SpringerLink
Log in

The delay of flowering time in almond: a review of the combined effect of adaptation, mutation and breeding

  • Review
  • Published:
Euphytica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Regulation of flowering time in almond, as in other Prunus species, is a complex process involving both chill and heat requirements. Following exposure to appropriate consecutive periods of cold and warm temperatures, the buds break dormancy and sprout or flower depending on bud type. To maximize flowering and subsequent vegetative growth and fruit set, chilling and ensuing warm temperature requirements have to be fully satisfied. Because of its potential for very early flowering, flowering time in almond is a major determinant of its adaptation to new environments. In colder regions, Late-flowering is often necessary to avoid frost damage during and just after flowering. Consequently, the selection of delayed flowering times remains an important objective in almond improvement programs. Flowering time is considered a quantitative though highly heritable trait. In addition, a dominant gene (Late flowering, Lb), originally identified in a spontaneous mutation of the Californian almond cultivar ‘Nonpareil’, was also described. The objective of this review is a comparative analysis of the effects of regional adaptation, breeding and mutation on the delay of flowering time in new almond cultivars. Findings indicate that the adaptation of almonds from the Mediterranean basin to colder regions in Northern Europe and America has been mainly achieved through delayed flowering. These adapted late-flowering cultivars have usually been developed by selecting desired quantitative genes within each regional germplasm. Additional progress thus appears achievable with a more comprehensive understanding of the quantitative and qualitative genetics controlling this trait. The use of molecular markers for the early selection of genes conferring late flowering, including both spontaneous mutations as well as unique regional germplasm, should allow development of even later cultivars including ultra-late cultivars flowering as into April.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Germany)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alonso JM, Socias I Company R, Kodad O, Espada JL et al (2016) Performance of the CITA almond releases and some elite breeding selections. Options Méditer 119:33–36

  • Ballester J, Socias i Company R, Arús P et al (2001) Genetic map** of a major gene delaying flowering time in almond. Plant Breed 120:268–270

  • Campoy JA, Ruiz D, Egea J (2011) Dormancy in temperate fruit trees in a global warming context: a review. Sci Hortic 130:357–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castède S, Campoy JA, Quero García J et al (2014) Genetic determinism of phenological traits highly affected by climate change in Prunus avium: flowering date dissected into chilling and heat requirements. New Phytol 202:703–715

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Couvillon GA, Erez A (1985) Influence of prolonged exposure to chilling temperatures on bud break and heat requirement for bloom of several fruit species. J Am Soci Hortic Sci 110:47–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Dicenta F, García JE (1992) Phenotypical correlations among some traits in almond. J Genet Breed 46:241–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Dicenta F, García JE, Carbonell EA (1993) Heritability of flowering, productivity and maturity in almond. J Hortic Sci 68:113–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dicenta F, García-Gusano M, Ortega E et al (2005) The possibilities of early selection of late flowering almonds as a function of seed germination or leafing time of seedlings. Plant Breed 124:305–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dicenta F, Sánchez-Pérez R, Rubio M et al (2015) The origin of the self-compatible almond ‘Guara’. Sci Hortic 197:1–4

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dicenta F, Egea J, Ortega E et al (2016) Almond Breeding: important issues and challenges for research. Options Méditer 119:23–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Egea J, Ortega E, Martínez-Gómez P et al (2003) Chilling and heat requirements of almond cultivars for flowering. Environ Exp Bot 50:79–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erez A (2000) Bud dormancy; phenomenon, problems and solutions in the tropics and subtropics. In: Erez A (ed) Temperate fruit crops in warm climates. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 17–48

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Erez A, Couvillon GA (1987) Characterization of the influence of moderate temperatures on rest completion in peach. J Am Soc Hortic Sci 112:677–680

    Google Scholar 

  • Faust M, Erez A, Rowland LJ et al (1997) Bud dormancy in perennial fruit trees: physiological basis for dormancy induction, maintenance, and release. HortScience 32:623–629

