FERTILITY AND PRODUCTIVITY CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BEARING UNITS OF THE VERDEJO VARIETY (VITIS VINIFERA L.) TO IMPROVE THE PRUNING STRATEGIES

Productivity from buds depends not only on their fertility but on other yield components such as budbreak and percent berry set, which also depend on the type of pruning element where the bud is situated.
The white variety Verdejo (Vitis vinifera L.) is recommended to be cane pruned due to its low fertility.
However, if the bud fertility does not increase enough with the increase of the node position, the yield obtained from cane pruning can be similar to that from the spur pruning.
On average, cane buds produced more fruit than did spur buds.
The average yield increase over that from spur buds was 6% for buds on six-bud canes and 21% for buds on ten-bud canes.
Cluster weight was significantly higher on canes than on spurs, whereas cluster number per bud on spurs was higher than on short canes, and nearly the same as on long canes.
It has been observed that spring frosts have a more negative influence on spurs, decreasing their productivity.
A six-bud cane could be replaced with 6.4 spur buds, and a ten-bud cane could be replaced with 12 spur buds.

XXVI International Horticultural Congress: Viticulture – Living with Limitations

S. López-Miranda, J. Yuste, J.R. Lissarrague

bud, cane, fruitfulness, spur, yield component

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2004.640.38