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Fruit-Set Responses to Gibberellic Acid and 4-Chlorophenoxyacetic Acid in Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) According to the Fruiting Shoot Position
Dong Geun Lee12
,
Chae Young Lee1
,
Ha Kyung Oh1
,
Heesoon Park1
,
Hoon Geun Oh1
,
Seon Ja Cha1
,
Seung Yeop Lee1
,
Jong Won Lee1
,
Yi Lee2*
1Jujube Research Institute, Chungcheongbuk-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services, Boeun 28902, Korea
2Department of Industrial Plant Science & Technology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea
*Corresponding Author
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Abstract

Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) produces abundant flowers, exhibits parthenocarpic tendencies, and has a prolonged flowering period, yet fruit set remains unstable under open-field conditions due to weather variability. We classified fruiting shoots into three positional types (Fs1, Fs2, and Fs3) and assessed fruit-set responses to gibberellic acid (GA3), 4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (4-CPA), and a combination of these two acids applied three times at two-week intervals from approximately 10% bloom in open-field orchards at Boeun and Goesan, Korea. At both sites, 25 ppm GA3 produced the highest fruit set and tree yield. In Boeun, it increased fruit set per tree from 358 to 1,263 fruits·tree-1 and increased the yield from 4.15 to 9.44 kg·tree-1; in Goesan, the corresponding outcomes were from 162 to 537 fruits·tree-1 and from 2.02 to 5.14 kg·tree-1. Fruit-set ratios relative to floral clusters were highest in basal (Fs1) and main-axis (Fs2) shoots under 25 ppm GA3, whereas lateral (Fs3) shoots responded most strongly to 50 ppm GA3. At the whole-tree level, the fruit-set ratio reached 190.7% in Boeun and 149.3% in Goesan under 25 ppm GA3. Visual phytotoxic symptoms were observed in 4-CPA-containing treatments, particularly at higher concentrations, whereas no visible injuries were observed in the GA3-only treatments. These results suggest that applying GA3 during flowering can improve fruit set and yield stability in open-field jujube, with site-consistent but position-specific responses.

Keywords
flowering-stage spray
fruit retention
open-field orchard
parthenocarpy
phytotoxicity
yield stability
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Information
  • Publisher :KOREAN SOCIETY FOR HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE
  • Publisher(Ko) :한국원예학회
  • Journal Title :Horticultural Science and Technology
  • Journal Title(Ko) :원예과학기술지
  • Received Date : 2026-04-30
  • Revised Date : 2026-05-26
  • Accepted Date : 2026-06-11
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.7235/HORT.20260020
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