Quality peach produced in fertilizer doses of nitrogen and green pruning

ABSTRACT The increasing consumer demand for fruit quality justifies the development of researches that combine orchards management and consumers’ perception of the quality of the product. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nitrogen fertilization combined with green pruning intensity on fruit quality of ‘Chimarrita’ from high density peach trees during three consecutive harvest seasons. For this purpose, urea composed of different nitrogen rates (0, 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 and 240 kg.ha-1.year-1) was applied, under two intensities of green pruning (annual – once per season; or continuous – four times per season) in a factorial scheme (7 × 2). Fruits have been subjected to physical, chemical and sensorial analysis, made by 60 non-trained evaluators in each of the harvest seasons. The results showed that the cumulative effect of applying N in the third harvest season improved SS attributes, SS/TA ratio and fruit skin color to the dose of N of 148 kg.ha-1 .year-1. There is no difference between green pruning intensity and peach fruit quality.