Effect of berry thinning and Sitofex on fruiting of superior seedless grapevines

El-Salhy, A.M.; Al-Wasfy, M.M.; Salem, E.H.; Abdalla, O.G.E.M.

doi:10.21608/svuijas.2022.184160.1261

Effect of berry thinning and Sitofex on fruiting of superior seedless grapevines

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Pomology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, 71524 Assiut, Egypt.

² Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, South Valley University, 83523 Qena, Egypt.

³ Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture & Natural Resources, Aswan University, 81528 Aswan, Egypt.

10.21608/svuijas.2022.184160.1261

Abstract

The effect of berry thinning and forchlorfenuron (CPPU) applied on the productivity of Superior Seedless grapevines during 2020, 2021, and 2022 seasons were studied. All grapevines were 14 years old and grown at the experimental orchard Faculty of Agriculture, South Valley University, Qena Governorate. Berry thinning was performed after the berry set, whereas CPPU was carried out when the berry was at the pea stage. The experiment was set up as a complete randomized block (CRB) with three replicates, two vines per each. The obtained results could be summarized as follow: Berry thinning as removing either 25% of the apical cluster or 25% of the shoulders significantly decreases the berries number per cluster and consequently insignificantly decreases the cluster weight and yield/vine compared to the untreated one. Such berry thinning methods significantly increased berry weight and the chemical constituents of juice compared to untreated ones. In addition, all treatments except removing 25% of the apical cluster significantly decreased shot berries % and the compactness coefficient of clusters. Gibberellic acid (GA3) and CPPU dipping significantly increased the berry weight. They consequently significantly increased the cluster weight and yield/vine as well as improved the berry chemical quality compared to the untreated one (control). From this study, it is clear that to improve cluster and berries quality we can make berry thinning as alternatively about 25% of shoulders or combined GA3 at 20 ppm plus, CPPU at 1.5 ppm dipping.

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