    Google Scholar 

  • Felipe AJ (2000) The almond: plant material. Integrum, Lérida, Spain, 461 pp (in Spanish)

  • Gradziel TM (2011) Almond origin and domestication. Hortic Rev 38:23–82

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gradziel TM, Martínez-Gómez P (2013) Almond breeding. Plant Breed Rev 37:207–258

    Google Scholar 

  • Gradziel TM, Martínez-Gómez P, Dicenta F et al (2001) The utilization of related Prunus species for almond variety improvement. J Am Pomol Soc 55:100–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Grasselly C (1978) Observations on the use of a late flowering almond mutant in a hybridization program. Ann d’Amélioration des Plantes 28:685–695 (in French)

    Google Scholar 

  • Grasselly C, Crossa-Raynaud P (1980) The almond tree. Techniques agricoles et productions méditerranéenes. G.P. Maisonneuve- Larose. Paris, 446 pp. (in French)

  • Grasselly C, Gall H (1967) Possibilities of combination of some agronomic characteristics from the almond cultivar Cristomorto hybridized with other three cultivars. Ann d’Amélioration des Plantes 17:83–91 (in French)

    Google Scholar 

  • Grasselly C, Olivier G (1985) Progress of the “late flowering” almond breeding program. Options Médit 85:47–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawker JS, Buttrose MS (1980) Development of the almond nut (Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb). Anatomy and chemical composition of fruit parts from anthesis to maturity. Ann Bot 46:47–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kester DE (1965) Inheritance of time of bloom in certain progenies of almond. Proc Am Soc Hortic Sci 87:214–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Kester DE, Gradziel TM (1996) Almonds (Prunus). In: Janick J, Moore JN (eds) Fruit breeding. Wiley, New York, pp 1–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Legave JM, García G (1992) First conclusions on the mutagenic effects of bud irradiation of the almond cultivar Ferragnès. In: Grasselly C, ed. 8 Colloque du GREMPA. Amélioration génetique d deux espèces de fruits secs méditerranées: lámandier et le pistachier. Commission des Communautés Européennes. EUR 14081 FR. Luxembourg. pp 85–88. ISBN 92-826-4878-8 (in French)

  • Malagon J, Velázquez L, Carot M, Felipe C (2017) Behaviour of almond cultivars in cold areas. Rev de Frutic 53:6–23 (in Spanish)

    Google Scholar 

  • Marchese A, Bošković RI, Martínez-García PJ et al (2008) The origin of the self-compatible almond Supernova. Plant Breed 127:105–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Gómez P, Gradziel TM, Ortega E et al (2000) Short-term storage of almond pollen. HortScience 35:1151–1152

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Gómez P, Gradziel TM, Ortega E et al (2002) Low temperature storage of almond pollen. HortScience 37:691–692

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Gómez P, Arulsekar S, Potter D et al (2003) An extended interspecific gene pool available to peach and almond breeding as characterized using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Euphytica 131:313–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monastra F, Fideghelli C (1970) Almond breeding program of the Istituto Sperimentale per la Frutticoltura. Ann dell’Istit Sper per la Fruttic 1970:1–7 (in Italian)

    Google Scholar 

  • Monastra F, Della Strada G, Fideghelli C et al (1988) Supernova: a new almond variety obtained by mutagenesis. Rapp EUR 11557:3–7 (in French)

    Google Scholar 

  • Musa-Velasco K, Paulionis L, Poon T, Lee HY (2016) The effect of almond consumption on fasting blood lipid levels: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. J Nutr Sci 5:e34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ortega E, Egea J, Dicenta F (2004) Effective pollination period in almond cultivars. HortScience 39:19–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Poonam V, Raunak G, Kumar CS, Reddy L, Jain R, Sharma SK, Prasad AK, Parmar VS (2011) Chemical constituents of the genus Prunus and their medical properties. Curr Med Chem 18:3758–3824

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Powell LE (1987) Hormonal aspects of bud and seed dormancy in temperate-zone woody plants. HortScience 22:845–850

