in year 1, produced greater yields than trees receiving 24 g/acre, including the untreated control. In orchard 2, trees receiving 24 g/acre (including the control) produced the high yields in year 1 and virtually no crop in year 2. Similarly, trees treated with GA3 59 g/acre, which produced lower yields than the trees treated with 24 g/acre in Year 1, produced significantly greater yields than these trees in Year 2. As a result, in Year 2, the dose response was linear for orchard 1 and sigmoid for orchard 2. The results provide evidence that the trees were alternate bearing and that the on- and off-crop cycles of trees treated with GA3 59 g/acre became asynchronous relative to trees treated with 24 g/acre. Thus, it was not possible to demonstrate the efficacy of the label rate in relation to the higher doses as 2-year cumulative yield. To avoid the effect of alternate bearing initiated by GA3 59 g/acre, a new orchard was selected to complete the research. In orchard 3, GA3 at 24 g/acre increased total yield and yield of commercially valuable size fruit (178-325 g/fruit) as both kilograms and number of fruit per tree. Whereas GA3 at 24 g/acre resulted in the greatest total yield and yield of commercially valuable size fruit in the first year of treatment, the results were only significantly greater than the control in one of the three orchards at the 5% confidence level and in a second orchard at the 10% level. To determine if the effects of the GA3 doses were consistent, year 1 yields were averaged across the three orchards by repeated measure analysis with orchard as the repeated measure. The dose response was a bell curve with trees treated with GA3 at 24 g/acre producing a significantly greater total yield and yield of commercially valuable size fruit (178-325 g/fruit) as both kilograms and number per tree compared to all other treatments. Introduction California avocado growers must increase yield, including fruit size, and/or reduce production costs to remain competitive in the US market, which now receives fruit from Mexico, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, Dominican Republic and an increasing number of other countries

(http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/FruitVegPhyto/Data/fr-avocados.xls). The Hass cultivar (Persea americana Mill.) dominates the worldwide avocado industry and is of significant economic importance to California, which produces > 95% of the avocados produced in the United States (59,629 bearing acres producing 462 million pounds of fruit valued at $381.8 million for the 2011-2012 crop year), making California second in acreage and production only to Mexico (http://www.avocado.org). Despite the popularity of this cultivar, it is known to be problematic with regard to fruit retention, fruit size and alternate bearing. Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are powerful, cost-effective tools for increasing yield of commercially valuable large size fruit in an established orchard. At the present time, no PGRs are registered for use on bearing avocado trees in California. In previous research, the potential of GA3 to increase grower income was demonstrated in two different avocado-growing areas of the state. (1) In Corona, CA, GA3 (25 mg/L) applied at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development resulted in a net increase in 2-year cumulative total yield of 6,069 lbs fruit/acre (based on 110 trees/acre) and 2-year cumulative yield of commercially valuable large size fruit (packing carton sizes 60 + 48 + 40; 178-325 g/fruit) of 4,125 lbs/acre more than untreated control trees (from the work of Salazar-Garca and Lovatt, 2000). (2) In Irvine, CA, GA3 (25 mg/L) applied at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development resulted in a net increase in 2-year cumulative total yield of 3,771 lbs fruit/acre (based on 110 trees/acre) and 2-year cumulative yield of commercially valuable large size fruit (packing carton sizes 60 + 48 + 40) of 2,570 lbs/acre more than untreated control trees (Lovatt and Salazar-Garca, 2006). The cost of GA3 (ProGibb Valent BioSciences) to achieve the net increase in total yield and yield of commercially valuable large size fruit was $16/acre (this is the cost of the product and does not include the cost of application, which varies among growers). There were additional benefits from this GA3 treatment. It kept the external peel green without affecting the length of time for fruit to ripen (Salazar-Garca and Lovatt, 2000). Additionally, this treatment increased vegetative shoot growth, including the growth of the vegetative shoot apex of indeterminate floral shoots, which shaded the fruit and reduced sunburn damage to the fruit. The objective of the present research was to demonstrate a GA3 dose effect