Fruit Thinning: Advances and Trends

In modern horticulture, fruit thinning must be performed to fulfill market demands. Although several advances in knowledge have been achieved in this field, the fruit industry is continuously evolving in terms of technical, economic, and environ- mental sustainability. In facing these changes, research does not always satisfy in a timely manner the strong demands from the productive sector. Fruit thinning remains an unpredictable cultural technique that may result in either over‐ or underthinning. For this reason, modeling tools based on research advances into early fruit abscission physiology may be useful for setting up decision support systems (DSSs) aimed at improving thinning performance. However, the fruitlet abscission process leading to cell separation at the level of the abscission zone involves multiple changes in cell structure, metabolism, and gene expression, making this research sector extremely challenging and complex. Ongoing climate change further increases this complexity, thus requiring more intensive and dynamic efforts that need to be coordinated at a higher level within an interna- tional R&D platform. With this perspective, a structural funding policy must be pursued not only by institutional agencies but also by the whole productive chain.