EFFECT OF BUD LOAD AND CANE LENGTH ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF "EARLY SWEET" GRAPES

Abstract

This study was carried out during 2012 and 2013 seasons to study of effect of bud load and cane length on morphological characteristics; yield and fruit quality of "Early sweet" grapevines grown in a private orchard on Cairo Alexandria road, Giza Governorate. The main goal of this experiment was to study the effect of pruning severity four bud loads (48, 56, 64 and 72 buds/vine) were adopted and four cane length (3, 4, 5 and 6 eyes/cane) on fruiting and quality of "Early sweet" grapevine. Vines were pruned at the end of winter during dormant season (the last week of December for the two seasons). Number of renewal spurs (1-2 nodes) were retained per vine according to bud load under study. Treatments arranged in a factorial randomized complete block design with four replicates and one vine per each replicate. Readings on vegetative and floral growth plus yield properties and fruit visual and chemical quality parameters were recorded. The obtained data were statistically analyzed. At the end of each season the best treatments regarding yield and quality (namely, bud load of 48 bud/vine with 6 bud/cane, bud load of 56 bud/vine with 5 bud/cane, bud load of 64 bud/vine with 4 bud/cane, and bud load of 72 bud/vine with 3 bud/cane) were used in a separate study to evaluate the effect of pruning treatments on the storability of grapes.