10 - 



In an experiment with Cresthaven peaches (1) fruit quality at harvest 

 was assessed after a 1000 ppm terbacil treatment and compared to nonthinned 

 and hand-thinned treatments. Table 2 shows these data. The only signifi- 



Table 2. The effect of terbacil on fruit quality (from l). 



^Means within a column not followed by the same letter are significantly 

 different at the S% level. 



cant differences were for soluble solids, where hand-thinned and terbaci 1- 

 treated fruit had more total soluble solids than nontreated fruit. 



The results From these studies are very preliminary, and much more 

 research needs to be done before these treatments can be recommended. 

 However, it does appear that there is some possibility that chemical 

 thinning of peaches is feasible. 



References 



Byers, R.E., C.G. Lyons, Jr., T.B. Del Valle, J. A. Barden, and R.W. 

 Young. I98A. Peach fruit abscission by shading and photosynthet ic 

 inhibition. HortScience 19:6^9-651. 



Del Valle, T.B.G., J. A. Barden, and R.E. Byers. I985. Thinning of 

 peaches by temporary inhibition of photosynthesis with terbacil. 

 J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 110:804-807. 



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