THE EFFECT OF THINNING FLOWERING BUDS ON THE EFFECTIVE FRUCTIFICATION OF THE PEAR CV. ABATE FETEL IN THE REGION OF VACARIA CITY – RIO GRANDE DO SUL STATE, BRAZIL

Abstract

The majority of pears cultivars with high quality fruits do not have good adaptation to the climate conditions of the southern region of Brazil, mainly due to the chill hours not being enough to fully satify the dormancy requirements. The elimination of 50% of the flowering buds in the plants, theoretically should dispose a higher quantity of reserves to the remaining buds, offering a better physiological state for these flowering buds, avoiding flower/fruitlet drop, as the vigor and shoot development occur because of the carbohydrate quantities which are received. The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of flower bud thinning on the effective fructification increase of the cv. Abate Fetel. The experiment was developed at the Frutirol Agricola company orchard at Vacaria city, Rio Grande do Sul State, on plants of the european pear cv. Abate Fetel, in August 2006. Eighteen plants were selected which received different treatments of bud thinning and six other plants, were kept as controls. The thinning treatments involved the removal of 50%, 70% and 80% of the flowering buds of the plants. After this, four branches were selected on each plant, counting the remaining buds. On the treated plants, only the buds on the branches were counted. The abortion levels were determined from the fruit counts. The experiment was conducted with randomized blocks, with six repetitions, and the percentages of fruits set was the variable analysed. The results indicated that a reduction of 80% of the buds guaranteed a higher percentage of effective fructification on the plants analysed. The other treatments did not show significant differences.