Influence of different degrees and stages of summer pruning on the vine characteristics, fruit yield and quality of kiwifruit cv. Hayward

The present experiment was conducted in the mid hills of Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh, which is located at 93 degrees 5' to 940 2 ' E longitude 270 5 ' to 270 75 ' N latitude at an elevation of 1,564 amsl. During summer pruning, the shoots were pruned back to different pruning degrees viz., pruning at 25 cm after the last fruit (D(1)), pruning 50 cm after the last fruit (D(2)) and pruning at 100 cm after the last fruit (D(3)) of the bearing shoot. All the summer pruning treatments were performed on 3 different stages i.e., at complete petal fall (S(1)), 15 days after petal fall (S(2)) and 30 days after petal fall (S(3)). It was revealed that the summer pruning done by heading back of the bearing shoots at 1 m after the last fruit at complete petal fall stage (D(3)S(1)) resulted in higher yield with more proportion of 'A' and 'B' grade fruits in comparison to control and other treatments. D(3)S(1) exhibited the highest fruit weight, fruit size, photosynthetic rate, sugars, TSS and sugar: acid ratio. Correlation studies showed the positive relation among many growth, yield and chemical parameters. Summer pruning done by heading back of the bearing shoots at 100 cm after the last fruit at complete petal fall stage (D(3)S(1)) might be recommended for added profit in kiwifruit cultivation in the region.