Effect of Pruning Intensities on the Performance of Fruit Plants under Mid-Hill Condition of Eastern Himalayas: Case Study on Guava

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Current study was undertaken to highlight the effect of pruning on improving vigor of old orchards and increasing performance in terms of fruit yield and quality under water and nutrient stressed condition of mid hills of Eastern Himalaya. Guava was taken for the case study and all the physical and chemical properties of the fruits and other attributes of plant were evaluated using standard methods under three pruning intensities (light, moderate and severe) and no pruning. The emergence of bud was earliest in severe pruning, number of buds per shoot was highest with light pruning and cumulative lengths of new shoots were found to be highest in severe pruning. Fruit yield, size and weight were found to increase with pruning intensities and lowest in case of no pruning. Regarding chemical properties, total soluble solids and total sugar found to increase with enhanced pruning severity and least in case of no pruning. Acidity was found to be highest with no pruning and decrease with increase in pruning intensities. Overall pruning found to have rejuvenating impact on aged trees due to better light interception leading to better photosynthetic rate, better nutrient and water supply with reduced canopy and better quality yields.

Analyzing the Effect of Different Levels of Pruning on Growth, Yield and Quality of Psidium guajava L. Cv. Lalit (Guava)

“…The minimum Acidity (%) was recorded in T4 (30 cm pruning) (0.20%). Similar results have also been reported by Bhagawati et al [25].…”

Influence of Nutrients and Shoot Retention on Growth, Yield and Fruit Characters in Rejuvenated Guava (Psidium guajava L.) cv. Sardar

“…The growth parameters were significantly influenced by different treatments. Plants retained with 3 shoots per branch had resulted in maximum plant height (3.16 m), plant girth (12.01 cm), length of the shoot (132.48 cm), girth of the shoot (3.09 cm) this may be attributed to relatively less numbers of shoots and availability of more nutrients per shoots under identical condition which is also reported by Bhagawati et al, (2015) in guava. In the present study lateral buds are stimulated to grow (due to better dry matter partitioning) after pruning due to higher activity of GA-like substances which can be related to the findings by Lian et al, (2019) in guava.…”

“…Manipulation of tree growth using canopy management practices to control tree growth patterns, tree shape for high fruit production of desired size and quality (Singh, 2001). The thinning of shoots per branch is also one of the canopy management practices in the rejuvenation of old orchards (Bhagawati et al, 2015). Nutrients can be made available to the plants by the basal as well as foliar application.…”

Effect of pruning intensity on soil moisture and water use efficiency in jujube (Ziziphus jujube Mill.) plantations in the hilly Loess Plateau Region, China

“…This finding indicates that pruning improves the proportions of vegetative and generative plant parts (Ambroszczyk et al, 2007). Many researchers have found that pruning can improve fruit yield and quality by enabling greater access to light, water and nutrients (Reynolds, 1989;Seifi et al, 2011;Bhagawati et al, 2015). However, we also observed a non-linear relationship between pruning intensity and fruit yield.…”