Effect of Pruning on Productivity in Sweet Orange

To sustainable production of quality fruits in eight year old sweet orange plants of cv. Mosambi budded onto Citrus jambheri ischolar_mainstock, and grown in laterite soil at Jhargram, Paschim Medinipur, a canopy management trial was conducted for two consecutive years. The treatments included T₁: No pruning; T₂: Removal of dead and dry shoots and branches; T₃: T₂ + Removal of thin shoots and water-sprouts arising from the leaders at 90° angle; T₄: T₃ + Removal of selected laterals; T₅: T₄ + Removal of selected leaders for formation of open-centre-canopy. Randomized Block Design with five replications was set up. Results indicated that fruit production improved with regular pruning. Significantly high fruit retention (68%) with maximum number of fruits (250) was recorded in plants where open-canopy was maintained by judicious removal of the leaders, laterals, thin shoots and dead wood. Trees with open-canopy not only resulted in 71.4% increase in fruit number, but also enhanced fruit weight by 17.9% over Control. Significantly good fruit quality in terms of TSS, total sugars and Vitamin C content was recorded in fruits from the open canopy treatment. Dry weight of shoots / branch was lowest (1.50kg) in open-canopy treatment and highest in the unpruned Control (3.0kg). Foliar N, P and K status did not vary significantly with different pruning practices.