Published in Scientific Papers. Series B, Horticulture, Volume LIX
Written by Ramona COTRUŢ, Florin STĂNICĂ
Special production practices can be used to enhance yield and overall fruit quality. Trunk and branch girdling areknown among those practices applicable to some wooden fruit species. For Chinese date (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.)girdling was a common practice in traditional orchards with the aim to increase the fruit set. Short and deep woundswere usually made with an ax in the tree bark and phloem around the trunk. The paper presents the effect of girdlingapplied at the beginning of the flowering season on tree trunk and lateral branches. The girdled jujube trees increasedtheir yield by improving fruit set, enlarged fruit size and advanced fruit maturity. Girdling effect was notable for somegenotypes: larger fruit size by 3 to 5 mm in diameter, earlier harvest by 3 up to 10 days and reduced number of pickingsat harvests. Varietal response to this practice, however, was quite variable. Preliminary results showed that thevarieties response to girdling was substantial in some and almost unnoticeable in others.
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