on avocado yield and/or fruit size in two commercial 'Hass' avocado orchards representing different avocadogrowing areas of the state, a requirement of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation as part of the efficacy data package to be submitted, along with data demonstrating that GA3 increases yield and yield of commercially valuable large size fruit, with no negative effect on fruit quality, in support of adding 'Hass' avocado and 'Hass' avocado relatives to an existing GA3 label. Efficacy data, including dose response data, can consist of an increase in total yield, yield of commercially valuable size fruit or average fruit size annually, in either the on- or off-crop year of an alternate bearing orchard, averaged across years by repeated measure analysis, or cumulative yield. Avocado harvests occur 12 to 28 months after bloom and fruit set. Due to the presence of fruit from other countries in US markets, harvest in California is predominantly from June to September. We anticipated collecting dose response data averaged across 2 years of research and as 2-year cumulative yield. Thus, three research years were needed to obtain two sets (two crop years) of yield data. The avocado industry of California suffered a devastating freeze in January 2007, loss of 3,100 bearing acres due to fire in the same year, and extensive loss of crop due to high temperatures in early June 2008, which affected all of the state's avocado acreage to some degree and caused a complete loss of crop in the high-producing areas around Santa Paula. This initiated strong alternate bearing in California Hass avocado orchards. In addition, in five avocadoproducing counties, water allocations were reduced 33%. Growers met this shortfall by stumping 1/3 of their acreage. The avocado growers of California are in desperate need of a plant growth regulator tool that increases fruit set and fruit size to increase grower income and

the sustainability of the commodity-based industry. The DPR wants us to be able to describe under what conditions GA3 will or will not be effective. Materials and Methods The research was conducted in three commercially bearing Hass avocado (Persea americana Mill.) orchards located in separate valleys in two avocado-growing areas of the state different from those previously used to determine GA3 efficacy. Orchard 1 was located in Somis (latitude 34.26 N, longitude 118.99 W) and orchards 2 and 3 were located in Santa Paula (latitude 34.36 N, longitude 119.07 W) in the foothills and on the valley floor, respectively. Members of the Production Research Committee of the California Avocado Commission were instrumental in selecting and arranging the use of these orchards for this research. For each orchard, there were six treatments applied at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development (March-April) and replicated on 20 individual trees in a randomized complete block design: (1) untreated control, no GA3; (2) GA3 at 9.5 g/acre; (3) GA3 at 24 g/acre; (4) GA3 at 59 g/acre; (5) GA3 at 148 g/acre; and (6) water spray control. Treatments 2 through 6 were applied in 250 gallons of water (pH 5.5-6.0) per acre as foliar sprays with 430-psi handgun sprayer. The sprays were applied like a pesticide spray to give full canopy coverage, especially of the developing inflorescences, but not sprayed to run-off. Fruit set and fruit size (transverse diameter) were determined on four 30-cm long branches per quadrant (northeast, southeast, southwest and northwest at the end of September (7 months after treatment application) for all data trees. Total yield was determined as kilograms fruit per tree at harvest in June or July the following year. A randomly selected subsample of 100 to 150 fruit per tree, representing ~20% to 100% of the fruit on the tree, were collected from each data tree. The weight of each fruit in the subsample was determined. These data were used to calculate pack-out, i.e., the kilograms of fruit of each packing carton size per tree, and to estimate the total number of fruit per tree. The following packing carton fruit size categories (grams per fruit) were used: size 84 (99 to 134 g), size 70 (135 to 177 g), size 60 (178 to 212 g), size 48 (213 to 269 g), size 40 (270 to 325 g), size 36 (326 to 354 g), and size 32 (355 to 397 g). In addition, at harvest, two fruit were selected randomly per tree and allowed to ripen in a controlled temperature chamber at 18 to 21 C. The number of days from harvest to ripe (eating soft) was determined. When ripe, external and internal fruit quality was evaluated for decay and discoloration. Vascularization (presence of vascular bundles and associated fibers) of the mesocarp (edible portion) was also determined. The above fruit quality parameters were rated on a scale