Effect of the degree of pruning on the productivity of highbush blueberry

Abstract

The impact of the degree of pruning of highbush blueberry plants on productivity was assessed on the basis of the removal of 25 and 50 % of branches from the crown of 20-year-old plants of 4 varieties with different ripening periods. It was established that the more intensive the pruning was, the greater was the number of new shoots. Removing half of the shoots led to the yield reduction in the first year of fruiting by 5–24 % in relation to uncut plants depending on the variety, and the increase in the average berry weight by 18–36 %. In the second and third years of the research, the yield of pruned plants was greater than that of plants without pruning by 38–77 and 2–89 %, respectively. The total yield of plants after pruning over the 3-year research period was 3–36 % higher than that of control plants, and the average fruit weight was 11–28 % higher.