Balance between pollination and parthenocarpy in the pear (Pyrus communis) variety Conference

Abstract

Pear is the second fruit growing in Belgium and the variety Conference represents 90% of the Belgian production. Pear tree (Pyrus communis) is a self-incompatible species and requires inter-variety cross-pollination to develop fruits. Hives are often settled in the orchards to facilitate pollination and allow a better fruit size production. However honeybees seem not really attracted by pear flowers and no accurate study of pear tree pollination by insects has been conducted. Moreover, pear tree blooming occurs early in the spring and could be subjected to frost events. Parthenocarpy induction by spraying plant hormones, mainly gibberellins, is a common practice in orchards and allows achieving sufficient yield even under climatically unfavorable spring conditions. No precise study has been carried on to determine the most efficient hormones (gibberellins, cytokinins,…), the moment of their application and the required amounts to apply. Our work aims to better highlight the pear tree reproduction and focuses on the pollination and parthenocarpy processes in the Conference variety