Deepshikha
Feather is a branch that is produced in the same year as the leader. Feathers are sometimes produced in strong growing first year budded trees (although usually not enough feathers), or by a Knip-boom tree technique (where the one-year nursery tree is cut at the 60 cm (24″) height and re-grown a 2nd year, producing feathers on a strong-growing leader. For a high quality tree, the presence of a good number of feathers is desirable because they form flower buds in the second year of nursery production and enable the tree to bear fruit in the first year. Also feathered trees enable an earlier formation of a canopy structure.
Feathering: It is a technique for developing lateral branches in nursery plants by making use of either practice or plant growth regulators or both. Feathers are sometimes first year budded trees. Many temperate fruit crop growers are looking hard at making the investment in new orchards. With the large investment of money and management required to be successful, it is important to plan well and consider all details. Any mistake made at the beginning about: Site selection, Choice of rootstock or cultivars, Pollination, Soil preparation, Training system etc. have long term detrimental effects on the orchards performance and profitability.
Important factors in feathering are:
* Apical dominance
* Nutrient availability
* Ecological conditions.
Apical dominance: Apical dominance is a term referring to the control that the terminal bud exerts over the development of lateral buds. This dominance establishes certain branching patterns characteristic of each woody plant species. There are several hypotheses which try to explain the mechanism of apical dominance. The hormonal hypothesis, the photosynthetic hypothesis, the hypothesis of water and mineral nutrient transport. The hormonal hypothesis stresses the growth importance of auxins in the apical growth dominance and importance of cytokinins in overcoming apical dominance. With apples, Benzyl adenine (BA) and the combination of BA and Gibberellins play an important role in overcoming apical dominance and in the production of well-feathered apple nursery trees.
Nutrient availability: If adequate nutrients are provided to plants at early stage then plants grow healthy and they produced more feathers at early stage, they give high yield and early economic returns.
Ecological conditions: This factor also helped in producing enhanced feathering. If ecological conditions are best then they produced more feathers at early stage. Sometimes due to ecological conditions, feathers are less produced and then that year yield becomes less. So that we also manage ecological conditions for feathering.
Why we need feathering?
Now-a-days intensive orchards/HDP are in a wave and feathered trees are preferred because non-feathers are non-precocious bearing i.e. bearing starts in 3-4 years after planting and maximum production occurs after 5years (late economic returns). But feathered plants show precocious bearing and start to give yield from second year of planting resulting in early economic returns. It is more profitable at early stage. Feathered plants are acknowledged as a building block/key factor for an early crop in the orchard .Well-feathered nursery plants greatly contribute to plant architectural engineering and shorten the investment period.Future pruning is consequently simple and management costs are reduced.
Type of branches using in feathering
* Vertical branches: These branches are inhibiting flower bud formation. These branches are lean and weak.
* Horizontal branches: These branches stimulate flower bud formation and are thick and strong.
In feathering, we prefer horizontal branches because they accumulate more carbohydrates and they produce more spur, it gives early yield and early economic returns.
Advantages:
* Feathering is governed by apical dominance.
* Feathering leads to early flower bud formation.
* Plant architecture is easy
* Early economic returns
* Thick & strong crotch angles.
Disadvantages:
* More costly
* Due to dense feathering, fruit quality is reduced because interception of light does not occur at lower branches.
* Nursery trees for the new orchard
Starting an orchard with high quality nursery trees is the first key to a successful planting. High qualities trees will quickly establish to the desired height and fill their space. The right trees will be ready to produce fruit in the 2nd year and will reach full production a few years later. Planting the right trees means early cropping which is the profitability of new orchard. Trees of lesser quality can eventually fill their space and produce good yields but the early returns are lost, so profitability over the life of planting will be less.
Conclusion:
The use of strong, well-branched nursery trees is a prerequisite of early and high yields because they are precoious bearing i.e. bearing starts in 3-4th year.High quality nursery trees is the first key to a successful planting. High quality trees will quickly establish grow to the desire height and fill their space. The right trees will be ready to produce fruit in the second year and will reach full production a few years later. Planting the right trees means early cropping which is the profitability of new orchard. The quality of nursery tree can be enhanced by mechanical method or PGRs.The mechanical methods like heading, top twisting or removal of apical leaves are not so effective as plant growth regulators: PGRs are most effective when applied at the appropriate times to regulate plant growth or development. PGRs used in fruit crops are those that enhance branching, including Benzyl adenine, Gibberellins and benzyl adenine + Gibberellins. These PGRs are frequently called chemical pinchers because they generally inhibit the growth of the terminal shoots or enhance the growth of the lateral buds, thereby increasing the development of lateral buds, thereby increasing the development of lateral branches. Plant growth regulators can be used to enhance flowering. The use of PGR like BA and GA alone or in combination is an effective measure for promoting lateral branching to meet the growing demand of feathered plants.
(The author is Ph.D Scholar, Division of Fruit Science Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu)
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