Management of pruning and evaluation in blackberry cultivars in relation to productive characteristics and bioactive compounds

Abstract

The goal of this work was to evaluate blackberry cultivars in terms of productivity and bioactive compounds. Two experiments were conducted: in the first experiment four cultivars were evaluated (Cherokee, Guarani, BRS-Tupy and Xavante). In the second experiment, the effects of pruning management in the BRS-Tupy cultivar were evaluated with the following treatments: drastic winter pruning (zero primocane), and maintenance of two, three or four primocanes in the winter pruning. Vegetative, productive and fruit quality characteristics were determined, including measurement of bioactive compounds. Among the cultivars, the cultivar BRS-Tupy was superior in terms of productive characteristics, but for content of anthocyanins and flavonoids, the cultivar Xavante stood out (191.97 and 68.44 mg 100 g-1 , respectively). Drastic winter pruning produced lower fruit quality. The number of primocanes has a directly proportional influence on the soluble solids content and productivity component. For farmers who want fruits with greater levels of bioactive compounds, the use of cultivar Xavante is recommended; however, for those who aim for productive aspects, we suggest the use of cultivar BRS-Tupy with four primocanes per plant.

Cultivars performance and blackberry pruning management

“…The greater production due to the increase of the primocanes number is related to the increase in the number of fruits in these plants. The fact that plants with drastic pruning produced the lowest values in the productive characteristics can be due to the fact that these plants, after winter, before starting the production, need to emit shoots, unlike the other treatments where their aerial part was previously defined previous cycle (Lugaresi et al, 2018).…”

Pruning intensity on blackberry phenology and production

“…In search of improvements and solutions to crop impediments, several authors such as Tullio & Ayub (2013), Antunes et al (2014), Marchi et al (2015), and Lugaresi et al (2018), have studied variations in the pruning system, seeking to find ideal combinations for good production and fruit quality in winter pruning. However, this study has not yet been carried out in the western region of Paraná, which presents distinct climatic conditions.…”