The Fruiting Wall: An Alternative Training System for Peach Orchards in Southeast Brazil

Abstract

The choice of the training system is a key step to the establishment of new orchards since it affects yield and fruit quality. In this context, the aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of the scion cv. Tropic Beauty in the Fruiting Wall training system compared with the Y-Shaped. The two training systems showed no statistical differences among the years regarding the length of phenological cycles (approximately 140 days). The Fruiting Wall showed higher values for yield per tree (from 80.2 to 112.9%), fruit weight (from 7.6 to 10.3%) and fruit pulp from 9.4 to 12.6%) than Y-Shaped. The mean values for flesh firmness and fruit chemical characteristics ranged over the years for both training systems. Despite the lack of significant differences for fruit chemical characteristics, the observed values were compatible with those expected for the cultivar. Data collected from the Fruiting Wall showed lower variance than those collected from Y-shape. This suggests that the Fruiting Wall leads to a higher uniformity of production and fruit quality than the Y-Shaped. Based on these results, we concluded that the Fruiting Wall improves the peach cv. Tropic Beauty production, particularly for yield by tree and fruit mass.