Pruning Levels Research Articles

Excessive Pruning Levels in Young Grapevines (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Sultan 7) Cause Water Loss in Seedless Cluster Berries

ABSTRACT Late-season dehydration is known as a type of berry shrivel and it is often associated with wine grapes. This study is different from other berry shrivel studies as it focuses on seedless grape cv. Sultan 7 (Vitis vinifera L.) and aims to determine the effects of different pruning levels (90, 150, 180 buds per vine), leaf removal (LR) (25%, 50% per shoot) treatments on vine yield, and the number of harvested clusters. Additionally, we aim to find the effects of treatments on the number of unhealthy clusters with shriveled (S) berries. Although treatments were conducted under the same irrigation practices and determined close leaf water potential values, S berries were not obtained from the vines with 90 buds per vine treatment. Thus, S berries were determined in the lower side of unhealthy clusters together with non-shriveled (NS) berries in treatments of 150 and 180 buds per vine. It was found that the total soluble solids content and titratable acidity of S berries were higher than NS. While high pruning levels per vine enabled to obtain more clusters, the expected yield was negatively affected due to the quantity of the unhealthy cluster. Significant polynomial regression was observed between the number of harvested and unhealthy clusters in 2016 (R2 = 0.69) and 2017 (R2 = 0.76). In this research, it was hypothesized that the water losses in S berries of unhealthy clusters in overloaded vines (150, 180 buds per vine) were caused by obtaining more harvested clusters compared to the 90 buds per vine treatment.

La poda aérea como práctica cultural en vivero para Caesalpinea coriaria (Jacq.) Willd

Las prácticas culturales de vivero tienen como objetivo mejorar la calidad de las plantas e incrementar la supervivencia de las reforestaciones; sin embargo, para cada especie debe examinarse el efecto de las diversas prácticas para definir su factibilidad de implementación. Este estudio analiza el efecto de la poda aérea en la calidad morfológica de plantas de Caesalpinea coriaria para determinar su potencial como práctica cultural. En condiciones de invernadero, se evaluaron tres niveles de poda: 0 %, 25 % y 50 %. El efecto de las podas se examinó en plantas de seis meses por medio de atributos e índices morfológicos de calidad, tales como: altura de la parte aérea, diámetro del tallo, peso seco aéreo, de raíz y total, relación entre peso seco aéreo y raíz, Índice de Esbeltez e Índice de Calidad de Dickson. No hubo un efecto significativo de la poda, excepto en la altura y en el Índice de Esbeltez (p<0.05). Los valores mayores de 37.08 cm de altura y 12.81 de Índice de Esbeltez, correspondieron a plantas sin poda, mientras que los menores se presentaron en las plantas podadas al 25 % (29.06 cm y 10.75, para altura e Índice de Esbeltez, respectivamente). Con base en los resultados, se concluye que la poda aérea no mejora la calidad morfológica de los individuos de C. coriaria, por lo que no es recomendable como práctica cultural para producir plantas de esta especie en vivero.

Plot-Scale Agroforestry Modeling Explores Tree Pruning and Fertilizer Interactions for Maize Production in a Faidherbia Parkland

Poor agricultural productivity has led to food shortages for smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. Agroforestry may improve food security by increasing soil fertility, crop production, and livelihoods. Agroforestry simulation models can be useful for predicting the effects of tree management on crop growth when designing modifications to these systems. The Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) agroforestry tree-proxy model was used to simulate the response of maize yield to N fertilizer applications and tree pruning practices in the parkland agroforestry system in the Central Rift Valley, Ethiopia. The model was parameterized and tested using data collected from an experiment conducted under trees and in crop-only plots during the 2015 and 2016 growing seasons. The treatments contained three levels of tree pruning (100% pruned, 50% pruned, and unpruned) as the main plots, and N fertilizers were applied to maize at two rates (9 or 78 kg N ha−1) as sub-plots. Maize yield predictions across two years in response to tree pruning and N applications under tree canopies were satisfactorily simulated (NSE = 0.72, RSR = 0.51, R2 = 0.8). Virtual experiments for different rates of N, pruning levels, sowing dates, and cultivars suggest that maize yield could be improved by applying fertilizers (particularly on crop-only plots) and by at least 50% pruning of trees. Optimal maize yield can be obtained at a higher rate of fertilization under trees than away from them due to better water relations, and there is scope for improving the sowing date and cultivar. Across a 34-year range of recent climate, small increases in yields due to optimum N-fertilizing and pruning were probably limited by nutrient limitations other than N, but the highest yields were consistently in the 2–4 m zone under trees. These virtual experiments helped to form hypotheses regarding fertilizers, pruning, and the effects of trees on soil that warrant further field evaluation.

