THIDIAZURON SPRAYING AND GIBERELLIC ACID COMBINED WITH PRUNING ON CRANBERRY (Vaccinium spp.) PHENOLOGY

Abstract

In México, cranberry (Vaccinium spp.) production has the potential of growing since it is an export crop, and therefore, it is required to program harvests to commercialize in the season of international demand; given that the fruit matures at different dates on the same plant, managing to advance and concentrate the production means decreasing costs; therefore, the effect of applying budding promoters combined with pruning on the cranberry phenology was evaluated. Different doses of TDZ were applied (20, 40 and 80 mg L^-1) with 50 mg L^-1 of gibberellic acid added, combined with 5,  10 and 20 % of sprout pruning, in ‘Biloxi’ cultivar cranberry plants in their second year of age, during the 2015 cycle. A random block design with six repetitions was used. The percentage of budding of lateral shoots was evaluated, as well as the flowering dynamics, production and fruit quality. The best results were obtained in plants sprayed with 80 mg L^-1 TDZ+50 mg L^-1 AG+10 % of pruning obtaining a budding percentage of 89 % against 37 % from the control after 42 days of application. The spraying and pruning advanced the beginning of the flowering and concentrated it, while the fruit production and its quality were not significantly affected from this. Spraying with Thidizauron and AG3 in combination with pruning can be a tool to program and concentrate flowering and harvest of cranberry, but it should be validated in “evergreen” commercial plantations