ISHS Acta Horticulturae 785: International Symposium on Grape Production and Processing
EVALUATION OF CANOPY EFFICIENCY USING LEAF AREA INDEX IN THOMPSON SEEDLESS VINES |
| Authors: | S.D. Shikhamany, R.G. Somkuwar, R. Venugopalan |
| Abstract:
An ideal training system is the one, which allows light incidence above the compensation point on the entire leaf area of the vine. Horizontal canopy with dense foliage has more parasite leaves than the diagonal or vertical canopies with the same foliage density. Leaf area Index (LAI) defines as leaf area per unit area of land is the best index of foliage density. Any canopy that has yield response to highest level of LAI among a set of canopies is the ideal one and the training system supporting that canopy is the ideal system. With this criterion, Thompson seedless vines grafted on Dogridge rootstock were trained to six training systems with varying number and orientation of cordons, to bring about variation in LAI at NRC for grapes, Pune. Observations were recorded on 4- and 5-year-old vines. Correlations were worked out between LAI as the independent variable and brix yield as the dependant variable. Efficiency of canopy was ranked based on the magnitude of the optimum LAI and the corresponding yield. Canopy of vines trained to four horizontal cordons was the most efficient with an optimum LAI of 2.71 corresponding to 2.58 kg of brix yield/vine (6 cm2), followed by the ones trained to two diagonal and eight horizontal cordons. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
