Abstract
Pneumatic leaf removal on apple trees has become a standard practice in commercial orchards on bicolored apple cultivars. To get a better understanding of the physiological impact of this new technol-ogy on apple trees, two trials on cv. ‘Nicoter’ and ‘Rosy Glow’ were conducted in commercial orchards located in South Tyrol (Italy) in autumn 2020 and 2021. The aim was to examine the influence of sum-mer pruning, pneumatic preharvest-defoliation and their combination on light penetration and fruit quality inside the tree canopy. For this purpose, four treatments, namely untreated control (UTC), sum-mer pruning (SP), pneumatic defoliation (PD), and SP in combination with PD (SP+PD), were compared. The results showed that summer pruning causes a reduction of up to 25.6% and pneumatic defoliation up to 59.2% of the leaf area on cv. ‘Rosy Glow’ and 22.6% and 48.9%, respectively, on cv. ‘Nicoter’ com-pared with the untreated control. The light conditions insight the canopy significantly improved apply-ing summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation. Photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) measurements in 2021 showed that the effects on light penetration inside the canopy is especially high at 100–150 cm tree height, and a significant interaction of summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation could be found for ‘Rosy Glow’, with a maximum increase of 601%, compared to untreated control. On the contrary in both years, summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation significantly reduced fruit weight on cv. ‘Nico-ter’, whereas on cv. ‘Rosy Glow’ only pneumatic defoliation in 2021 decreased fruit weight. Total soluble solids content of apples in both years was affected negatively on ‘Nicoter’ by pneumatic defoliation treatment. Color index and anthocyanin content were increased significantly on fruits harvested in the inner part of the tree canopy on both varieties by summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation treat-ments. This study provides a first evidence of the physiological impact of pneumatic defoliation on ap-ple trees, obtained under real conditions. It underlines the importance of a correct use of both summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation to minimize their adverse effects.
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Claims 14
Claim · model-written summary
summer pruning reduced leaf area on ‘Rosy Glow’ by up to 25.6% compared with untreated control.
- Taxon
- apple cultivars
Malus domesticat0 - Material
- ‘Rosy Glow’e0
- Treatment
- summer pruninge0
- Outcome
- leaf areae0
- Direction
- reductione0
- Value
- 25.6%e0
- Comparator
- untreated controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“summer pruning causes a reduction of up to 25.6% and pneumatic defoliation up to 59.2% of the leaf area on cv. ‘Rosy Glow’ and 22.6% and 48.9%, respectively, on cv. ‘Nicoter’ com-pared with the untreated control”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
pneumatic defoliation reduced leaf area on ‘Rosy Glow’ by up to 59.2% compared with untreated control.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Material
- ‘Rosy Glow’e0
- Treatment
- pneumatic defoliatione0
- Outcome
- leaf areae0
- Direction
- reductione0
- Value
- 59.2%e0
- Comparator
- untreated controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“summer pruning causes a reduction of up to 25.6% and pneumatic defoliation up to 59.2% of the leaf area on cv. ‘Rosy Glow’ and 22.6% and 48.9%, respectively, on cv. ‘Nicoter’ com-pared with the untreated control”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
summer pruning reduced leaf area on ‘Nicoter’ by up to 22.6% compared with untreated control.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Material
- ‘Nicoter’e0
- Treatment
- summer pruninge0
- Outcome
- leaf areae0
- Direction
- reductione0
- Value
- 22.6%e0
- Comparator
- untreated controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“summer pruning causes a reduction of up to 25.6% and pneumatic defoliation up to 59.2% of the leaf area on cv. ‘Rosy Glow’ and 22.6% and 48.9%, respectively, on cv. ‘Nicoter’ com-pared with the untreated control”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
pneumatic defoliation reduced leaf area on ‘Nicoter’ by up to 48.9% compared with untreated control.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Material
- ‘Nicoter’e0
- Treatment
- pneumatic defoliatione0
- Outcome
- leaf areae0
- Direction
- reductione0
- Value
- 48.9%e0
- Comparator
- untreated controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“summer pruning causes a reduction of up to 25.6% and pneumatic defoliation up to 59.2% of the leaf area on cv. ‘Rosy Glow’ and 22.6% and 48.9%, respectively, on cv. ‘Nicoter’ com-pared with the untreated control”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
summer pruning improved light conditions within the canopy.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- summer pruninge0
- Outcome
- light conditions insight the canopye0
- Direction
