Abstract
Peach tree thinning, which aims at reducing plant load so as to ensure productivity and fruit quality, has been manually carried out within a short period of time in the stage of fruit development. Due to the need and shortage of qualified man power, chemical thinning is one of the alternatives that can solve these difficulties found in manual thinning. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of different products which have been applied – either alone or in combination – to fruit thinning of peach tree cultivars ‘Sensação’ and ‘Maciel’ in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state, Brazil. The experiment was conducted in the 2015/2016 crop in a commercial peach orchard located in Morro Redondo, RS, Brazil. The following seven treatments were carried out 40 days after full bloom (DAFB): plants with no thinning, manual thinning, metamitron, benzyladenine, benzyladenine + metamitron, ethephon, ethephon + metamitron. Fruit abscission, effective fructification, number of fruits and production per plant, mean mass and fruit classification into caliber classes, epidermis color, pulp firmness and soluble solids were evaluated. Production and number of fruits per plant decreased excessively, whereas fruits placed in categories of higher caliber increased when ethephon was either used alone or in combination with metamitron. When both metamitron and benzyladenine were applied, either alone or in combination, they led to fruit abscission and resulted in mean fruit size and weight, at harvest time, similar to those found in manual thinning. Application of chemical products – either alone or in combination – may be an alternative of peach tree thinning in orchard management.
Highlights
In Brazil, thinning has been manually carried out by peach producers because of the excessive number of fruits yielded by plants that cannot hold them and to avoid production alternation
The following seven treatments were carried out 40 days after full bloom (DAFB): plants with no thinning, manual thinning, metamitron, benzyladenine, benzyladenine + metamitron, ethephon, ethephon + metamitron
When both metamitron and benzyladenine were applied, either alone or in combination, they led to fruit abscission and resulted in mean fruit size and weight, at harvest time, similar to those found in manual thinning
Summary
In Brazil, thinning has been manually carried out by peach producers because of the excessive number of fruits yielded by plants that cannot hold them and to avoid production alternation. Manual thinning has been carried out in peach trees when fruit diameter is 20mm, between 40 and 50 days after full bloom (DAFB) (PETRI et al, 2016; OLIVEIRA et al, 2017) This operation must be conducted in a short period of time and requires skilled manpower. Chemical thinning has been considered a fast practice which enables work time and production costs to be decreased by using chemical substances Several factors, such as the product itself, its form of application – either alone or in combination –, time of application, concentration, weather conditions and genotype, may interfere in the effective application of this method of thinning to fruit trees (TAHERI et al, 2012; PETRI et al, 2013; FALLAHI et al, 2014; PETRI et al, 2016; GABARDO et al, 2017)
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