VEGETATIVE GROWTH AND YIELD OF FIG (Ficus carica L.) WITH DIFFERENT PLANT ARCHITECTURE

Abstract

The fig (Ficus carica L.) is a crop of high commercial and nutritional value that has motivated research into agronomic practices to improve its production and quality. Pruning is an essential practice to reduce tree size and promote intensive production in protected systems. In this study, the effect of the number of productive branches and pruning at different numbers of nodes on the growth and yield of fig cv. Nezahualcóyotl was evaluated. The experiment was conducted in a tunnel greenhouse at the Postgraduate College (19° 27’ 34’’ N and 98° 54’ 12’’ W, at an altitude of 2247 m). Plants were established from the first year in 20 L pots with a substrate of tepetate, pine needles, and forest soil (1:1:1 v/v). A generalized randomized complete block design was used with three blocks (4, 6, and 8 branches per plant) and four pruning treatments (4, 6, and 8 nodes and no pruning), with five replicates per treatment. Vegetative growth and yield variables were evaluated, and means were compared using Tukey’s test (p ≤ 0.05) in RStudio. Pruning every eight nodes with four branches per plant resulted in the greatest branch length (75.9 cm) and internode length (2.6 cm). Pruning every four nodes with the same number of branches promoted a greater number of lateral shoots (23 shoots), while pruning every four nodes and the treatment without pruning increased the total number of nodes per branch (34 nodes). The combination of six branches pruned every eight nodes resulted in the highest number of fruits per plant (83 fruits). No significant differences were observed in average fruit weight or total yield per plant.