A modification in an open centre training system for increasing the crotch angles of peach scaffold branches

Abdel-Rahman M.A. Mohamed, Heba F. Sayed, Lidia Sas Paszt and Augustyn Mika
Additional contact information
Abdel-Rahman M.A. Mohamed: Horticulture Deptartment, Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University, Minia, Egypt
Heba F. Sayed: Horticulture Deptartment, Faculty of Agriculture, Minia University, Minia, Egypt
Lidia Sas Paszt: Research Institute of Horticulture, Skierniewice, Poland
Augustyn Mika: Research Institute of Horticulture, Skierniewice, Poland

Horticultural Science, 2021, vol. 48, issue 3, 117-125

Abstract: One-year-old 'Florida Prince' cultivar peach trees grafted on a 'Nemaguard' rootstock were planted in the early spring of 2018 at the Centre of Agricultural Research and Experiments, Minia University, located in southwest Egypt. The trees were planted 5 × 5 m in a randomised complete block design with four replicates, with ten trees in each replicate. In the late spring, two different pruning systems were applied; traditional open centre (OC) and de-branched top trees (DBT). The OC trees were headed at 80 cm above the ground. DBT is a modification of the OC, but no heading was undertaken and the new shoot growth arising from the 20 cm at the top of the plant were removed. Before the winter pruning took place, measurements were taken on the upper two opposite branches. The average length and diameter values of the upper two opposite branches at the top of the trees trained to the OC were higher than those trained with the DBT. In contrast, the distance between the upper two branches (25 cm) at the top of the DBT trees was significantly higher. Likewise, the values of the crotch angles (48°) and the number of branches (81 of 100 branches) that showed desired crotch angles (more than 40°) were remarkably higher in the trees trained with the DBT. After the winter pruning took place, the DBT trees were higher than the OC trees. Additionally, the trees trained with the DBT had low pruning costs and took less time. Moreover, the pruning wood weight of the DBT trees was about half of the pruning wood weight of the OC trees. In conclusion, the DBT training system showed the desired impact on the crotch angles and the tested pruning characteristics.

Keywords: pruning peach; open centre; pruning modification; fruit training; de-branched top; crotch angles (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hortsci.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/64/2020-HORTSCI.html (text/html)
http://hortsci.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/64/2020-HORTSCI.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlhor:v:48:y:2021:i:3:id:64-2020-hortsci

DOI: 10.17221/64/2020-HORTSCI

Access Statistics for this article

Horticultural Science is currently edited by Ing. Eva Karská (Executive Editor)

More articles in Horticultural Science from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().