Effect of pruning regimes and fertilizer levels on quality and economics of guava (Psidium guajava L.)

The experiment framed was intended to find out the optimum level of pruning and economic dose of fertilizer for higher yield and quality production of guava fruits. The results of the present investigation indicated that, different pruning treatments and fertilizer levels produced significant effect on fruit quality of guava. Physical and chemical quality attributes were recorded better in 45 cm pruning level with application of 125% RDF (1000:500:500 g NPK/tree) treatment. The maximum net monetary returns (Rs. 4,97,933/ha.) with highest (2.95) B: C was also obtained with the application of the said treatment.

Effect of different pruning levels on improving fruit yield and quality of Indian jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.) Cultivars

Indian jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk.) is a drought tolerant fruit crop and well adapted to sub-tropical to tropical climates. Seasonal pruning in jujube is essential to sustain the plants as productive with quality fruits because flowers and fruits are borne on young shoots of current season’s growth. This experiment was initiated and accomplished during 2016-18 to assess appropriate extent of pruning in various cultivars of Indian jujube with regard to productivity and fruit quality. Four cultivars of jujube i.e., Dehli Sufaid, Pak White, Umran and Alu Bukhara were subjected to four pruning levels i.e. no pruning, 25%, 50% and 75% pruning by removing unproductive, over-crowded secondary and tertiary branches leaving 3/4 (light), 1/2 (medium) and 1/4 (severe pruning) portion of branch intact with main limb, respectively. Experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications and statistically analysed in 2-factors factorial way. Pak White initiated new growth earlier (39 days), produced maximum branches per plant (77), shoots (15), panicles (63) and fruits (90) per branch, heavier (38 g) and bulky fruits (44 cm3), with minimum fruit drop (13%), higher yield (184 kg) per plant and fruits carrying the maximum pulp ratio (90%), total soluble solids (16 °Brix), vitamin C content (121 mg /100 g pulp) and total sugars (5.7%). Fifty percent pruning level proved more judicious in all jujube cultivars. Pak White performed the best when subjected to 50% pruning level for all the parameters under study as calculated by interaction between two factors.

Influence of nodal pruning on vegetative and reproductive attributes of Sardar guava

Investigations on “Influence of nodal pruning on vegetative and reproductive attributes of Sardar guava” were carried out in the orchard of Amarjit Singh at village Bargari in district Faridkot of South-Western Punjab. Pruning intensities consisted of removal of shoot tip up to 0, 4th, 6th and 8th node. There were five replications and the data were analyzed using Randomized Block Design. As per university recommendation, farmers are advised to opt for light pruning in guava, i.e., removal of shoot tip up to 10 cm in first fortnight of March. However, guava orchardists are of the view that pruning levels should be in terms of how many nodes to prune as it is easier for them to guide the pruning labor in terms of number of nodes to be pruned rather than in centimeters. To ascertain the above facts, On Farm Trial was conducted to find out the effect of nodal pruning on vegetative and reproductive attributes of Sardar guava. The results of investigation revealed that with the increase in severity of pruning, there was significant increase in shoot length. Severe pruning minimized the span of flowering as severe pruning level of 8-node pruning intensity recorded the shortest duration of flowering during both the rainy and winter season crops of both the years. Although, there was increment in fruit set with the enhanced severity of pruning, the results were non significant. 6-node pruning intensity recorded significantly higher fruit yield per tree during both the cropping seasons of both the years. There was significant increase in fruit weight with the increase in severity of pruning during the rainy and winter season crops of both the years. TSS/Acid ratio was not altered much by pruning intensity. On the other, there was a significant increase in ascorbic acid content of the fruits with the enhanced severity of pruning. On the whole, pruning to 6 nodes gave the highest fruit yield and accounted for production of fruits of good quality.

