Effect of Pruning on Growth, Flowering, Fruiting and Quality of Guava (Psidium Guajava L.) Varieties Under High Density Conditions

Abstract

The present study was conducted during 2020-2021 at Horticultural Research Centre of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut (U.P.). Experiment was conducted with pruning intensity i.e. control (0%), 25 Percent, 50 percent, 75 percent & quality parameters were analyzed. Total 48 plants were selected. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) and number of treatments were 12 and each replicated 4 times where each treatment consists of one plant. The observations were recorded on number of flowers per tree, length of shoot (cm),fruit set (%), number of fruit per plant, fruit weight (gm), fruit size (cm), fruit volume (ml), fruit yield (kg/plant), fruit yield (q ha-1), TSS (0Brix), reducing sugars, non- reducing sugars, total sugars and vitamin C (ascorbic acid, mg/100gm). The investigation are summarized below- The results were found maximum in all the parameters viz., number of flowers per tree (162.96), length of shoot (62.26 cm),fruit set (71.04 %), number of fruits per tree (141.77), fruit weight (156.79gm), fruit size (7.58cm), fruit volume (152.84 cm3), fruit yield (22.22 kg/plant), fruit yield (246.86 q/ha), TSS (15.16 0Brix), reducing sugars (6.19%), total sugars (7.77%) and vitamin C (278.70, mg/100gm) during first week of March with 75% of pruning intensity. The minimum values were found in control pruning (0%). The non-reducing sugar and acidity were not much affected by different levels of pruning. In general the pruning of guava trees in first week of March with 75% of pruning intensity level was found beneficial for enhancing fruit size and quality of guava