2016 Chavarria et al.

Mild temperatures on bud breaking dormancy in peaches Temperaturas amenas na superação da dormência de pessegueiros The search for low chill cultivars for peach production in areas with low chill accumulation (temperatures below 7.2ºC) has stimulated studies about the higher temperatures effects on low chill cultivars. The objective of this research was to evaluate the influence of mild temperatures on flowering and leafing of ‘Turmalina ’ and ‘Ágata ’ cultivars with low and medium low chilling requirements, respectively. Plants obtained by grafting flower twigs in the autumn, after the grafting, were submitted to chilling treatments (150, 250, 350, 500 and 672 hours) at three temperature levels (5ºC, 10ºC and 15ºC). After the end of the treatments, the plants had been taken to greenhouse (20ºC±5ºC) and evaluated weekly. The results showed that satisfactory flower and leaf development occur even at temperatures as high as 15ºC for a period of 150 hours, in ‘Turmalina ’ peach. Temperatures of 10ºC for a period equal or superior to 350 hours promote satisfactory leafing in ‘Ágata ’ peach. Temperatures of 10ºC and 15ºC cause earlier development of flowers and leaves in both cultivars when compared to 5ºC