Impact of girdling on quality and maturity of Patharnakh pear

Abstract

The response of ‘Patharnakh’ pear to girdling was evaluated on 18-year-old vigorous trees growing under uniform cultural practices. The fruits with best quality characteristics in terms of juice content (58.5%), total soluble solids (11.8°Brix), TSS/acid ratio (42.8) and total sugars (8.86%) with low juice acid (0.27%) contents were observed under sub-limb girdling performed on 15 days after flower initiation (DAFI). Girdling treatments also advanced the fruit maturity over control. In conclusion, sub-limb girdling performed on 15 DAFI was the best in enhancing fruit yield (162.0 kg/tree) compared to control (135.3 kg/tree) and physico-chemical composition of ‘Patharnakh’ pear under sub-tropics of north India.