CAREFUL USE OF NAA PRUNING GELS IS NEEDED TO AVOID COMPROMISING ‘HORT16A’ FRUIT QUALITY

Actinidia chinensis ‘Hort16A’ kiwifruit vines are considerably more vigorous than A. deliciosa ‘Hayward’ vines.
Growers have considerable difficulty managing canopies to prevent heavy internal shading and an abundance of tangled shoots developing in summer.
In recent years, management of ‘Hort16A’ kiwifruit vines has focused on techniques to counter the strong vegetative growth in spring and early summer.
Pruning gels that contain naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) reduce this growth substantially.
NAA gels applied to cut shoots also stimulate very substantial increases in fruit weight.
Whilst NAA gels may be valuable vine management tools for kiwifruit, we have demonstrated that a reliance on them can compromise fruit quality by reducing fruit dry matter content (% DMC) and delaying the development of yellow flesh colour.
Reduced and more targeted use of NAA gels is a better approach to maximise both fruit quality and orchard profitability.

VII International Symposium on Kiwifruit

M.B. Currie, K.J. Patterson, T. Dawson, P. Ramankutty, P. Blattmann

fruit dry matter, fruit flesh colour, ‘Hort16A’, productivity, vegetative vigour, vine management

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.913.43