Effect of Pruning to Improve Yield and Fruit Quality of ‘Kinnow’ Mandarin Plants under High Density Plantation

Abstract

Due to rapid increase in population and limited available resources, world trend is moving towards high density plantation for proper utilization of land and resources. The present experiment was planned to investigate the effects of pruning on plant yield and fruit quality of ‘Kinnow’ mandarin grown under high density plantation. Plants were pruned by three different ways i.e. i) pruning of one side’s branches, (ii) pruning of both sides’ branches and (iii) pruning of top branches. Overall results revealed that all the pruning treatments were effective but the plants pruned from both sides performed better in terms of improved yield (greater number of fruits and higher total fruit yield per plant) and fruit quality (increased fruit size, higher juice weight, lower peel weight, lower juice TA, greater TSS:TA ratio, and higher total phenolic content (TPC) and total antioxidants). Keeping in view the above results, it is concluded that ‘Kinnow’ plants grown under high density plantation should be pruned from both side of canopy to obtain better yield and fruit quality.