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Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (35): 97-102.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb2025-0774

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Research on Forecast Model of Apple Initial Flowering Period in Zhengning County of Gansu

LI Meiyu1(), CHEN Fan2, ZHANG Tianfeng3, LIU Jiaqi1, ZHOU Zhongwen3, WANG Juan3, ZHANG Xuejiao4   

  1. 1 Meteorological Bureau of Zhengning County, Gansu Province, Zhengning, Gansu 745300
    2 Meteorological Bureau of Zhenyuan County, Gansu Province, Zhenyuan, Gansu 744500
    3 Meteorological Bureau of Qingyang City, Gansu Province, Qingyang, Gansu 745005
    4 Meteorological Bureau of Heshui County, Gansu Province, Heshui, Gansu 745400
  • Received:2025-09-09 Revised:2025-11-24 Online:2025-12-11 Published:2025-12-11

Abstract:

Using the data of apple initial flowering period and meteorological observations from 1984 to 2024 in Zhengning County, Gansu, the study analyzes the trend of changes in apple initial flowering period in Zhengning. Through the correlation analysis, the dominant meteorological factors affecting apple initial flowering period are identified, and a prediction model for apple initial flowering period is constructed using principal component analysis and stepwise linear regression. The results showed that: (1) from 1984 to 2024, the apple initial flowering period in Zhengning showed a significant advance trend, with a mutation point in 1994 and a linear trend rate of 4.2 d/10 a. The initial flowering period was advanced by 17 days in 41 years. (2) The key meteorological factors that affected the apple initial flowering period were temperature, accumulated temperature, average ground temperature, sunshine hours, and relative humidity. They were significantly negatively correlated with active accumulated temperature of ≥0℃, ≥3℃, ≥5℃, ≥10℃ in winter and spring, temperature, sunshine hours, and ground temperature in March, and positively correlated with relative humidity in March. This indicated that the more sufficient the heat accumulation, the lower the relative humidity, the earlier the beginning of apple flowering. (3) A prediction model for the apple initial flowering period was constructed using principal component analysis and stepwise linear regression. After testing, the accuracy of predicting the initial flowering period with a difference of 0-3 days from actual measurements reached 68%, and the accuracy of predicting the difference with a difference of 0-4 days reached 87%. A trial report was conducted on the apple initial flowering period in Zhengning from 2022 to 2024, and the difference between the measured and predicted values was 0-1 day. The model demonstrates satisfactory forecasting performance and can be applied in daily operational work.

Key words: apple, initial flowering period, forecast model, climate change