Cut-off in their prime? Response of two landscape shrubs to different levels of root pruning, during active and quiescent growth phases

ABSTRACT Shrubs have an important role in the future design of urban landscapes. Due to city-densification and pressure on space, shrubs are increasingly preferred over trees for urban amenity plantings. In contrast to trees, however, relatively little information exists on how shrubs adapt to urban stress. This includes their responses to physical root injury, that might occur through trenching or transplanting activities. Two shrub taxa, Philadelphus coronarius ‘Aureus’ and Euonymus fortunei ‘Silver Queen’, were used to investigate the effects of severity and time of root injury on plant viability, and how additional fertiliser influenced recovery. A novel ‘split-pot’ system was developed to differentiate where root injury was induced. Results showed that both taxa were relatively resilient to root-pruning, although root injury was more detrimental during active growth than when plants were quiescent. This re-enforces the notion that transplanting of shrubs should be avoided in the summer. Shoot development was not more detrimentally affected by severe root-pruning compared to light pruning. There was also evidence that uniform severe pruning across the root-ball stimulated stronger root-regeneration compared to root systems differentially injured. No consistent response to fertiliser was noted. Results have implications for the resilience and management of shrubs within the urban landscape.

Acceleration of Deep Convolutional Neural Networks Using Adaptive Filter Pruning

While convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved remarkable performance on various supervised and unsupervised learning tasks, they typically consist of a massive number of parameters. This results in significant memory requirements as well as a computational burden. Consequently, there is a growing need for filter-level pruning approaches for compressing CNN based models that not only reduce the total number of parameters but reduce the overall computation as well. We present a new min-max framework for the filter-level pruning of CNNs. Our framework jointly prunes and fine-tunes CNN model parameters, with an adaptive pruning rate, while maintaining the model's predictive performance. Our framework consists of two modules: (1) An adaptive filter pruning (AFP) module, which minimizes the number of filters in the model; and (2) A pruning rate controller (PRC) module, which maximizes the accuracy during pruning. In addition, we also introduce orthogonality regularization in training of CNNs to reduce redundancy across filters of a particular layer. In the proposed approach, we prune the least important filters and, at the same time, reduce the redundancy level in the model by using orthogonality constraints during training. Moreover, unlike most previous approaches, our approach allows directly specifying the desired error tolerance instead of the pruning level. We perform extensive experiments for object classification (LeNet, VGG, MobileNet, and ResNet) and object detection (SSD, and Faster-RCNN) over benchmarked datasets such as MNIST, CIFAR, GTSDB, ImageNet, and MS-COCO. We also present several ablation studies to validate the proposed approach. Our compressed models can be deployed at run-time, without requiring any special libraries or hardware. Our approach reduces the number of parameters of VGG-16 by an impressive factor of 17.5X, and the number of FLOPS by 6.43X, with no loss of accuracy, significantly outperforming other state-of-the-art filter pruning methods.

