Effect of pruning intensities on growth, nut quality, yield and leaf nutrient status of pecan

Abstract

Pecan trees (25-year-old) were pruned to pruning intensities where height to spread ratio was kept at four different levels viz., 1 : 1.50, 1 : 1.25, 1 : 1.00 and 1 : 0.75 and their influence on growth, nut quality, yield and leaf nutrient status was studied over unprunned trees (control). Pruning was done in the month of February during dormancy. All the pruning intensities recorded better results for growth, nut quality and leaf nutrient content in pecan nut than control but the yield was significantly reduced with the pruning intensities where height to spread ratio was kept as 1 : 1.00 and 1: 0 .75. Maximum yield (2.95 kg/tree) was obtained in control trees, which was statistically at par with pruned trees where height to spread ratio was 1 : 1.50 (2.84 kg/tree) without affecting the nut quality. The nut length (4.00cm), nut weight (5.03g), kernel weight (3.26g), kernel percentage (63.15), protein (12.44%) and oil content (61.96%) recorded in trees with 1 : 1.50 pruning intensity were observed to be nonsignificant over control. The data revealed that 1 : 1.50 height to spread ratio proved to be the optimum pruning intensity as it did not reduce the yield significantly and also improved growth, nut quality and leaf nutrient status compared to unprunned trees.