Agronomic performance of fig plants grown with different numbers of branches

Vander Mendonça,Anderson Araujo Alves,Francisco Sidene Oliveira Silva,Elizangela Cabral Dos Santos,Eduardo Castro Pereira,Wagner Cesar De Farias,Elania Guadalupe Paiva Martins

doi:10.7764/ijanr.v48i1.2212

Abstract

Fig production and quality are associated with the number of branches per plant and may vary among regions according to the climatic conditions and crop management. In this work, we studied the influence of the number of branches per plant on the production and fruit quality of 'Roxo de Valinhos' figs under semiarid conditions. The experiment was carried out at the didactic orchard of Federal Rural University of Semiarid (UFERSA), Mossoró city, Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil. Fig plants were grown with 6, 12, 18, or 30 branches in a completely randomized block design with four replicates and four plants per plot. Plants without thinning were also cultivated as controls. The number of fruits per plant, productivity, fruit length, fruit diameter, and fruit weight were evaluated. Additionally, fruit firmness, titratable acidity (TA), soluble solids content (SS), maturation index (SSC/TA), and vitamin C content were analyzed. The results showed that plants cultivated with 12, 18, and 24 branches produced fruits with higher weight, more fruits per branch, and more fruits per plant and thus were more productive. Additionally, fruits showed a high vitamin C content and maturation index

Highlights

Fig (Ficus carica L.) is a fruit tree belonging to the Moraceae family that has been used for centuries in Chinese medicine (Yang et al, 2015)
We studied the influence of the number of branches per plant on fruit production and quality in ‘Roxo de Valinhos’ figs under semiarid conditions
Productivity was higher in plants with 24 branches (3.55 kg fruits plant-1) in Cycle 1, while it did not vary among treatments in Cycle 2 (3.66 kg plant-1, on average)

Summary

Introduction

Fig (Ficus carica L.) is a fruit tree belonging to the Moraceae family that has been used for centuries in Chinese medicine (Yang et al, 2015). A typical Mediterranean species, fig fruits are appreciated and have the potential to be exploited around the. In Brazil, satisfactory conditions exist for fig cultivation, this plant has been exploited without the use of innovations and technical improvements (Giacobbo et al, 2007). Because figs can adapt to different climatic conditions (Ramos et al, 2008), plants can be grown in North and Northeast Brazil. Figs are grown in several regions with similar climatic conditions, studies on canopy training are still scarce. Studies have shown that the optimal number of branches per plant can maintain a balance between production and fruit quality (Kim et al, 2017). Silva et al (2017) found that figs from the ‘Roxo de Valinhos’ cultivar showed high quality under semiarid conditions Few studies have been carried out with exotic species in semiarid regions. Silva et al (2017) found that figs from the ‘Roxo de Valinhos’ cultivar showed high quality under semiarid conditions

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion