Rootstocks and twig topping intensity at winter pruning for ‘Maciel’ peach three

Abstract

Winter pruning has been a common practice in peach. Twig topping has been associated with it, but this practice has been used at the same intensity, regardless of the cultivar. Therefore, this study aimed at evaluating productive behavior and quality of ‘Maciel’ peach grafted on ‘Capdeboscq’ and ‘Okinawa’ (P. persica) as rootstocks, when they were submitted to different twig topping intensities in winter pruning. The following three pruning intensities were evaluated: short pruning, when 2/3 of the productive twig was removed; long pruning, when 1/3 of the twig was removed; and pruning with no topping, when twigs were kept integral. Effective fructification is lower when ‘Maciel’ peach trees are submitted to short pruning, but it leads to fruit with higher weight and flesh firmness, besides larger diameters. Pruning with no twig topping and long pruning increased the fruit number and yield per tree. Not only fruit weight, diameter and soluble solid content, but also yield per tree of ‘Maciel’ peach are affected by ‘Capdeboscq’ and ‘Okinawa’, regardless of the intensity of twig topping throughout pruning. Higher concentration of soluble solids was found in peaches grafted in Okinawa. While the highest production was verified with the use of the ‘Capdeboscq’ rootstock.