Influencia de la poda mecánica en la producción y calibre de los frutos de limoneros ‘Fino 95’

Laburpena

Mechanical pruning is not a widely accepted technique among Spanish farmers for many reasons, including the lack of rigorous studies with varieties and farm management to justify its potential benefits. Experiments carried out in the period 2009-2012 by researchers from the UPCT and UPV evaluated the potential of mechanical pruning combined with manual pruning of 'Fortune' mandarins, with the result that the alternation between mechanical pruning and manual pruning is the most recommendable option. In contrast, mechanical pruning for two consecutive years reduced the production significantly. Following the previous experiences,four years of trials to evaluate mechanical pruning combined with manual pruning in 'Fino 95' lemon have beenstarted. The following variables are being analysed: yield per tree, fruit diameter, fruit quality, productivity, pruned biomass characterisation and pruning cost. Five pruning treatments have been carried out between hand pruning (control) and mechanical pruning. The results of the first year show that production wassignificantly lower in hand pruning treatments (1, 2, 3) than in mechanical pruning treatments (4, 5); 243kg/tree versus 346 kg/tree, respectively. The results from the first year show that production was significantly lower in the treatments with some type of hand pruning than in treatments that only involved mechanical pruning. There were no significant differences in fruit diameter among treatments, with values ranging between 63.6 and 65.46 mm. Nevertheless, the results are inconclusive since they correspond to only one year, mainly, because in hand pruning it was cut more biomass than in mechanical pruning, 62.9 kg/tree on average in hand pruning versus 8.1 kg/tree in mechanical pruning.