Effects of fruit thinning on the on-and off-season production of guava

Abstract

The study was conducted at the FTIP Germplasm Centre of the Bangladesh Agricultural University (FTIP BAU-GPC), Mymensingh during the period from July 2017 to October 2018 to find out the effects of fruit thinning on the off-season quality guava production. The two factor experiment consisted of two guava varieties viz., Swarupkathi and BAU Peyara-5, and six fruit thinning regimes namely no fruit thinning (control), 20% fruit thinning, 40% fruit thinning, 60% fruit thinning, 80% fruit thinning and 100% fruit thinning. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Guava varieties and fruit thinning both had significant effects on both on-season and off-season guava production. During on-season, Swarupkathi showed superiority over BAU Peyara-5. During off-season, yield of Swarupkathi was 1.73 kg plant⁻¹, whereas BAU Peyara-5 produced only flowers but no fruit due to flower dropping in off-season. In respect of thinning effect during on season 6.05 kg fruit plant⁻¹ was produced with 80% fruit thinning, which was the best in on-season. During off-season 1.51kg fruit plant⁻¹ was produced with 100% fruit thinning of pre- vious season, which was the best in off-season. For combined effect during on-season, Swarupkathi produced 8.6 kg fruit plant⁻¹ at 80% fruit thinning which was found to be better result in Swarupkathi after different times of thinning practices, whereas BAU Peyara-5 produced 3.5 kg fruit plant⁻¹ at 80% fruit thinning which was found to be better result in BAU Peyara-5 after different thinning practices. During off-season, Swarupkathi produced 3.01 kg fruit plant⁻¹ with 100% fruit thinning of previous season, which was found to be better result in Swarupkathi, while BAU Peyara-5 produced few flowers (3) and did not produce any fruit due to flower dropping.