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Multi-Level Theory for Supplier Participation on Digital Platforms

ABSTRACT Digital platforms have transformed various industries, with profound changes witnessed in settings characterized by repeated, low value, and novel transactions, such as ride sharing, household services, and food delivery. Platform providers need to understand the factor(s) that suppliers consider before choosing to participate on their platforms. We argue that multi-level theorizing is necessary to explain the patterns of decision criteria that constitute the complex, yet boundedly-rational decision of platform participation. We draw on multiple theoretical perspectives which include predictors from firm-level strategic behavior, firm-level digital predictors, institutional predictors, and platform level, competition and contextual (environmental) predictors to model restaurant’s decision to participate on food delivery platforms, which are an exemplar of platforms that digitize transactions of ubiquitous and episodic nature. The population of 95,735 restaurants, serving a total of 135 different cuisines, located in the 37 largest cities of India, forms the dataset for developing our multi-level theory. Our decision tree induction methodology, which employs high levels of pruning, empowers us to discover context-specific rules that serve as credible approximations of the partial ordering of decision flows tacitly used by restaurants in deciding to participate on platforms. We identify six combinations of predictors, that is, decision rules, which are situated in at least four theoretical perspectives, to succinctly explain supplier participation on digital platforms. Finally, we abduct away from these specific decision rules to develop generalizable theoretical propositions. The decision trees, context-specific rules, general forms of the rules, and generalized propositions together form our multi-level theory for supplier participation on digital platforms. Our findings aid platform providers identify suppliers who can be the focus of efforts to increase platform participation, and help suppliers identify the participation status of competitors. For policymakers, our findings imply that incentives at the ends of the pricing spectrum can increase supplier participation on digital platforms.

Utilizing Pruning and Leaf Removal to Optimize Ripening of Vitis riparia-Based ‘Frontenac Gris’ and ‘Marquette’ Wine Grapes in the Northern Great Plains

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of three pruning levels (20, 30 and 40 nodes per vine) and three fruit-zone leaf removal levels (0%, 50%, and 100%) on the yield and fruit quality of Frontenac gris and Marquette wine grapes in a northern production region. The study was conducted at three North Dakota vineyards located near Buffalo, Clifford, and Wahpeton, North Dakota, in 2011 and 2012. Increasing the number of buds retained increased yields and reduced pruning weights in both cultivars. Frontenac gris and Marquette yields were greatest when vines had 50% of the fruit-zone leaves removed due to heavier clusters, suggesting that the 100% fruit-zone leaf removal level was too severe. Individual berries in clusters were also heavier when vines were pruned to retain 40 buds. Frontenac gris fruit quality was similar both years and was not influenced by pruning or leaf removal levels. Marquette fruit total soluble solids content was greater in 2012 due to the warmer and longer growing season. Marquette fruit titratable acidity was lower when 100% of the fruit-zone leaves were removed. These results suggest that for the two cold-hardy hybrid wine grapes used in this study, greater bud retention levels should be investigated. Results also warrant further research into cultivar adaptiveness to northern Great Plains conditions. With further research, it is anticipated that wine grape cultivars and management practices will be identified to produce acceptable yields and fruit quality for commercial wine grape production.

Effect of spacing and pruning on chlorophyll and NPK contents of guava leaves cv. Hisar Safeda

The present investigation was conducted in order to examine the effect of spacing and pruning on chlorophyll a’ and ‘b’ content and NPK content of leaves of guava cv. Hisar Safeda. In this experiment two levels of pruning viz no pruning and 50% shoot pruning of last season growth were done in the month of April in guava trees spaced at nine different spacing viz. 6×2 m, 6×3 m, 6×4 m, 6×5 m, 5×2 m, 5×3m, 5×4 m, 5×5 m, 6×6 m. Observations revealed that leaves chlorophyll ‘a’ and ‘b’ content and NPK content were significantly increased with increasing the spacing and pruning levels. Highest chlorophyll content and leaf NPK content were registered in widest spacing at 6×6 m with pruned trees during both the seasons. Whereas lowest chlorophyll ‘a’ and ‘b’ content and leaf NPK content were found in closest spacing at 5×2 m with non-pruned trees.