from 0 (not present) to 4 (high incidence of decay, discoloration, or vascularization). External peel color was determined on a scale from 0 (fruit totally green) to 4 (fruit totally black). We also quantified the effects of GA3 on fruit length and width, mesocarp diameter, seed diameter, and seed germination. Repeated measure analysis was used to test for treatment effects on yield and fruit quality parameters across orchards with orchard as the repeated measure factor. This analysis was performed using the General Linear Models procedure of SAS (version 6.12; SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Linear regression analysis was used to test the effect of total yield on fruit size. All data were analyzed using ANOVA with mean separation by Fishers Protected LSD at P 0.05. Results The physical effect of spraying trees, even with water, can have a thinning effect on flowers and fruit that can significantly reduce yield; this includes the application of water at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development (Chao et al, 2011; Garner et al., 2011; Lovatt, unpublished). A successful foliar spray must overcome the negative effect of application and additionally have a positive effect on fruit retention and fruit growth. Since a water spray control could have a

lower yield than an untreated control, all yield data in this report were compared to the untreated control trees. The yield data presented in figures are number of fruit per tree so that the effects of the GA3 treatments on fruit retention and fruit growth are apparent. On-tree Fruit Set and Fruit Size. On-tree fruit set and fruit size (transverse diameter) were determined in September for all data trees in each treatment in the three orchards in September each year. Year 1 Orchard 1. A comparison of the dose effect of GA3 on fruit set and fruit size in September of year 1, a heavy on-crop year, revealed that in orchard 1 no GA3 concentration had an effect on fruit set, with the exception that GA3 at 148 g/acre significantly reduced fruit set (P < 0.0001). Fruit size increased with the increasing concentration of GA3 applied in orchard 1, but fruit size was not significantly different among trees treated with GA3 at 24 g/acre, 59 g/acre or 148 g/acre. Year 1 Orchard 2. In orchard 2, GA3 at 24 g/acre resulted in the highest average number of fruit set per tagged shoot (P < 0.0001) and the largest fruit size (P = 0.0238), relative to the untreated control, but fruit size among trees treated with GA3 at 24 g/acre, 59 g/acre or 148 g/acre was not significantly different. Thus, in both orchards trees treated with GA3 at 24 g/acre, 59 g/acre or 148 g/acre had fruit transverse diameters significantly greater than fruit from control trees and trees treated with GA3 at 9.5 g/acre (P < 0.0001 and P = 0.0238, for orchards 1 and 2, respectively) but not significantly different from each other. Year 2 Orchard 1. Fruit set for the untreated control trees was 7.5-fold less in year 2, a light crop year, than in year 1, a heavy crop year. In year 2, fruit set increased in parallel with the increase in GA3 concentration, but fruit size decreased with the increase in GA3 concentration and the increase in the average number of fruit set in orchard 1 (P = 0.0034). Year 2 Orchard 2. Fruit set was 5-fold lower in year 2 than year 1. Fruit set increased with the increase in GA3 concentration and fruit size was 20% greater in year 2, the light crop year compared to fruit size in the heavy crop year. Fruit diameter was significantly greater for trees treated with GA3 at 24 g/acre than trees treated with all other GA3 concentrations (P < 0.0001). Year 1 Orchard 3. There were no significant treatment effects on fruit set or fruit size during the first year of treatment in orchard 3. Yield and Fruit Size at Commercial Harvest. Year 1 Orchard 1. Trees treated with GA3 at 24 g/acre retained the greatest number of fruit per tree and produced the greatest number of commercially valuable large size fruit (packing carton sizes 60 + 48 + 40 per tree; 178-325 g/fruit) but not significantly more than the untreated control trees. However, total yield and yield of commercially valuable size fruit per tree for trees treated with GA3 at 24 g/acre were significantly greater than trees treated with GA3 59 g/acre. These yield data produced a bell-shaped GA3 dose response curve as kilograms per tree (data not shown) and number of fruit per tree (Fig. 1). Year 1 Orchard 2. GA3 at 24 g/acre significantly increased the total yield and yield of commercially valuable size fruit (packing carton sizes 60 + 48 + 40; 178-325 g/fruit) per tree. Thus, these yield data also produced a bell-shaped GA3 dose response curve as kilograms per tree (data not shown) and as number of fruit per tree (Fig. 1).

