Fruitlet abscission of mango is typically very severe, causing considerable production losses worldwide. Consequently, a detailed physiological and molecular characterization of fruitlet abscission in mango is required to describe the onset and time-dependent course of this process. To identify the underlying key mechanisms of abscission, ethephon, an ethylene releasing substance, was applied at two concentrations (600 and 7200 ppm) during the midseason drop stage of mango. The abscission process is triggered by ethylene diffusing to the abscission zone where it binds to specific receptors and thereby activating several key physiological responses at the cellular level. The treatments reduced significantly the capacity of polar auxin transport through the pedicel at 1 day after treatment and thereafter when compared to untreated pedicels. The transcript levels of the ethylene receptor genes MiETR1 and MiERS1 were significantly upregulated in the pedicel and pericarp at 1, 2, and 3 days after the ethephon application with 7200 ppm, except for MiETR1 in the pedicel, when compared to untreated fruitlet. In contrast, ethephon applications with 600 ppm did not affect expression levels of MiETR1 in the pedicel and of MiERS1 in the pericarp; however, MiETR1 in the pericarp at day 2 and MiERS1 in the pedicel at days 2 and 3 were significantly upregulated over the controls. Moreover, two novel short versions of the MiERS1 were identified and detected more often in the pedicel of treated than untreated fruitlets at all sampling times. Sucrose concentration in the fruitlet pericarp was significantly reduced to the control at 2 days after both ethephon treatments. In conclusion, it is postulated that the ethephon-induced abscission process commences with a reduction of the polar auxin transport capacity in the pedicel, followed by an upregulation of ethylene receptors and finally a decrease of the sucrose concentration in the fruitlets.

The root‐knot nematode, Meloidogyne graminicola, is an important pest of rice in many rice production areas worldwide. The endophyte Fusarium moniliforme strain Fe14, isolated from a disinfected root of rice, has previously shown potential antagonistic activity against M. graminicola. This study shows the effects of Fe14 on M. graminicola behaviour, infection, development and reproduction. The endophyte Fe14 colonisation significantly reduced M. graminicola penetration into rice roots by 55% and increased the male to female ratio nine times. The endophyte also delayed juvenile development into female inside the rice root. These results suggest a suboptimal performance of the giant cell and a cumulative effect of the endophyte on the long‐term root‐knot nematode population development. In split‐root assays, the application of Fe14 at the inducer side significantly reduced nematode invasion at the responder side by 38% and 60% in two independent trials. This result suggests a systemic effect of the endophyte on rice plants. The root exudates from Fe14‐treated plants were either less attractive or had repellent effect on nematode movement. The results, when compared to what was described for other endophytic Fusarium against other nematode species, may indicate a basal response mechanism initiated in the plant by endophytic Fusarium spp. The present study may give leads for unravelling the molecular mechanisms responsible for the induced systemic defence responses in plants.

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Mango yields are frequently reduced by premature fruit drop, induced by plant stresses during the fruit set period in response to unsuitable climatic or crop management conditions. There are varying strategies for assessing premature fruit drop, which render the comparison and interpretation of published data difficult to draw general conclusions. Therefore, the objective was to provide a mathematical model that is generally valid for describing fruit losses of mango. The model was tested and validated by monitoring the fruit drop for the two local North Vietnamese cultivars, Hôi and Tròn, in different management systems over six consecutive growing seasons: 1) mango–maize intercropping and mango monocropping; 2) irrigation; and 3) plant growth regulator applications with 10 ppm N-(2-chloro-4-pyridyl)-N′-phenylurea (CPPU), 40 ppm 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), and 40 ppm gibberellins (GA3 and GA4+7). The timely pattern of fruit drop was best described with a sigmoid function (r2 = 0.85) and formed the basis for defining three distinct drop stages. The post-bloom drop, from full bloom to the maximum daily rate of fruit drop [FD(x)], had the highest fruit losses. The following midseason drop stage ends at 1% FD(x), a threshold that is suggested after a comprehensive literature review. Thereafter, during the preharvest drop stage, treatment and cultivar differences appear to remain constant despite continued fruit drop. In contrast to other mango intercropping studies, fruit loss was not greater in the mango–maize intercropping than in the mango monocropping. Irrigation resulted in approximately three times higher fruit retention compared with the non-irrigated control. A single application of NAA at marble fruit stage (BBCH-scale 701) resulted consistently in the highest fruit retention for both cultivars in midseason and at harvest. The model permits the separation between the drop stages, thus allowing the evaluation of 1) natural variation before treatment effects during post-bloom drop; 2) treatment efficacies during midseason drop; and 3) yield forecasting at the beginning of the preharvest stage.

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