Horticultural Studies (HortiS) 2017, Vol 34, Num, 2     (Pages: 113-121)

Effects of GA3 applications on seedlesness and fruit quality in black myrtle (Myrtus communis L.)

Esra ALIM 1 ,Halil İbrahim UZUN 2

1 Batı Akdeniz Tarımsal Araştırma Enstitüsü, Antalya
2 Akdeniz Üniversitesi Ziraat Fakültesi Bahçe Bitkileri Bölümü, Antalya
DOI : 10.16882/derim.2017.297065 Viewed : 1705 - Downloaded : 1053 Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) is one of the medical and aromatic plants naturally grown in Mediterranean basin. Myrtle fruits are mostly consumed as fresh or dried while essential oils obtained from the leaves are widely used in pharmacy, perfumery, cosmetic and even as pesticide. Myrtle fruits have white and black color. Nowadays, there is a big demand for myrtle fruits because of its high antioxidant capacity. But it contains high amount of seeds which reduce marketing and production. Main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of GA3 on seedlesness and quality in black myrtle fruits. At different flowering stages, GA3 dose of 100 ppm were applied to whole of the plants. Some applications significantly reduced seed number in fruits. Two applications of GA3 at great ballon and full bloom stages consecutively decreased seed number from 10.69 (control) to 1.98 seed fruit-1. In addition, with three consecutive application of GA3, seed rate decreased to 4.98% while 15.08% in control. Some GA3 applications resulted in fully seedless fruits up to 10.67%. Conversely, GA3 applications did not change fruit weight and some biochemical parameters of fruits. Keywords : Seedlessness; Hormon; Fruit; Myrtus communis