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Puebla M (2016) Study of the behaviour of almond varieties in the region of Vegas Bajas del Guadiana (Spain). Rev de Frutic 52:38–51 (in Spanish)

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubio M, Martínez-García PJ, Cremades T et al (2017) Early selection for flowering time in almond breeding programs. Sci Hortic 220:1–3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Pérez R, Howad D, Dicenta F et al (2007a) Map** major genes and quantitative trait loci controlling agronomic traits in almond. Plant Breed 126:310–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Pérez R, Ortega E, Duval H et al (2007b) Inheritance and correlation of important agronomic traits in almond. Euphytica 155:381–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Pérez R, Dicenta F, Martínez-Gómez P (2012) Inheritance of chilling and heat requirements for flowering in almond and QTL analysis. Tree Genet Gen 8:379–389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Pérez R, Del Cueto J, Dicenta F et al (2014) Recent advancements to study flowering time in almond and other Prunus species. Front Plant Sci 5:334

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Scalabrelli G, Couvillon GA (1986) The effect of temperature and bud type on rest completion and the GDH requirement for budbreak in ‘Redhaven’ peach. J Am Soc Hortic Sci 111:537–540

    Google Scholar 

  • Silva C, García-Mas J, Sánchez AM et al (2005) Looking into flowering time in almond (Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb): the candidate gene approach. Theor App Genet 110:959–968

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Socias i Company R, Felipe AJ (1992) Almond: A diverse germplasm. HortScience 27:863–869

  • Socias i Company R, Felipe AJ, Gómez Aparisi J (1999) A major gene for flowering time in almond. Plant Breed 118:443–448

  • Sorkheh K, Shiran B, Asadi E et al (2009) Phenotypic diversity within native Iranian almond (Prunus spp.) species and their breeding potential. Genet Res Crop Evol 56:947–961

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sorkheh K, Shiran B, Khodambashi M et al (2010) Correlations between quantitative tree and fruit almond traits and their implications for breeding. Sci Hortic 125:323–331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sperling O, Earles JM, Secchi F, Godfrey J et al (2016) Frost induces respiration and accelerates carbon depletion in trees. PLoS ONE 10:e0144124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vavilov NI (1931) The wild relatives of fruit trees of the Asian part of the USSR and Caucasus and the problem of the origin of fruit trees. Trudy po Prikladnoi Botanike, Genetike I Selektsii Bull Appl Bot Genet Breed 26:343–360 (in Russian)

  • Velasco D, Hough J, Aradhya M et al (2016) Evolutionary genomics of peach and almond omestication. G3-Genes Genomes Genet 6:3985–3993

    Google Scholar 

  • Watkins R (1976) Chery, plum, peach, apricot and almond. In: Simmonds NW (ed) Evolution of crop plants. Longman, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaurov E, Eisenman SW, Ford T et al (2015) Genetic resources of almond species in the former USSR. HortScience 50:18–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeinalabedini M, Khayam-Nekoui M, Grigorian V et al (2010) The origin and dissemination of the cultivated almond as determined by nuclear and chloroplast SSR marker analysis. Sci Hortic 125:593–601

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study has been supported by the “Almond breeding” project of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competiveness and the project “Breeding stone fruit species assisted by molecular tools” of the Seneca Foundation of the Region of Murcia.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Breeding, CEBAS-CSIC, PO Box 164, 30100, Espinardo, Murcia, Spain

    Pedro Martínez-Gómez, Angela S. Prudencio & Federico Dicenta

  2. Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Thomas M. Gradziel

Authors
  1. Pedro Martínez-Gómez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Angela S. Prudencio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Thomas M. Gradziel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Federico Dicenta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Pedro Martínez-Gómez or Thomas M. Gradziel.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Martínez-Gómez, P., Prudencio, A.S., Gradziel, T.M. et al. The delay of flowering time in almond: a review of the combined effect of adaptation, mutation and breeding. Euphytica 213, 197 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-017-1974-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-017-1974-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation