Figure 4

Dynamics of fruit and seed growth in Fantasia, Springcrest and slr. A) Fruit growth curves are expressed as cross diameter (mm) for Fantasia (the reference genotype; red triangles), Springcrest (the early ripening genotype; blue squares) and slr (the slow ripening genotype; green circles). In the lower part of the panel, the arrowheads indicate the timing of sampling for the 3 cvs and the developmental stage is indicated within each arrow. B) Dynamics of seed development in Springcrest (left) and Fantasia (right) related to the fruit developmental stages. Seed development in slr is similar to that reported for Fantasia. Relative abundance of nucellus, integuments and endosperm (blue) and embryo (red) points out that in Springcrest, at fruit harvest, embryo development is a long way from maturity, while in slr, in spite of the block of fruit ripening, the completion of embryo development parallels that of Fantasia and the seed is viable.