Abstract :
A field experiment was conducted to see the efficiency of shoot pruning at various length and time on production of off season flowering, fruiting and quality of fruits by avoiding their normal time of flowering. The investigation was carried out on ten years old guava crop cv. Lalit grown at subtropical area of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India with four length (15, 30, 45 and 60 cm of length from tip) of shoot pruning performing in April, May and June based on randomized block design with three replications. The results revealed that among the various pruning treatments pruning at 45 cm length in May, T8 produced maximum number of leaves (120 days after pruning, 20), flowers (13.67) and fruit yield (14.71 t/ha). Analysis on fruit quality showed that pruning in May at 45 cm length from shoot tip also produced superior quality fruits in term of higher TSS (13.17 0B), vitamin C (235.17 mg/100g). More interestingly, shoot pruning in general, favoured off season flowering which could help growers to get more profit as compared to normal rainy season fruiting. Thus, the present study suggested that moderate shoot pruning in May at 45 cm length could be the best for off season quality fruiting of guava.
Keyword :
Crop regulation, Fruiting, guava, shoot pruning