Response of “White Robin” Peach Trees Cv. (Prunus persica L.) to Cultivation Under Plastic Covering Conditions and Foliar Application by Hydrogen Cyanamide and Garlic Extract

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out during 2018 and 2019 seasons on 4 years old ‘White Robin’ peach trees cv. (Prunus persica L.), to investigate the effect of cultivation peach trees under plastic covering conditions (PC) with combination of hydrogen cyanamide (HC at 0.5%) as a Dormex and garlic extract (GE at 1%) on floral and vegetative bud break time, vegetative growth parameters, fruit set, yield and fruit quality of this cultivar. Eight treatments, HC alone, GE alone, HC + GE, PC alone, PC + HC, PC + GE, PC + HC + GE and control were applied. The application of HC and GE under PC, resulted in earlier buds break and harvesting period by 10 and 20 days, respectively. Moreover, it shortened the period between both of flower and vegetative buds break and onset to end fruit harvesting by 10 days. It significantly increased shoot length, diameter and leaf area compared to control and other treatments. Furthermore, it improved fruit physical and chemical properties beside increasing the yield by 30%. All studied parameters gradually improved by other investigated treatments as follow: PC + HC, PC + GE, PC alone, HC and GE, HC alone then GE alone compared by control. Plastic covering might be useful for early peach cultivars for advancing fruit maturity and improving yield and fruit quality, that will be more suitable for exportation and profitable for growers under conditions of Egypt.