Effect of Girdling and Cincturing on Setting and Yield in Balady Mandarin Trees

Growing citrus fruit trees became more expensive over the last few years as a result of rising production costs. Thus, less environmentally harmful methods were employed in an effort to find a technique to lower these costs while obtaining a high yield and quality of fruits free from any chemical residues. This study was carried out during two consecutive seasons of 2020 and 2021 on 15 uniformed Balady Mandarin trees, 20 years old, budded on sour orange rootstock, and planted at a distance of 5×5 m in the productive farm at the Agricultural Research Center in Shandawel Island, Sohag Governorate. The experiment aims to study the influence of girdling and cincturing on the fruit setting and yield of Balady mandarin trees. The results showed that all girdling and cincturing treatments (girdling or cincturing the trunk or branches) had a positive effect on flowering, fruiting, leaves content of carbohydrates, yield, and some fruit quality properties (TSS and TSS/acid ratio), while they led to a decrease in the leaves content of nitrogen in Balady mandarin trees under the climatic conditions of Sohag Governorate. The study recommends the importance of girdling the branches and trunk of the Balady mandarin trees under Sohag conditions to enhance the yield and quality of the fruits .