Effect of Shoot Bending, Shoot Girdling and GA3 Application Treatments on Growth, Fruit Set %, Yield and Fruit Quality of "Le Conte" Pear

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out in private orchard at south El-Tahreer region, EL Behera governorate, on 5-years-old "Le Conte" pear trees (Pyrus communis L.× Pyrus pyrifolia N.) budded on (Pyrus betulaefolia) rootstock, during two growing seasons (2009 and 2010). The aim of this research was to study the effect of shoot bending, shoot girdling and GA 3 application on the vegetative growth, yield and fruit quality.The results indicated that gibberellic acid (GA 3 ) application and shoot bending three years old treatments induced significant increment in leaf area, spurs number, fruit set %, number of fruits per tree, total yield (ton / fed.), fruit weight, fruit size, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit firmness, total soluble solids (TSS %) and total sugars compared with that of the control in both seasons of study. Shoot girdling (3y.) significantly gave the highest increase of spurs number, number of fruits per tree, fruit weight, fruit size, fruit firmness, total soluble solids (TSS %) and the reducing sugars, while, it gave significant decrease in fruit acidity % in both seasons of study.