Effects of pruning, girdling and paclobutrazol on shoot growth, yield and quality of atemoya (Annona spp. hybrid) cv. African pride in subtropical Australia
2001
George, A.P. | Subhadrabandhu, S. | Nissen, R.J.
In Australia, atemoyas or custard apples commonly known in Australia (Annona spp. hybrid) are normally pruned in September, when trees are dormant. Some growers prune their trees severely, cutting back shoots and laterals to less than 20 cm (spur pruning), while others only lightly tip the shoots (cane pruning). In addition, growers may also tip-prune their trees in early summer. Both pruning severity (cane-vs. spur-pruned laterals) and time of summer shoot tipping were evaluated for their effects on shoot growth, fruit set and fruit quality of atemoya cv. African Pride. Trees cane-pruned when dormant carried three times the number of fruit and about double the weight of fruit per tree compared with spur-pruned trees. Whilst spur pruning was effective in controlling tree size and growth, it induced vigorous compensatory regrowth and increased the incidence of internal fruit disorders of 'woodiness' and 'brown pulp' about 12-fold. Tip pruning in early summer (November) increased fruit weight by 16 percent, compared with the controls, but had little or no effect on severity of internal disorders. We concluded that spur pruning was detrimental to yield and internal quality and should not be used commercially.
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