Evaluación de compensadores químicos de horas frío en el cultivo de manzano (Malus domestica Borkh) cv. Anna en Guachapala - Azuay

Abstract

As Ecuador is a tropical country, the temperature is the main climatic factor limiting the fruiting process in apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh) cv. Anna. The lack of accumulation of chilling hours causes deficient sprouting in apple trees. In this context, it is necessary to search for alternatives capable of compensating for the required cold in apple trees in order to break dormancy and generate a uniform bud break and fruit set. The main objective was to evaluate chemical compensators of chilling hours in apple (Malus domestica Borkh) cv. Anna. The research was carried out at the experimental farm El Romeral of the University of Cuenca. A completely randomized block design with 16 treatments and 3 replications was used. The variables evaluated were the percentage of buds sprouted 30 and 60 days after application of the treatments and the percentage of fruit set 90 days after application of the treatments. For the percentage of buds sprouted at 30 days, the trees treated with 6% mineral oil (T9) showed the best results (67.79%) compared to the control treatment T16, which showed the lowest percentage (13.46%). Similarly, 60 days after the application of the treatments, the T9 treatment (6 % mineral oil) obtained the highest percentage of sprouted buds (75.55 %) compared to the control treatment T16 (17.02 %). Regarding the fruit set, the results did not show statistically significant differences, however, the trees treated with salicylic acid 400 mg/L (T1) showed the highest percentage of fruit set (29.44 %). The research indicated that the use of chemical chilling hour compensators improves bud break and fruit set in apple (Malus domestica Borkh) cv. Anna.