TRAINING AND PRUNING
Training and pruning are important operations. Both the operations form an indispensable process having direct bearing on growth and vigour of plants and yield and quality of fruits.
A properly trained and pruned plant sustain heavy crop load and produce bounteous harvest of quality.
Training refers to the judicious removal of plant part / parts to develop proper shape of a plant capable of
bearing a heavy crop load whereas pruning is defined as the judicious removal of plant parts like root, leaf,
flower, fruit etc.to obtain a good and qualitative yield. Thus, it can be conceived that the training is related
to shape and size of plants where as pruning is related with harvesting better yield and more so harvesting
fruits of quality. Both the operations of training and pruning work together in maintaining shape and size of tree and harvesting desirable yield.
Training is a treatment given to the young plants to get a suitable or desirable shape with strong framework. It may or may not involve pruning.
Pruning is the removal of unwanted, surplus annual growth; dead, dried and diseased wood of the plants is called Pruning.
TRAINING:
Before actually discussing the subject of training, it is necessary to understand the various terms used to make the subject more intelligible.
Trunk
The main stem of the plant.
Head:
The point on the trunk from which first branches arise. Scaffold branches: The main branches arising from the head are known as scaffold branches. Trees in which scaffold branches arise within 60-70cm height from the ground level are called low head trees and those in which they come out from the trunk above 120cm are called high head trees.
Crotch:
The angle made by the scaffold limb to the trunk or the secondary branch to the scaffold limb is called crotch.
Leader
The main stem growing from ground level up to the tip dominating all other branches is called leader.
Water shoot: A vigorous growing unbranched shoot arising on any branch or leader is called water shoot. Water sucker: The growth appearing on rootstock portion is called water sucker.
PRUNING
Pruning may be defined as the removal of any excess or undesirable branches, shoots, roots, or any other parts of a plant, so as to allow the remaining parts to grow normally or according to the desire of the pruner. Pruning is the removal of unwanted, surplus annual growth, dead, diseased, dried and broken branches of the plants. Pruning is an art of removing scientifically certain portions of a plant with a view to producing more and superior quality of fruit. Pruning of any kind according to its severity, changes the nutritive conditions within the tree and consequently, limits or encourages fruit bud formation.
Responses of plants to pruning:
The response of plants to pruning should be well understood for successfully achieving the object of pruning. The following are the some of the important ways in which the plants show response to pruning. 1. Activation of buds: When a branch is cut or pruned, the buds on the branch below the cut are invigorated (activated). The bud close to the cut is most vigorous and this vigour decreases in the buds as the distance increases from the cut. This is due to the elimination of the apical dominance of the terminal bud from which the auxin flows down and inhibits the growth of the lateral buds.
This response is made use of to determine the direction of the existing branches and correcting a crotch. If the crotch is a narrow (The angle between the branch and the stem on which it arises –Crotch), the branch is pruned to an outer bud, so that the bud will produce a branch towards the outer side usually at right angles to the branch or nearly so. As it grows larger, it pulls away from the stem and eventually widens the crotch.
Similarly, a wide crotch can be narrowed down by pruning the branch to an inner bud.
2. Dwarfing response:
The immediate effect of pruning is no doubt invigoration of new branches owing to the diversion of food, but due to removal of much foliage, there is an overall reduction in the manufacture of food resulting a shock on root growth. This in turn limits the further growth of the new shoots. When the growth of the new shoot is reduced, their length is also reduced. Therefore, the net effect of pruning a tree is dwarfing, which is in proportion to the severity of pruning. Both the spread of the top as well as the spread of the root system are reduced. This also results in dwarfing of the plant.
3. Production of water shoots: Severe pruning often activates resting or adventitious buds and buds on old wood may sometime be stimulated to grow. They often produce branches, which grow vertically and very vigorously with long internodes; angular stems large succulent leaves and thorns (as in citrus). They are called water shoots or water suckers or bull canes. These highly vegetative water shoots are seldom fruitful till they are several seasons old. They are wasteful and unwanted because they draw much food and grow at the expense of the fruiting wood and are better removed as soon as they appear. However, they may be profitably used in some instances to fill in the gaps occurring in trees by lopsided development or loss of branches due to other causes. Eg. Citrus, Guava, Ber, Sapota, Cashew etc.
4. Delay in bearing: When pruning is severe particularly in early years of the fruit plant, bearing is delayed. Sometimes severe pruning may also lead to poor yields, because a major portion of the foliage and fruiting wood are lost.
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