Year 2 Orchard 1. The treatments were applied again in year 2 to the same trees, which were now in a low yield, off-crop year. In orchard 1, trees receiving the label rate (24 g GA3/acre) produced more fruit and more commercially valuable size fruit than the untreated control trees, but trees treated with GA3 59 g/acre produced greater yields than trees receiving 24 g/acre, including the untreated control. As a result, in year 2, the yield data for orchard 1 revealed a linear dose response. It is clear that the trees receiving GA3 59 g/acre were out of synchrony with the other trees in the experiment and in the orchard as a result of the dramatic reduction in yield caused by these treatments in year 1. Year 2 Orchard 2. In orchard 2, trees treated with GA3 59 g/acre were also asynchronous with regard to the other trees in the experiment and in the orchard, which were in an off-crop year. Trees treated with GA3 59 g/acre produced low yields in Year 1 and greater yields in Year 2, which were significantly greater than trees receiving 24 g/acre, which produced heavy yields in year 1 and virtually no crop in year 2, consistent with alternate bearing. A curve was fitted to the data points (Fig. 2), but a sigmoid curve might better describe the relationship between yield and GA3 concentration in year 2. Year 1 Orchard 3. Due to the loss of crop in year 1 caused by GA3 59 g/acre and the rebound effect on the yield of these trees the following year, it became clear that dose response data could not be collected as 2-year cumulative yield and that a dose response experiment required a new orchard annually to obtain data over multiple years. Therefore, a third orchard was added, for which only year 1 data were collected. GA3 at 24 g/acre increased the total kilograms and number of fruit per tree and increased the kilograms and number of commercially valuable size fruit per tree at the 10% confidence level in a pair-wise comparison with the untreated control (Fig. 3). Yield Results Averaged Across Sites. To determine if GA3 dose effects were consistent across sites and years, we averaged the yield data obtained for the first year of treatment in each of the three orchards, which also represent two different production years, across the three sites using repeated measure analysis with orchard as the repeated measure. GA3 at 24 g/acre significantly increased the total kilograms and number of fruit per tree compared to all other GA3 treatments (P = 0.0026 and P = 0.0021, respectively). GA3 at 24 g/acre also significantly increased the kilograms and number of commercially valuable size fruit per tree (P = 0.0112 and P = 0.0097, respectively). Additional, evidence that GA3 at 24 g/acre increased fruit size is that trees receiving this treatment produced more kilograms and number of fruit greater than 178 g per fruit (P = 0.0127 and P = 0.0098, respectively). GA3 at 148 g/acre significantly reduced total yield as both kilograms and number of fruit per tree by reducing the yield of small size fruit (packing carton sizes 84 + 70; 99-177 g/fruit) and also commercially valuable size fruit of packing carton size 60 (178-212 g/fruit), with no effect on yield of fruit in other size categories. These data are expressed on the basis of 110 trees per acre, the average planting density recommended by the California Avocado Commission for calculating yield per acre (Tables 1 and 2). Orchard had a significant effect on every yield parameter. However, there were no significant treatment-orchard interactions on yield parameters at the 5% level, suggesting that despite significant differences in yield, tree size, rootstock and cultural practices among orchards, the effects of the different GA3 application rates were consistent across orchards. Fruit Quality at Commercial Harvest. Fruit Quality Averaged Across Sites.

The incidence of internal fruit decay and discoloration were low in all years of the research and in all three orchards. On a scale from 0 to 4 (0 = not present; 4 = high), the incidence of decay and discoloration was less than 0.5. Vascularization was uniformly present in fruit from all orchards, ranging 1.3 to 1.65 (0 = not present; 4 = high occurrence). Due to the fact that fruit were harvested in July, the average peel color of the fruit when ripe (eating soft) ranged only from 3.6 to 3.85 (0 = totally green fruit; 4 = totally black fruit). Neither GA3 application rate, nor orchard had an effect on these fruit quality parameters. In contrast, orchard had a significant effect on the number of days for fruit to ripen to eating soft, fruit length, fruit width, mesocarp (edible portion of the fruit) diameter, seed diameter, and the occurrence of seed germination within the fruit (Table 3). GA3 application rate had no effect on any of these parameters, except seed