Untargeted metabolomic analysis using UPLC-MS/MS identifies metabolites involved in shoot growth and development in pruned tea plants (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntz)

Pruning is a routine management practice in tea cultivation. Although pruning is speculated to contribute to shoot growth and development in tea plants, it is imperative to understand the molecular mechanism involved. In order to investigate this, tea plants were pruned at different levels. Analysis of shoot growth indices revealed significant increase in shoots number and weight in shoots of pruned tea plant. Auxin assay showed higher concentrations of indole-3-acetic acid in pruned samples. Metabolomic analysis identified 80 differential metabolites in shoots of pruned plants, of which indole-3-acetonitrile and menaquinone were the common metabolites in all levels of pruning. The metabolites are involved in auxin biosynthesis, as shown by protein-protein interaction analysis. The metabolites enriched major metabolic pathways such as tryptophan metabolism, vitamin digestion and absorption, biosynthesis of ubiquinone and other terpenoid-quinone, and biosynthesis of amino acids. Genes involved in auxin signalling and menaquinone synthesis were up-regulated in pruned plants. This study reports, for the first time in nature, the synthesis of menaquinone in plants. This study concludes that pruning enhances shoot growth and development through the modulation of indole-3-acetic acid via synthesis of indole-3-acetonitrile and menaquinone in shoots, a combined effect of tryptophan metabolism and other metabolic pathways. This study contributes to knowledge in molecular mechanism of shoot growth and development.

Light response of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance of rose leaves in the canopy profile: the effect of lighting on the adaxial and the abaxial sides.

We investigated the light response of leaf photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and optical properties in rose plants grown in a glasshouse with bending technique. Leaves were lighted from the adaxial or the abaxial side during measurements, performed in four positions in the upright and bent shoots: top leaves, middle leaves, bottom leaves, and bent shoot leaves. Moreover, the effect of the irradiation on the adaxial or abaxial leaf side on whole canopy photosynthesis was estimated through model simulation. No significant differences were found in light transmission, reflection and absorption of leaves and in photosynthesis light response curves among the four positions. In all the leaf positions, light absorption, stomatal conductance and photosynthesis were higher when leaves were lighted from the adaxial compared with the abaxial side. The model showed that a substantial part of the light absorbed by the crop originated from light reflected from the greenhouse floor, and thus the abaxial leaf properties have impact on whole crop light absorbance and photosynthesis. Simulations were performed for crops with leaf area index (LAI) 1, 2 and 3. Simulation at LAI 1 showed the highest reduction of simulated crop photosynthesis considering abaxial properties; however, to a lesser extent photosynthesis was also reduced at LAI 2 and 3. The overall results showed that the model may be helpful in designing crop systems for improved light utilisation by changing lamp position or level of leaf bending and pruning.

Effect of pruning intensity and time on yield and quality of guava cv. L-49

The present investigation was conducted in the guava orchard of Department of Horticulture, Khalsa College, Amritsar during the year 2018–19 to study the effect of pruning intensity and time on yield and quality of winter guava cv. L-49. Different pruning levels and time of pruning viz., pruning of 10, 20 and 30 cm of apical shoots during 30th April, 15th May, 30th May and 15th June comprised the treatment combinations. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design. The results of the study revealed that among the various pruning treatments the pruning of 30 cm of apical shoots on 15 May proved to be the best in increasing the yield and yield attributes in terms of number of fruits per tree and also fruit size, weight and yield. It also improved the fruit quality by increasing TSS, sugars, ascorbic acid and pectin content of guava fruits. Hence, the pruning of 30 cm of apical shoots during mid May can be recommended for commercial fruit production with enhanced yield and good quality in guava cv. L-49.

Changes of Morphological and Biochemical Properties in Organically Grown Zucchini Squash (Cucurbita pepo L.)

The present research was undertaken with the aim of justifying the effect of morphological, physiological, and nutritional properties in organically produced zucchini squash. The experiment consisted of two factors: three levels of pruning (P0 = no pruning, P1 = primary pruning at 20 days after transplanting (DAT), and P2 = secondary pruning at 30 DAT) and four levels of vermicompost application (V0 = control, V1 = 5 t/ha, V2 = 10 t/ha, and V3 = 15 t/ha). The results demonstrated that morphological parameters, reproductive components, and yield and proximate compositions were significant differences among the treatments. Increased male and female flower production were recorded from primary pruning with 10 t/ha vermicompost treatment plots compared with control treatments. Finally, increased fruit number, individual fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, total yield, carbohydrate, protein, crude fat, fiber, and ash were reported from the same treatment combination (P1V2). Taken together, 10 t/ha vermicompost with primary pruning appear to provide maximum output in terms of yield and nutrient value compared with other treatments.

