The effect of post harvest pruning, GA3 and ethrel concentrations on some flowering attributes and yield of some mango cultivars.
Khatttab M. M., Haseeb G. M., Elkhishen M. A.
Author Affiliation: Department of Pomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
Bulletin of Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University 60 : 306-314
Abstract : The present study was carried out in Egypt during 2005/06 and 2006/07 to study the effects of pruning severity after harvesting, gibberellic acid (GA3) and Ethrel [ethephon] on the total number of panicles, perfect flower percentage, average number of flowering shoots, average number of vegetative shoots and yield in the next off-year season of mango cultivars Ewais and Sedik. The treatments consisted of: no pruning, heading back (removal of 50% of the fruiting terminal flush) and removal of intact terminal flushes, singly or in combination with Ethrel and GA3 (50 and 100 ppm each). GA3 was applied at 15-21 days after pruning and Ethrel was sprayed on the first week of November. For Sedik, heading back and removal of intact terminal flushes resulted in the highest total number of panicles, perfect flower percentage, average number of flowering shoots and yield compared to the control trees. The removal of intact terminal flushes with Ethrel at 500 ppm resulted in the highest total number of panicles, flowering shoot percentage and yield, while the application of 500 ppm alone recorded the highest average perfect flower percentage. The removal of terminal flushes with 100 ppm of GA3 resulted in the highest number of vegetative shoots. For Ewais, the removal of intact terminal flushes with 1000 ppm Ethrel recorded the highest total number of panicles, number of flowering shoots and yield, while the highest perfect flower percentage was obtained with 500 ppm Ethrel combined with heading back. The highest number of vegetative shoots was recorded for heading back combined with 100 ppm of GA3.