Effect of flowers and fruit thinning on maturity, yield and quality in peach (Prunus persica Batsch)

Three chemicals, urea (6 and 8%), paclobutrazol (0.05 and 0.10%), dormex (0.25 and 0.50%) alongwith hand-thinning of flowers at full bloom and of fruits at the pit-hardening stage were tried. All the treatments were applied to the whole tree. Dormex significantly reduced fruit set 2 weeks after application. Fruit maturity was advanced by 5 days by hand-thinning of fruits when done at pit-hardening stage compared to the control. Although highest fruit weight was recorded from the trees treated with dormex 0.5% yet total yield was minimum under this treatment. However, the best quality fruits were obtained from hand-thinning of fruits done at the pit-hardening stage and spaced 10–15 cm apart. Total soluble solids and total sugars were found to be highest, whereas acidity was lowest under this treatment.