Evaluation of irrigation and pruning on the phenology and yield of Theobroma cacao L.

Introduction. It is believed that only 0.5 % of the area planted worldwide with cocoa is irrigated. Water availability influences the rate of expansion of the tree canopy and thus light interception. Another extremely important factor is pruning, which influences the production of floral sprouts that will give rise to new fruits, influencing productivity. Objective. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of drip irrigation and pruning on the performance, phenology and phytosanitary behavior of cacao trees. Materials and methods. The study was developed between 2015 and 2016 in the Cauca department, Colombia. The six-year-old trees were subjected to two watering layers: L-100 % and L-0 % and two pruning levels: soft and strong. Total number of fruits, number of healthy and sick fruits, kg of wet and dry cocoa, fruit index and seed index, longitudinal and equatorial diameters and incidence of Moniliopthora roreri, Phytophthora palmivora and Monalonion dissimulatum were evaluated. The growth and development curves of the fruit throughout time were built. An experimental design of complete random blocks was used in an arrangement of divide plots. Results. Fruit index varied from 22 (T2) up to 33 fruits (T3), the seed index varied from 0.91 g (T4) to 1.14 g (T2). There were no other significant results for other variables. Conclusion. From a technical and economic point of view an optimal response to the interaction of irrigation with the two levels of pruning was observed because, with a timely application of watering and an adequate pruning management, crop performance can be increased, harvests can be programmed and better quality fruits can be obtained.

Controle do vigor em pereira ‘Abate Fetel’ por meio da poda radicular

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito de diferentes níveis de poda radicular sobre o crescimento vegetativo, produção e qualidade de frutos de pereira Abate Fetel. O experimento foi conduzido durante as safras 2007 e 2008. Os tratamentos consistiram em: poda radicular a 20 cm da planta, 35 cm e controle sem realização de poda radicular. A poda radicular apresentou controle do vigor e na manutenção de características vegetativas, no entanto, não influenciou os índices produtivos e físico-químicos dos frutos. Conclui-se que a poda radicular promove controle do vigor em pereira Abate Fetel.

Banana leaf pruning to facilitate annual legume intercropping as an intensification strategy in the East African highlands

• Increasing banana leaf pruning levels progressively reduced banana performance while increasing legume yields. • Legume intercrops with high biomass (e.g. climbing beans) reduced banana performance. • Land-use efficiency was reduced by severe banana leaf pruning (i.e. retaining 4 leaves) but improved by moderate pruning. • The un-pruned banana monocrops had the highest labor and overall economic efficiency. • The decision to prune or not, to integrate legumes was thus trade-off between agronomic and economic efficiency. Banana leaf pruning is a common practice to facilitate intercropping with legumes on farmers’ fields. It is however not clear if this practice improves farmers land-use and economic efficiency, especially after full canopy formation. To analyze pruning effects, three legumes viz. bush bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L ), climbing bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L ) and soybean ( Glycine max ), were planted under three banana leaf pruning levels in which four, seven and all fully grown leaves were retained. Sole banana or legume plots served as controls. Each treatment combination was replicated three times. Banana growth and yield attributes were measured for the plant and first ratoon crops while legume biomass and yields determined over five consecutive cropping seasons. Significant (P < 0.001) reductions in banana growth and yield were associated with leaf pruning. Banana yield reductions of 31% and 10% for the four- and seven-leaf retention treatments, respectively occurred. The vigorous intercrops (climbing beans and soybeans) more often depressed the growth and yield of banana. Legume grain and biomass yields increased with leaf pruning levels. Weed biomass and associated management costs increased with decline in shade intensity. The land-use efficiency measured using the land equivalence ratio (LER) was far lower in the treatment with four-leaves (1.10) compared to when all leaves were retained (1.4) but higher (1.54) for the seven-leaf treatment. Severe banana leaf pruning could thus be detrimental to banana performance and inefficient. Moderate banana leaf pruning could however be promoted were land is limiting and farmers want to maximize diversity/nutrition. However, the highest values for gross revenue and benefit-cost ratio were realized for sole banana-all-leaf retention treatment due to a higher labor productivity and lower input costs attributed to the perennial nature of banana. The higher economic efficiency in sole banana plots suggests that reliance on LER only may be insufficient for guiding intercropping decisions.

