ArticleAnnals of botany2022
Relationships between trunk radial growth and fruit yield in apple and pear trees on size-controlling rootstocks.
Article in Annals of botany, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Genomic forecasting for climate-resilient fruit trees.The New phytologist · 2026Review
- Acceleration of flowering in woody plants by grafting.Plant cell reports · 2026Review
- Tapping into the plasticity of plant architecture for increased stress resilience.F1000Research · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsUnderstanding the mutual co-ordination of vegetative and reproductive growth is important in both agricultural and ecological settings. A competitive relationship between vegetative growth and fruiting is often highlighted, resulting in an apparent trade-off between structural growth and fruit production. However, our understanding of factors driving this relationship is limited.
methodsWe used four scions grafted onto a series of size-controlling rootstocks to evaluate the relationships between the annual fruit yield and radial growth of trunks, branches and roots. To assess tree radial growth, we measured ring widths on extracted tree cores, which is an approach not frequently used in a horticultural setting. KEY
resultsWe found that the yield and radial growth were negatively related when plotted in absolute terms or as detrended and normalized indices. The relationship was stronger in low vigour trees, but only after the age-related trend was removed. In contrast, when trunk radial growth was expressed as basal area increment, the negative relationship disappeared, suggesting that the relationship between trunk radial growth and fruit yield might not be a true trade-off related to the competition between the two sinks. The effect of low yield was associated with increased secondary growth not only in trunks but also in branches and roots. In trunks, we observed that overcropping was associated with reduced secondary growth in a subsequent year, possibly due to the depletion of reserves.
conclusionsOur results show that variation in annual fruit yield due to tree ageing, weather cueing and inherent alternate bearing behaviour is reflected in the magnitude of secondary growth of fruit trees. We found little support for the competition/architecture theory of rootstock-induced growth vigour control. More broadly, our study aimed at bridging the gap between forest ecology and horticulture.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.