Abstract:

To study the effects of pinching methods for apical lateral shoot on the fruit quality of grapes, seven-year-old mature ‘Summer Black’ grape were used as experimental materials to explore the effects of main shoot and lateral shoot pruning on fruit quality. The experimental design was that after the main shoot exceeded the third wire, 2-3 leaves were left for topping, and 2 lateral shoots were retained. The lateral shoot above the fruit cluster was topped with 5 leaves left, and the apical lateral shoots were topped with 2, 4, 6, and 8 leaves left respectively. In addition, a non-topping (CK) was used as control, with a total of 5 treatments. The results showed that compared with the control group, the treatments of topping with different numbers of leaves left on the apical lateral shoots significantly increased the fruit cluster weight, soluble solids, soluble reducing sugars, and total anthocyanin content in the peel. Among them, the treatments of topping with 4 or 8 leaves left were better in terms of fruit sensory scores and phenolic substance content, and topping with 4 leaves left was more conducive to sugar accumulation. For the Changji region in Xinjiang, the recommended pruning strategy for ‘Summer Black’ grape is as follows: retain 2 lateral shoots on the main shoot, leave 2-3 leaves for topping after the main shoot exceeds the third wire, leave 5 leaves for topping on the lateral shoot above the fruit cluster, leave 4 leaves for topping on the apical lateral shoot, remove the rest of the lateral shoots, and let the secondary lateral shoots grow freely.

Key words: ‘Summer Black’ grape, main shoot, apical lateral shoot, pinching method, appearance quality, internal quality