diameter. GA3 59 g/acre significantly increased seed diameter compared to the untreated control, but there was no accompanying reduction in mesocarp diameter. GA3 at 24 g/acre had no effect on seed diameter compared to the untreated control. There were also no treatment-orchard interactions, suggesting that the GA3 effects were consistent across the three orchards. Discussion The Hass avocado is prone to alternate bearing, production of a heavy on-crop followed by a light off-crop. In response to recent climatic events in California described above, Hass avocado orchards are now strongly alternate bearing industry-wide. Results of our previous studies provided clear evidence that crop load influences the effect of GA3 on yield and fruit size (Garner et al., 2011; Salazar-Garca and Lovatt, 2000). GA3 (24 g/acre) applied to commercial orchards of Hass avocado trees at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development or at the end of June-beginning of July, beginning of exponential fruit growth, significantly increased total yield and yield of commercially valuable large size fruit (packing carton sizes 60 + 48 + 40; 178-325 g/fruit) in the on-crop year, but only resulted in a non-significant numerical increase in the off-crop year. Due to the fact that the Hass avocado alternate bears, cumulative yield data are submitted to and accepted by the California Department of Pesticide Registration. However, because some GA3 doses increased yield, while others decreased yield in year 1, the on- and offcrop cycles of the data trees became asynchronous. Thus, control trees and trees receiving GA3 24 g/acre went from good or high yields to low yields the following year, whereas trees receiving 59 g/acre produced very lower yields the first year and higher yields the following year. Of the two orchards in which GA3 treatments were applied to the same trees for two years, in orchard 1, GA3 at 24 g/acre numerically increased yield per tree in the off-crop year compared to the untreated control, but in orchard 2 control trees and trees treated with 9.5 or 24 g per acre GA3 produced an average of only 0.2 to 0.4 kilograms of fruit per tree in year 2. Thus, all yield benefits from GA3 at the label rate were derived from effects on the on-crop. For the year 1 data in all three orchards, yield of commercially valuable size fruit (packing carton sizes 60 + 48 + 40; 178-325 g/fruit) increased in parallel with the increase in total yield (r2 = 0.8704). For trees treated with GA3 at 59 or 148 g/acre, the amount of crop lost in year 1 was significantly greater than the yield increase in year 2. Thus, application of a high rate of GA3 to on-bloom trees is not a viable strategy for mitigating alternate bearing (further discussed below). The negative effect of GA3 at 59 and 148 g/acre on yield was unexpected. We have previously sprayed 100 mg/L, the equivalent of 95 g/acre in this study, at several stages of floral development (cauliflower stage was not tested) with no negative effects on flower morphology or inflorescence development, no visible signs of phytotoxicty on the leaves, and no negative effects on yield parameters (Salazar-Garca and Lovatt, 1998, 2000). Even a single application of 1000 mg/L did not cause phytotoxicity, although it caused floral shoots to be highly elongated and too weak to support developing fruit (Salazar-Garca and Lovatt, 1998). We observed no

effects on floral shoot morphology, symptoms of phytotoxicity on leaves, or changes in tree growth habit, although the possibility that the higher rates of GA3 stimulated the growth of the vegetative shoot apex of indeterminate floral shoots, which increased fruit abscission and reduced yield, cannot be ruled out. Whatever the cause of the reduce yield in the on-crop year, the effect was minimal to absent the following off-crop and offset by the fact the trees were destined to produce an on-crop following the previous years low crop. These results provide evidence that the negative effect of the high doses of GA3 did not persist sufficiently long to impact floral development, which begins at the end of July-beginning of August in California (Salazar-Garca et al., 1998). This raises the question of whether use of a high rate of GA3 in a heavy crop year and not applying the treatment the following year, thus eliminating the negative effect of the treatment in year 2, might result in a greater yield increase and significant increase in 2-year cumulative yield than applying the treatment in sequential years. An important aspect of alternate bearing is that an on crop in one orchard can be a lower yield than the off crop in another orchard. Our research of alternate bearing has documented that only shoots that do not set fruit in the spring of year 1 (non-bearing shoots) produce inflorescences