Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore
Two pruning experiments were conducted on cultivar Anab-e-Shahi with the object of understanding the bearing habits and effect of cropping on the vines. In one case, the total number of buds on the vine were kept constant but the cane number and their length was changed. In other, the length of cane was constant, but the total number of buds on the vine varied.
In the first experiment, the last two buds of the cane only showed normal bud burst, while the buds towards the base did not show normal bud burst. The trend of per cent fruitful shoots was also the same as that of bud burst. The phenomenon of apical dominance was observed when canes were pruned to 7 buds as the fruitful region was inhibited to some extent. Maximum productive shoots and panicles were observed in vines pruned to 5 bud canes. No effect was observed on bunch weight, berry weight or quality of the berries.
In the second experiment, leaving more number of buds on the vine led to decrease in bud burst. Effect on productive shoots was not significant. Maximum number of panicles were observed on those vines which were having maximum number of buds. However, effect of cropping on bunch weight was not significant and berry weight and quality of the berries were not effected.
