Effect of Pruning Time on Flower Regulation of Guava (Psidium Guajava)

Guava ( Psidium guajava L.) 'Kristal' is one of the fruits that have high economic value in Indonesia. The increase of growth, production, and quality of 'Crystal' guava can be done by pruning. This study aims to determine the effect of various times of pruning for controlling the flowering of 'Crystal' guava plants. The experiment was conducted from March to October 2017, at the Cikabayan Experimental Garden in Bogor. The design used was a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with a single factor, namely the pruning time consisting of 4 levels, namely without pruning, pruning in April, pruning in May and pruning in June. The results showed that pruning treatment was able to accelerate the appearance of flowers and increase the number of generative shoots, the number of flowers per tree, the amount of fruit harvested. Increased flowering response due to pruning is supported by the rate of stomatal conduction, the number of stomata is higher than without pruning. The pruning treatment can accelerate the time the flower appears 10 days faster than without trimming. Fruit quality such as total dissolved solids, fruit acidity, and fruit diameter was not affected by pruning treatment.