in spring of year 2. Thus, low yielding trees with very few non-bearing shoots will flower poorly and produce even lower yield in year 2. Conversely, high yielding trees with many more non-bearing shoots than bearing shoots will flower profusely and produce an even greater crop in year 2. As a result, the following question has been raised: Over what range of yields is the GA3 (24 g/acre) cauliflower stage treatment effective? We know there is a lower yield value for which GA3 cannot produce a significant increase in yield. Is there an upper yield value beyond which GA3 is no longer effective? Preliminary analysis relating the yield of control trees to the yields of GA3-treated trees for different orchards, in different years, within a block and across blocks in an orchard and in a given year revealed that GA3 at 24 g/acre produced a minimum 10 kg net increase in total yield per tree in orchards for which the control trees had yields ranging from 20 to ~169 kg/tree (~80 to ~750 fruit/tree). This is a minimum net increase of 2,425 lbs/110 trees/acre in orchards producing ~4,850 to ~ 41,000 lbs/110 trees/acre. In all cases, the increase in total yield was accompanied an increase in the yield of commercially valuable size fruit. The effect of crop load on GA3 efficacy is not unique to GA3, nor is this interaction unique to Hass avocado. With the climatic events discussed above, alternate bearing is prevalent in other tree fruit and nut crop orchards in California. We have documented a crop load effect on the efficacy of other PGRs (Lovatt, 2007) and for other tree crops (Chao et al., 2011). By taking the results of our research together, it now seems possible to prescribe the conditions under which GA3 at 24g/acre applied at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development will result in a significant increase in 2-year cumulative total yield and yield of commercially valuable large size fruit the majority of the time. Literature Cited Chao, C., Khuong, T., Zheng, Y., Lovatt, C.J. 2011. Response of evergreen perennial tree crops to gibberellic acid is crop load-dependent. I: GA3 increases the yield of commercially valuable 'Nules' Clementine mandarin fruit only in the off-crop year of an alternate bearing orchard. Scientia Hort. 130:743-752. Garner, L.C., Klein, G.J., Zheng, Y., Khuong, T., and Lovatt, C.J. 2011. Response of evergreen perennial tree crops to gibberellic acid is crop load-dependent: II. GA3 increases yield and fruit size of 'Hass' avocado only in the on-crop year of an alternate bearing orchard. Scientia Hort. 130:753-761. Lovatt, C. J. 2007. PGR strategies to increase yield. http://www.californiaavocadogrowers.com/

assets/Uploads/Growers-Site/Production-Research-PDFs/Cultural-Management/2007/LovattMgrPhys-PGRIStrategiestoIncreaseYield.pdf. Lovatt, C. J. and Salazar-Garca, S. 2006. Plant growth regulators for avocado production. Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Plant growth Regulation Society of America, http://www.pgrsa.org/~pgrsa/archive/2006_Proceedings/papers/032.pdf. pp. 98-107. Salazar-Garca, S. and Lovatt, C.J. 2000. Use of GA3 to manipulate flowering and yield of the Hass avocado. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 125:25-30. Salazar-Garca, S., Lord, E.M. and Lovatt, C.J. 1998. Inflorescence and flower development of the 'Hass' avocado (Persea americana Mill.) during "on" and "off" crop years. J. Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. 123:537-544.

Fig. 1. Effect of increasing concentrations of GA3 applied at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development on the total number of fruit per tree (upper panels) and the number of fruit of commercially valuable size (packing carton sizes 60 + 48 + 40; 178-325 g/ fruit) (lower panels) at harvest for year 1 for orchard 1 (Somis, CA) (left, upper and lower panels) and orchard 2 (foothills of Santa Paula, CA) (right, upper and lower panels). Data are the means SE, n = 20.

Fig. 2. Effect of increasing concentrations of GA3 applied at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development on the total number of fruit per tree (upper panels) and the number of fruit of commercially valuable size (packing carton sizes 60 + 48 + 40; 178-325 g/ fruit) (lower panels) at harvest for year 2 for orchard 1 (Somis, CA) (left, upper and lower panels) and orchard 2 (foothills of Santa Paula, CA) (right, upper and lower panels). Data are the means SE, n = 20.

Fig. 3. Effect of increasing concentrations of GA3 applied at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development on the total number of fruit per tree (upper panel) and the number of fruit of commercially valuable size (packing carton sizes 60 + 48 + 40; 178-325 g/ fruit) (lower panel) at harvest for year 1 in orchard 3 (Santa Paula, CA).