Root pruning negatively affects tree value: A comparison of tree appraisal methods

Tree value is sometimes appraised to account for losses linked to insurance claims or legal disputes. In many of the appraisal methods used, tree value is influenced by vitality, size, and lifespan. These three factors can all be negatively impacted by nearby construction activities – ultimately impacting the monetary value of urban trees and the greater urban forest. The objectives of this study were to determine whether tree value was affected by root pruning, and to compare the effectiveness of four common, parametric tree appraisal methods for this purpose. Data from three individual root pruning studies (with varying levels of root pruning) were used. Four different tree valuation methods (CTLA Trunk Formula Method 9th Edition (CTLA), the Revised Burnley Method (Burnley), the Helliwell Method (Helliwell), and the Standard Tree Evaluation Method (STEM)) were used to assess the value of trees prior to and one growing season after root removal, as well as the average of all four methods. By examining the effects of root removal (reduced growth and vitality) over the course of a growing season, the results show that appraised tree value was negatively affected (Δ value (%)) by root pruning. A general trend towards greater loss in value with increasing root removal intensity was observed for all methods for one or more treatment type (p < 0.01) when compared to control (non-root pruned) trees. The values appraised using the CTLA and Burnley methods changed incrementally across treatments given the fine resolution of the scales in the awarding criteria. STEM and Helliwell were generally insensitive to root removal treatments. Linear mixed model analyses using four independent variables (maximum severed root diameter, % tree protection zone removed, total number of severed roots, and an allometric variable (Ar(GL)) defined as the total cross-sectional area of severed roots as a proportion of trunk cross-sectional area at ground level) revealed that % tree protection zone removal was the best performing tool for predicting percentage loss in value following root removal. Our results may be useful to those seeking compensation when tree damage has occurred due to construction-related activities.

Standardization of pruning height, pruning interval and foliar nutrients on growth and yield of curry leaf (Murraya koenigii Spreng.)

A field experiment on effect of pruning height and pruning interval on growth, yield and quality of curry leaf (Murraya koenigii Spreng.) was conducted at the Department of Spices and Plantation Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Periyakulam during 2015. The experiment was laid out in split-split design consisting of three factors, viz., factor – I pruning level (L1 – 15 cm and L2 – 30 cm), factor – II pruning interval (P1 – 2 months interval of harvest and P2 – 3 months interval of harvest) and factor – III foliar applications of biostimulants (N1 – 0.25% ZnSO4, N2 – 0.25% FeSO4, N3 – 2% seaweed extract and N4 – 0.3% humic acid) constituting 17 treatment combinations. Biometrical observations were made from randomly selected five plants and subjected to statistical analysis. The result reveled that, among the two levels of pruning, two intervals of pruning and foliar nutrients registered the highest growth character viz., plant height (139.30 cm), number of secondary branches (9.40 plant-1), stem girth (21.34 cm), leaflet length (7.30 cm), leaflet width (4.3 cm) and leaf area (11.98 cm2). It was also observed that the yield characters viz., leaf yield (0.66 g cutting-1 plant-1) and estimated leaf yield (4583.04 kg cutting-1 ha-1) were observed to be the highest with application of 30 cm pruning height + 3 months interval of harvest + 0.3% humic acid. The treatment L2P2N4 (30 cm pruning height + 3 months interval of harvest + 0.3% humic acid) registered the highest growth and yield characters of curry leaf.