Influence of pruning intensity on flowering, fruit yields and floral malformation in three mango cultivars planted under high density

An experiment was conducted during 2005–07 on influence of pruning intensity on flowering, fruit yield and floral malformation in three mango cultivars (‘Amrapali’, ‘Mallika’ and ‘Dashehari’) planted under high density. The pruning intensity at moderate level took least days to 50% flowering, had highest number of panicles per branch (5.13, 5.66), longest blooming period (22.00, 22.66 days) and lowest sex ratio (7.41, 6.85) while no-pruning (control) had delayed flowering with lowest number of panicles per branch, shortest bloom period but then highest sex ratio. Moderate pruning drastically reduced the floral malformed panicles (9.40, 11.21) than the control (51.23, 41.39). The control (un-pruned) trees in all cultivars showed the higher malformation incidence, while lower was registered after pruning. Fruit drop and yield were also significantly affected by pruning intensity. The fruit drop reduced significantly with severe pruning (77.19, 78.43%), which was lower than the control (86.53, 87.76%). Moderately pruned trees had the highest fruit yield (6.55, 8.59 kg tree⁻¹) than un-pruned ones (5.10, 6.45 kg tree⁻¹) and they also had maximum number of fruits per panicle. Conclusively, the light pruning for ‘Amrapali’, moderate for ‘Mallika’ and severe pruning for ‘Dashehari’ can be recommended for restoring the production and productivity in high density orchards.