Table 1. Effect of increasing concentrations of GA3 applied at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development on yield as pounds of fruit per 110 trees per acre for year 1 averaged across the three orchards. Treatment Total Packing carton size based on individual fruit mass (g/fruit) 84+70 60 48 40 60+48+40 >60 (99-177) (178-212) (213-269) (270-324) (178-325) (>178) lb/110 trees/acre Control 24085 bz 2515 a 5765 ab 12314 b 3133 a 21211 b 21570 b 9.5 g/acre 23752 bc 2152 a 5414 ab 12792 b 3058 a 21264 b 21599 b 24 g/acre 29113 a 2324 a 6984 a 15117 a 4317 a 26418 a 26789 a 59 g/acre 22657 bc 1751 a 4845 bc 11239 b 4202 a 20285 b 20906 b 148 g/acre 20658 c 766 b 3537c 10833 b 4692 a 19062 b 19892 b Orchardy 1 39347 a 2514 a 8049a 22157 a 5969 a 36175 a 36832 a 2 12048 b 885 b 2167 c 5414 b 3054 b 10636 b 11164 b 3 12754 b 2910 a 5784 b 3914 b 146 c 9844 b 9844 b P-value Treatment 0.0026 0.0548 0.0389 0.0942 0.3431 0.0112 0.0127 Orchard <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 TxO 0.1869 0.1240 0.0778 0.5385 0.8750 0.4210 0.5275 z Values in a vertical column followed by different lower case letters are significantly different at P-value specified by Fisher's Protected LSD Test. y Orchard 1, Somis, CA; orchard 2, foothills of Santa Paula, CA; and orchard 3, Santa Paula, CA. Table 2. Effect of increasing concentrations of GA3 applied at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development on the yield as number of fruit per 110 trees per acre for year 1 averaged across the three orchards. Treatment Total Packing carton size based on individual fruit mass (g/fruit) 84+70 60 48 40 60+48+40 >60 (99-177) (178-212) (213-269) (270-324) (178-325) (>178) no. of fruit/110 trees/acre z 49507 b 7681 a 13409 ab 23177 b 4777 a 41362 b 41826 b Control 48273 b 6506 a 12593 ab 24076 b 4663 a 41332 b 41767 b 9.5 g/acre 58846 a 7080 a 16245 a 28452 a 6583 a 51280 a 51766 a 24 g/acre 44974 bc 5340 a 11269 bc 21154 b 6406 a 38829 b 39634 b 59 g/acre 39141 c 2300 b 8227 c 20389 b 7154 a 35770 b 36841 b 148 g/acre y Orchard 78085 a 7709 a 18724 a 41704 a 9100 a 69528 a 70376 a 1 23281 c 2706 b 5041 c 10191 b 4657 b 19888 b 20575 b 2 29688 b 8644 a 13454 b 7367 b 223 c 21044 b 21044 b 3 P-value 0.0021 0.0574 0.0389 0.0942 0.3431 0.0097 0.0098 Treatment <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 Orchard 0.0776 0.1311 0.0778 0.5385 0.8750 0.2957 0.3377 TxO z Values in a vertical column followed by different lower case letters are significantly different at the P-value specified by Fisher's Protected LSD Test. y Orchard 1, Somis, CA; orchard 2, foothills of Santa Paula, CA; and orchard 3, Santa Paula, CA.

Table 3. Effect of increasing concentrations of GA3 applied at the cauliflower stage of inflorescence development on fruit quality for the year 1 harvests averaged across the three orchards. Fruit Fruit Mesocarp Seed Seed Days to length width diameter diameter germination Treatment ripen (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (%) Control 15.0 a 94.3 a 66.2 a 30.8 a 35.4 c 0.2 a 9.5 g/acre 15.3 a 93.4 a 67.2 a 31.0 a 36.3 abc 0.1 a 24 g/acre 14.9 a 94.5 a 66.9 a 31.0 a 35.8 bc 0.2 a 59 g/acre 14.9 a 94.7 a 67.5 a 30.9 a 36.6 ab 0.3 a 148 g/acre 14.7 a 94.7 a 67.5 a 30.3 a 37.2 a 0.1 a Orchard 1 17.9 a 96.8 a 67.6 b 30.5 b 37.1 a 0.2 b 2 13.7 b 96.8 a 68.7 a 32.2 a 36.5 a 0.4 a 3 12.7 c 87.4 b 64.0 c 29.2 c 34.7 b 0.0 b P-value 0.5007 0.9174 0.2195 0.6570 0.0288 0.8536 Treatment Orchard <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 <0.0001 0.0002 TxO 0.8608 0.4352 0.6821 0.4553 0.7876 0.5577 z Values in a vertical column followed by different letters are significantly different at the P- value specified by Fishers Protected LSD Test. y Orchard 1, Somis, CA; orchard 2, foothills of Santa Paula, CA; and orchard 3, Santa Paula, CA