Bioscience Methods 2025, Vol.16, No.5, 228-237 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/bm 230 Figure 1 Tissue-specific expression of EjFT1andEjFT2(Adopted from Jiang et al., 2025) Image caption: (A) Different tissues from loquat were analyzed. (B-C) Relative expression levels of EjFT1 (B) and EjFT2 (C) in different tissues. Error bars indicating SDfrom three biological replicates. The β-Actin gene served as an internal control. R, root; S, shoot; L, leaf; LB, leaf bud; FB, flower bud; Fl, flower; and Fr, fruit (Adopted from Jiang et al., 2025) 3.2 Agronomic practices (e.g., pruning, girdling, irrigation control) Some agronomic operations during planting can also be used to regulate the flowering period and improve the quality of the fruit. For example, cutting off the main inflorescence can promote re-flowering of loquats, which can delay the flowering and fruiting time by 2 to 4 months (Peng et al., 2022). If the number of flower buds is appropriately reduced, the fruit can grow larger and of better quality. Usually, retaining an appropriate number of buds in each cluster will achieve the best results (Nordi et al., 2025). New practices such as "double-head pruning" can make branches grow stronger and promote better fruit development because it can enhance early cell division in branches (Su et al., 2024). For example, irrigation control, especially irrigation after harvest, can advance the flowering period by 10 to 20 days, which not only does not affect the quality of the fruit, but also can obtain more yields earlier (Hueso and Cuevas, 2008). Figure 2 The effect of thinning flowers on loquat fruit (Photographed by Jinyang Ma) Image caption: A Before thinning flowers; B Artificial thinning flowers; C After thinning flowers; D Mature fruit after thinning flowers 3.3 Application of exogenous environmental controls (e.g., shading, chilling treatments) The flowering time of loquat can also be controlled by adjusting light and temperature. When short-day light and GA3 spraying are used together, flower-promoting genes such as EjFT2 and EjSOC1 are inhibited, while the
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