Resumen

TORRES ZAMBRANO, Juan Pablo et al. Fruit Yield and Number of Scaffold Branches in Peach Trees Intercropped with Milpa. Terra Latinoam [online]. 2008, vol.26, n.3, pp.265-273. ISSN 2395-8030.

The system milpa intercropped with fruit trees (MIFT) has been proposed as an alternate sustainable technology for small farmers. Training and pruning is a key factor to maximize tree economic production efficiency. In a block of MIFT with 'Diamante' and 'Oro Mexico' peach on 'Tetela del Volcán' peach rootstock near Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico, an experiment was conducted to study the response of fruit quantity and quality to number of scaffold branches (SB). Trees were planted on a light sandy soil, under rainfed conditions and trained to a modified Tatura trellis system. Eight replications of two and four SB per tree were imposed beginning in the winter of 2002. Fruit quantity was a function of the interaction number of SB x year. In 2003, trees with four SB produced 24.7% more fruit than trees with two SB, but in 2004 a reverse response was observed: trees with four SB had 26.4% less fruit than trees with two SB. Yield, fruit weight, and land equivalent ratio (LER) data were collected. In 2004, 'Diamante' peach had 8% more weight than 'Oro Mexico' peach. In 2004, trees with two and four SB had a LER of 0.43 and 1.10, respectively, 10 and 77% more efficient in land use than peach in monoculture whose LER was 0.33. Hence, it can be established that cultivating peach trees in an MIFT system is more efficient than in monoculture.

Palabras llave : training and pruning; land equivalent ratio.