Using Simulation Modeling to Estimate the Relationship Between Date of Fruit Maturity and Yield Potential in Peach

Abstract

Fruit growth data for eight clingstone peach cultivars with dates of fruit maturity spanning eight weeks, were collected over two years and used with a peach fruit growth and crop yield simulation model to estimate the effect of date of fruit maturity on crop yield potential. Cultivars with early dates of fruit maturity were estimated to have substantially reduced dry weight yield potential compared to later maturing cultivars. However, fruit of earlier maturing cultivars had a higher water content than fruit of late maturing cultivars. These differences in water content offset some of the predicted loss in fruit dry weight yield potential related to early fruit maturity, when yields were calculated on a fresh weight basis. The estimated sacrifice in fresh crop yield potential related to advancing fruit maturity beyond the current earliest harvested commercial California clingstone peach cultivars was approximately 1.8 tons ha ^-1day ^-1. Within the parameters of this study, maximum yield potentials for peach are predicted to be achieved in cultivars maturing during early to mid-August.