Effects of pinching on shoot length and fruit growth and quality of 'Hikawa Hakuho' peach [Prunus persica] trees
2009
Takechi, W., Ehime Univ., Matsuyama (Japan). Faculty of Agriculture | Tamura, T. | Inoue, K. | Komesu, K. | Sumiyoshi, K. | Tagashira, W. | Taniguchi, T. | Hashimoto, K. | Mizutani, F.
By using eight-year-old early maturing peach cultivar 'Hikawa Hakuho' (Prunus persica Batsch) trees grafted on wild form peach rootstocks, which were trained as a central leader, effects of pinching on shoot and fruit growth, fruit drop, yield, fruit weight and fruit quality were examined. In the pinching treatment, all current shoots longer than 20cm were pinched to 20cm at weekly intervals from May 18 to June 29, whereas the shoots of control trees were unpinched. The replications were four. The pinching treatment reduced the total shoot length and the number of long shoots and thus the percentage of short shoots were increased. Fruit growth was slightly reduced by pinching, resulting in smaller fruit weight compared with control. Both Brix and titratable acidity of harvested fruit were lower in the pinched trees than control trees. Pinching lowered the percentage of fruit drop. A positive correlation between total shoot length and yield was apparent in the pinched trees, but not in the control trees.
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