Growth, yield and quality of guava as influenced by varying rejuvenation periods

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to study the response of varying rejuvenation periods of an old guava orchards (cv. Allahabad Safeda) at the Demonstration Farm of Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Jawahar Lal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya as well as farmer’s field during 2008-09. Fifteen-year-old guava plants were severely pruned leaving only four scaffold branches per tree at monthly interval from April to June, 2008. The tree height, tree spread and canopy volume were affected significantly by different periods of rejuvenation. Only winter season crop was obtained in first year after pruning. Time of pruning had significant effect on fruit set. Fruit yield and physico-chemical characters of mature fruits were found to be best in fruits obtained from trees pruned during May. Maximum number of fruits and yield was obtained from May rejuvenated trees (272 fruits and 46.22 kg/tree) and minimum in control (104 fruits and 27.12 kg yield/tree). Pruning proved to be successful in rejuvenating old guava orchards and the economics also suggested gain in returns compared to senile orchards.