Early metabolic priming under differing carbon sufficiency conditions influences peach fruit quality development

Crop load management is an important preharvest factor to balance yield, quality, and maturation in peach. However, few studies have addressed how preharvest factors impact metabolism on fruit of equal maturity. An experiment was conducted to understand how carbon competition impacts fruit internal quality and metabolism in 'Cresthaven' peach trees by imposing distinct thinning severities. Fruit quality was evaluated at three developmental stages (S2, S3, S4), while controlling for equal maturity using non-destructive visual to near-infrared spectroscopy. Non-targeted metabolite profiling was used to characterize fruit at each developmental stage from trees that were unthinned (carbon starvation) or thinned (carbon sufficiency). Carbon sufficiency resulted in significantly higher fruit dry matter content and soluble solids concentration at harvest when compared to the carbon starved, underscoring the true impact of carbon manipulation on fruit quality. Significant differences in the fruit metabolome between treatments were observed at S2 when phenotypes were similar, while less differences were observed at S4 when the carbon sufficient fruit exhibited a superior phenotype. This suggests a potential metabolic priming effect on fruit quality when carbon is sufficiently supplied during early fruit growth and development. In particular, elevated levels of catechin may suggest a link between secondary/primary metabolism and fruit quality development.