Effect of Different Pruning Methods on Breba Crop Production of ‘Dauphine’ Fig

Abstract

The effect of different pruning methods on breba (the second) crop production of a San Pedro type ‘Dauphine’ fig was studied. The pruning methods compared were “heading”, in which the bearing shoots grown from autumn of the previous year to July of the current year were cut back shortly after harvest in July, and “thinning”, in which bearing shoots grown from spring of the previous year to July of the current year were cut off from the bifurcation point where the bearing shoots for next season were developing. Both pruning methods were conducted in summer immediately after harvesting breba fruit. Although there were more cases of fruit overwintering in the ‘heading’ method, the number of mature fruits did not differ between the two pruning methods because of the subsequent fruit drop to maturity. In addition, no differences in ripening date and fruit quality (skin colouring and sugar content in the pulp) were observed; however, ‘thinning’ was clearly superior in fruit weight. Thinning, rather than heading, was rated as a more advantageous summer pruning to produce this fig cultivar in terms of obtaining larger fruits.