Articles
Thinning trials in ‘Conference’ pears in northern Germany in 2019-2022
Article number
1443_13
Pages
93 – 100
Language
English
Abstract
Pear thinning trials were conducted in 2019-2022 in order to address the question whether metamitron had a similar thinning effect as in apples.
A dose of 248 ppm metamitron was applied alone or as a double treatment on two different dates.
As expected, fruit thinning effects varied between different years.
Well-placed metamitron applications were able to increase fruit size by 1.5-3 mm, thus providing a comparable or higher efficacy than either 6-benzyl adenine (6-BA) or manual thinning.
Under northern German conditions, metamitron showed no or only weak thinning effects at fruit sizes of 15 mm or more, whereas in apples high effects are still realized at that phenological stage.
One possible reason might be the lower post-flowering fruit growth of ‘Conference’ as compared to apples.
In the four trial seasons, ‘Conference’ fruits reached a fruit size of 13-15 mm within 4 weeks after flowering, whereas apple fruit size is at 18-24 mm under northern German conditions.
Therefore, recommendations for fruit thinning with metamitron on apples cannot be transferred to ‘Conference’ without adjustments.
Further trials are ongoing at several European research institutes, coordinated by the Adama company, in order to develop a fruit thinning forecasting model for ‘Conference’.
A dose of 248 ppm metamitron was applied alone or as a double treatment on two different dates.
As expected, fruit thinning effects varied between different years.
Well-placed metamitron applications were able to increase fruit size by 1.5-3 mm, thus providing a comparable or higher efficacy than either 6-benzyl adenine (6-BA) or manual thinning.
Under northern German conditions, metamitron showed no or only weak thinning effects at fruit sizes of 15 mm or more, whereas in apples high effects are still realized at that phenological stage.
One possible reason might be the lower post-flowering fruit growth of ‘Conference’ as compared to apples.
In the four trial seasons, ‘Conference’ fruits reached a fruit size of 13-15 mm within 4 weeks after flowering, whereas apple fruit size is at 18-24 mm under northern German conditions.
Therefore, recommendations for fruit thinning with metamitron on apples cannot be transferred to ‘Conference’ without adjustments.
Further trials are ongoing at several European research institutes, coordinated by the Adama company, in order to develop a fruit thinning forecasting model for ‘Conference’.
Publication
Authors
M. Clever
Keywords
chemical fruit thinning, metamitron, benzyl adenine, global irradiation, night-time temperatures
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