RESPONSE OF KINNOW CROP WITH RESPECT TO GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY TO DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PRUNING

Pruning is a technique that is employed in orchards to control growth, remove dead or diseased wood, to stimulate formation of flower and fruit buds. It has in common the objectives of manipulating the vegetative or reproductive growth. some of the benefit traditionally attributed pruning had been called into question by field research in past few decades. A proper training and pruning program is essential for maintenance of a healthy and productive orchard. To quantify the pruning intensity and level on the quality and yield in Kinnow fruit crop was studied in the department of Citrus Research institute, Sargodha from 2013 to 2015 . The research trial was conducted according to the RCBD with five replications. Mature and fruit bearing trees of Kinnow mandarin were pruned as No-pruning (T1), light-pruning 10 % (T2) , medium-pruning 25% (T3) and heavy-pruning 35 % (T4). Fruit yield per tree in terms of number of fruits was highest in third year in all contestant treatments i.e. 979 in medium-pruning, 957 in light-pruning, 929 in no-pruning and 853 in heavy-pruning. Medium pruning in respect of quality parameters like average fruit weight and juice percentage excelled among all treatments with results 223g and 54.6% respectively. Conclusively Maximum yield and quality of Kinnow fruit crop was obtained in medium-pruning which appeared to be the best pruning methodology in Kinnow crop