Pruning and Fruit Thinning of Psidium guajava cv. Paluma under a Seasonal Tropical Climate

Adaniel Sousa dos Santos, Jonathan Candido Thomaz Dalzot, Gustavo Alves Pereira, Jenilton Gomes da Cunha, Thamyres Yara Lima Evangelista, Wéverson Lima Fonseca (), Murilo de Sousa Almeida, Julian Junior de Jesus Lacerda, Júlio Ferreira de Souza Filho, Alan Mario Zuffo, Ricardo Mezzomo, Jorge González Aguilera, Luis Morales-Aranibar, Mohammad K. Okla, Ibrahim A. Saleh and Hamada AbdElgawad
Additional contact information
Adaniel Sousa dos Santos: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Piauí, Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas, BR 135, km 3—Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus 64900-000, PI, Brazil
Jonathan Candido Thomaz Dalzot: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Piauí, Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas, BR 135, km 3—Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus 64900-000, PI, Brazil
Gustavo Alves Pereira: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Piauí, Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas, BR 135, km 3—Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus 64900-000, PI, Brazil
Jenilton Gomes da Cunha: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Piauí, Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas, BR 135, km 3—Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus 64900-000, PI, Brazil
Thamyres Yara Lima Evangelista: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Piauí, Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas, BR 135, km 3—Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus 64900-000, PI, Brazil
Wéverson Lima Fonseca: Department of Agriculture, Federal University of Piauí, Colégio Técnico de Bom Jesus (CTBJ), Bom Jesus 64900-000, PI, Brazil
Murilo de Sousa Almeida: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Piauí, Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas, BR 135, km 3—Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus 64900-000, PI, Brazil
Julian Junior de Jesus Lacerda: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Piauí, Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas, BR 135, km 3—Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus 64900-000, PI, Brazil
Júlio Ferreira de Souza Filho: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Piauí, Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas, BR 135, km 3—Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus 64900-000, PI, Brazil
Alan Mario Zuffo: Department of Agronomy, State University of Maranhão, Balsas 65800-000, MA, Brazil
Ricardo Mezzomo: Department of Agronomy, State University of Maranhão, Balsas 65800-000, MA, Brazil
Jorge González Aguilera: Department of Crop Science, State University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Cassilândia 79540-000, MS, Brazil
Luis Morales-Aranibar: National Intercultural University of Quillabamba, Cusco 08741, La Convenciòn, Peru
Mohammad K. Okla: Botany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Ibrahim A. Saleh: Faculty of Science, Zarqa University, Zarqa 13110, Jordan
Hamada AbdElgawad: Integrated Molecular Plant Physiology Research, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-12

Abstract: Maintaining the plant architecture of Psidium guajava L. (guava tree) is essential for enhancing capture and distribution in the plant, directly affecting the fruit quality. The lifespan of the harvest period can be extended by proper pruning. Both timeliness and proper pruning play crucial roles in achieving high-quality fruit production and in maintaining a consistent fruit size while stimulating ascorbic acid levels, sugar content, total soluble solids (TSS), and titratable acidity. From this perspective, this study aimed to characterize the influence of different intensities of fruit pruning and thinning on guava trees grown under a seasonal tropical climate in two growing seasons in Currais, Piauí, Brazil. The experiment was set up in a randomized block design with a 3 × 3 × 2 factorial arrangement corresponding to short, medium, and long pruning intensities and 0%, 10%, and 20% thinning intensities during the two growth seasons, respectively. An analysis was performed to discriminate the treatment groups according to the physicochemical variables of the guava tree cv. Paluma and canonical discriminant analysis. There was significant variation in the SS, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, and pH contents. Cluster analysis of all treatments allowed division into five different groups for the two pruning times. Canonical discriminant analysis showed that the first two canonical variables explained 91% of the total variance. The fruits of the second harvest exhibited a lower level of acidity, higher levels of soluble solids, and higher levels of ascorbic acid contents. In addition, these fruits also obtained better nutrient contents. Short pruning with up to 20% thinning, medium pruning with up to 10%, and long pruning without thinning favored better levels of macronutrients and micronutrients and, consequently, better fruit quality. Medium or long pruning with up to 20% thinning resulted in higher average fruit weights and nutrient contents (especially of Fe and Cu), lower acidity, and higher ascorbic acid contents. Thus, in general, the importance of production pruning in guava plants is evidenced and thinning of 20% is recommended to improve the fruit quality.

Keywords: Psidium guajava L.; physicochemical fruit quality; macronutrients; micronutrients (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/8/1537/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/13/8/1537/ (text/html)

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:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:8:p:1537-:d:1208446

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().