Effect of time of cane initiation on subsequent fruitfulness in kiwifruit

Abstract

The effects of time of cane initiation and the presence of fruit during cane development on production the following season was studied in kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C. F. Liang et A. R. Ferguson ‘Hayward'). Canes initiated early in the season (before 1 December) were compared with those initiated late in the season (after 1 December). Early initiated canes (separated into those that carried/did not carry fruit during development), and late initiated canes were compared to separate the effects of time of initiation and the presence of fruit. There was no effect of time of cane initiation on budbreak or the proportion of shoots that flowered in the following season. Shoots that developed on early initiated canes were larger and more fruitful than those that developed on late initiated canes. Though late initiated canes produced a greater number of shoots than early initiated canes, the productivity of these shoots was lower, and so cane productivity (per unit length) was similar. Early initiated canes that carried fruit during their development were shorter and produced less fruit the following season than those canes that did not carry fruit during their development, but productivity per unit cane length was similar. Consequently kiwifruit growers should retain early initiated canes during winter pruning and optimise the number of buds laid down per square metre, ignoring their fruiting history.