Effect of thinning and shoot pruning for the induction of spring season guava crop
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Date
2020-11
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
Present investigation was conducted on 9 years old guava trees of cultivar Sardar planted in single row hedge system (4m x 8m) during 2019-20 at Horticulture Research Centre (HRC), Patharchatta, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand. The response of various treatment combinations of flower bud thinning and shoot pruning was recorded in all the three seasons of guava i.e., rainy, winter and spring crop. Research experiment consisted of various combinations of flower bud thinning and 3/4th shoot pruning treatments viz., Flower bud thinning in 1st week of May (T1), 3/4th shoot pruning in 1st week of May(T2), Flower bud thinning in 1st week of May followed by 3/4th shoot pruning in last week of June(T3), 3/4th shoot pruning in 1st week of May followed by flower bud thinning in last week of June(T4), Complete fruit thinning in last week of June(T5), Flower bud thinning in 1st week of May followed by flower bud thinning in last week of June(T6), 3/4th shoot pruning in 1st week of May followed by 3/4th shoot pruning in last week of June(T7), 3/4th shoot pruning in 1st week of October(T8) and control(T9). Thus, there were nine treatment combinations replicated three times in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with one plant as a replication unit. During the experiment data was recorded on tree characteristics, flowering and fruiting characteristics, yield, Quality and economic characteristics. Flower bud thinning and 3/4th shoot pruning treatments during May and June proved to be beneficial for improving the quality and yield of next season crop because the flower bud thinning and shoot pruning treatments save the tree from exhaustion and the photosynthates remained reserved which in turn helped to improve the yield and quality of next season crop. The reduction in fruit yield was reported in trees which were subjected to shoot pruning in the current season might be due to the reduction in the fruiting area and also promote the vegetative growth at the cost of reproductive growth. In spring season, maximum fruit yield was obtained in plants which produced no fruits or very less fruits in rainy and winter season. Quality of rainy season crop was found to be inferior as compared to the winter and spring season crop concerning the parameters such as total soluble solids, total titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content, sugar content and pectin content. Through this investigation it can be concluded that in guava, flower bud thinning in 1st week of May followed by flower bud thinning in last week of June was found most effective in induction of maximum spring season crop. However, complete fruit thinning during the first week of May was found effective in induction of good amount of crop during both winter and spring season due to which it leads to generation of maximum annual profit.