- improvede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The light conditions insight the canopy significantly improved apply-ing summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation.”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
pneumatic defoliation improved light conditions within the canopy.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Treatment
- pneumatic defoliatione0
- Outcome
- light conditions insight the canopye0
- Direction
- improvede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The light conditions insight the canopy significantly improved apply-ing summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation.”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
The combined treatments increased canopy light penetration in Rosy Glow by a maximum of 601% versus untreated control.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Material
- ‘Rosy Glow’e0
- Treatment
- summer pruning and pneumatic defoliatione0
- Outcome
- light penetratione0
- Direction
- increasee0
- Value
- 601%e0
- Comparator
- untreated controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) measurements in 2021 showed that the effects on light penetration inside the canopy is especially high at 100–150 cm tree height, and a significant interaction of summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation could be found for ‘Rosy Glow’, with a maximum increase of 601%, compared to untreated control”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
summer pruning reduced fruit weight on Nicoter.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Material
- ‘Nico-ter’e0
- Treatment
- summer pruninge0
- Outcome
- fruit weighte0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation significantly reduced fruit weight on cv. ‘Nico-ter’”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
pneumatic defoliation reduced fruit weight on Nicoter.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Material
- ‘Nico-ter’e0
- Treatment
- pneumatic defoliatione0
- Outcome
- fruit weighte0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation significantly reduced fruit weight on cv. ‘Nico-ter’”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
Pneumatic defoliation decreased fruit weight on Rosy Glow in 2021.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Material
- ‘Rosy Glow’e0
- Treatment
- pneumatic defoliatione0
- Outcome
- fruit weighte0
- Direction
- decreasede0
- Qualifier
- in 2021e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“on cv. ‘Rosy Glow’ only pneumatic defoliation in 2021 decreased fruit weight”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
Pneumatic defoliation negatively affected total soluble solids content of Nicoter apples in both years.
- Taxon
- applesMalus domesticae0
- Material
- ‘Nicoter’e0
- Treatment
- pneumatic defoliation treatmente0
- Outcome
- Total soluble solids contente0
- Direction
- negativelye0
- Qualifier
- in both yearse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Total soluble solids content of apples in both years was affected negatively on ‘Nicoter’ by pneumatic defoliation treatment.”
Claim · model-written summary
summer pruning significantly increased color index and anthocyanin content in inner-canopy fruit of both varieties.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Organ / stage
- fruitse0
- Treatment
- summer pruninge0
- Outcome
- Color index and anthocyanin contente0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- inner part of the tree canopye0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Color index and anthocyanin content were increased significantly on fruits harvested in the inner part of the tree canopy on both varieties by summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation treat-ments.”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
pneumatic defoliation significantly increased color index and anthocyanin content in inner-canopy fruit of both varieties.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Organ / stage
- fruitse0
- Treatment
- pneumatic defoliatione0
- Outcome
- Color index and anthocyanin contente0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- inner part of the tree canopye0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Color index and anthocyanin content were increased significantly on fruits harvested in the inner part of the tree canopy on both varieties by summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation treat-ments.”
t0“apple cultivars”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend careful use of summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation to minimize adverse effects.
- Taxon
- apple cultivarsMalus domesticat0
- Outcome
- a correct use of both summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation to minimize their adverse effectse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“It underlines the importance of a correct use of both summer pruning and pneumatic defoliation to minimize their adverse effects.”
t0“apple cultivars”
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See all 147 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.