TEN YEARS OF RESEARCH ON COMPLEMENTARY POLLINATION OF KIWIFRUIT

Several equipment for complementary pollination have been recently developed in order to speed up the operation and allow to operate on large orchards.
Trials were carried out since 2001 to assess the efficacy of different pollination methods different equipment as related to different bloom stages and to different pollen amounts, as well as wet and dry pollen application methods.
Fruit quality was improved in most treatments and the best results, comparable to hand pollination were obtained with the Biotac blower and with the sprayer tractor-mounted equipment at full bloom stage.
The large difference in yield obtained with the last equipment at full bloom stage or two days later proved that time of application is crucial for complementary pollination.
Time of pollen application was more effective than the amount of pollen distributed.
The positive results obtained with both Biotac blower applied at time T and sprayer tractor-mounted two days earlier suggested that the most suitable application time might be different for dry and wet pollination.
The main results obtained since 2001 are reported here.

VII International Symposium on Kiwifruit

L. Asteggiano, L. Giordani, A. Bevilacqua, G. Vittone, G. Costa

pollen, sprayer, blower, viability, flower phenology, fruit size, fruit weight

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.913.84