Tree size maintenance pruning of mango trees: Affect on the vegetative growth response and flowering
1999
Oosthuyse, S.A.(Hort Research SA, Tzaneen (South Africa). P.O. Box 3849)
Zill, Tommy Atkins, Sensation, Heidi, Kent and Keitt mango trees were pruned shortly after they were harvested to assess the effect of size maintenance pruning on flowering intensity, cropping, and stage of fruit maturation at harvest during the months after pruning. The outer branches on each tree were headed back to remove the new shoots which developed after harvest from the preceding season (simulation of hedgerow pruning). In the pruned trees, uniform and profic flushing occured shortly after pruning. Flushing in the unpruned trees was prolific, but was less uniform and more protracted. In the pruned tree (as opposed to the unpruned trees), the following also occurred: Flowering was delayed. A difference in flowering intensity were not observed in Zill or Tommy Atkins. In the remaining cultivars, fewer terminal shoots produced inflorescences. Fruit retention and tree yield were reduced in all of the cultivars except for Zill. Average fruit weight (fruit size) was only greater in Sensation. At harvest, a difference in stage of maturation was not apparent. It is concluded that future studies be aimed at gaining and understanding of the effect of climatic conditions during the flowering period on the flowering response of mango trees of the various cultivars to hedgerow pruning.
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