Figure 1.

Relationship between seed and berry ripening in the mid-véraison cluster. (A) Seed weight and seed numbers in the green hard, green soft, pink, and red berries of mid-véraison cluster. Data represent means ± SEM (n = 50). Different letters denote significant differences between the berries of ripening stages for each seed parameter (Tukey’s HSD, p < 0.05) (B) Percentage of single-seeded green, pink and red berries in low and high seed weight-to-berry weight (SB) groups of berries in the cluster. Berries with low and high SB ranges were selected as described in methods. Berries of four entire clusters from two plants were used for analysis. Approximate test for equal proportions was used to identify differences in the distribution of ripening classes between the SB groups and significant differences were marked with asterisks (p < 0.05). (C) Differences in mean dry mass and dehydration levels per seed from green and red berries of mid-véraison cluster. Water loss was obtained by subtracting the seed dry weight from the fresh weight and expressed as percentage of water in the seed. Data represent means ± SEM (n = 50). Different letters denote significant differences between red and green berry seeds (Tukey’s HSD, p < 0.05). (D) Linear relation between SB and berry sugar level in the single-seeded berry population of a cluster. Sugar levels were measured as °Brix. Berries of ten clusters from five different plants were used for the analysis (n = 1,146).