Tropical & Subtropical Fruits

Training

• The training of the vine depends on two fundamental factors namely, the growth characteristics of a variety and the influence of the local climate on the growth of the variety. In addition, the training system selected should take cognizance of economic aspects also, such as the initial outlay on erection, subsequent maintenance and cost of production of the crop. Defective training may result in delayed bearing and irregular development of vines resulting in reduced yields. The reduction, in yield may also be due to the failure to utilize properly the full vigour of the vines.
• Training system adopted widely in India is the bower systems.
• Ever since the introduction of grapes in Tamil Nadu, the grape has been trained in overhead arbours or Pandals. This system predominates in this State. Other systems of training are practically unknown to the commercial grape growers of this region. In some areas (Madurai district) live stakes of Commiphora species (Kiluvai) available in the forest areas nearby are used for erecting pandals. The height of the bowers is however very low and the root effect of the stakes is an objection. Recently, growers are going in for stone and cement pillars or even G.I. tubes. The overhead canopy is made of either thin bamboos (2 to 2.5 cm) or G.I. wires of different thickness, (8 to16 in guage). The cross piece connecting the pillars are made of thick bamboos or trek-wood or palmyra rafters or iron tubing. The wires are spaced (30 x 45 cm) or 30 x 30 cm. apart forming a network.
• The rooted cutting planted in the field reaches a height of 180 cm. (6 feet) in about three months. When the main stem is pinched at the top that is about 15 cm below bower. Two to four side shoots are allowed to grow and are trained on either side of the trunk or on four sides to from the arms subsequently. These side shoots or main arms as they are called are allowed to reach the periphery of the pandal and they are then tipped. On these arms secondaries are produced and allowed to grow on the main arms at intervals of 45 cm from each other alternately in opposite directions. These branches are trained to cover the framework uniformly. These secondaries in turn give rise to 'tertiaries' on which canes develop and produce the shoots carrying, bunches. Some growers allow only one arm to develop in one direction with the secondaries spaced at convenient intervals. Many of the growers allow the arms to grow long and unchecked, twist them back so that the vine is full of wood of all kinds and it is difficult to train the vine properly.
The advantages of the Pandal system of training are as follows:

1. The climate prevailing in India affords full scope for the vine to grow as luxuriantly as possible. Consequently, it facilitates harvests of a succession of crops at intervals of 4 1/2-5 months.
2. The crop gets enough sun shine uniformly for their proper development.
3. Plant protection measures are more effective in this system, especially against mildew.
• To compare different systems of training, investigations were undertaken at the Agricultural College and Research Institute, Coimbatore and at Fruit Research Station, Periyakulam, with the varieties Anab-e-Shah and Pachadraksha. In the variety Anab-e-Shahi the pandal system produced maximum number of shoots per vine and per acre. The proportion of well-developed shoots to weak ones was higher in the pandal and the signal stake system than in the kniffin system. The vine vigour as shown by the weight of prunings per acre was the highest in the pandal system followed by the kniffin system. Pandal system produced more than three times as many fruiting canes per vine as other two systems: The percentage increase of fruiting canes over the single stake system, when calculated per acre, for the pandal and kniffin systems is 79 and 19 respectively as shown below.
Effect of different systems of training on fruiting canes
System of training	Vine density per acre	Mean No. of spurs calculated per acre		% increase over single stake system
		Fruiting	Renewal	Fruiting	Renewal
Pnadal	268	27,952	13,427	179	124
Kniffin	806	18,407	20,392	119	188
Single stake	537	15,519	10,847	100	100
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• From the point of view of fruit production, the pandal system was found to be superior both in vine yield and acre yield to the kniffin and single-stake systems and the single stake system was slightly more productive than kniffin system. The percentage increase of crop production over kniffin training is 263 for pandal and 40 for single-stake. It was also observed that the pandal system encouraged maximum development of berries, bunches and ultimately yield than the other systems.
• Fruit quality was not influenced by the system of training and the duration of the crop was also not changed by the system of training.
Efficacy of different system of training on productivity of grapes
System of training	Spacing (m)	No. of vines per acre	Yield per acre (kg)	%. increase over kniffin system
Pandal	6 x 3	268	6,531	363
Single Stake	3 x 3	537	2,550	140
4-arm Kniffin	3 x 2	806	1,313	100
A similar trial was conducted at the Fruit Research Station, Periyakulam on the different training methods with the variety Pachadraksha. It was observed that the vines trained in pandal system of training recorded the maximum yield (3164 bunches weighing 675.4 kg per plot), followed by double horizontal cordon system (2,432 bunches weighing 526.5 kg). The head system of training recorded the minimum yield. With regard to the quality of the fruits the bunches from the pandal system of training recorded the highest total solid content.
Yield (No. of bunches) in different sections of pandal in the variety Anab-e-Shahi
Section No.	Feet from center	I crop	II crop	Total	% of total yield
1.	0-8	31	19	50	7.58
2.	9-16	76	36	112	16.8
3.	17-24	115	77	192	28.8
4	25-32	167	146	313	46.9
Total		389	278	667	100
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• In the pandal system, the productivity of the vine varies with the different segments on the arbour. Under the system of continuous pruning adopted by the growers in Tamil Nadu with no provision for found at in or back pruning, the bearing area is carried closer to the periphery leaving the center of the vine barren. In an experiment conducted on this aspect it was found that the productivity was the highest (47 per cent) in the last eight feet of the pandal in the peripheral side, when the vine had a spread of 32; on either side of the trunk. The first eight feet from the trunk accounted for only 7 per cent of the crop.
• Bindra and Brar (1978) studied the yield and quality of Beauty Seedless as influenced by the various training systems. Six years studies revealed that the bower trained vines gave about three fold increased yield than those trained on head system. Kniffin and telephone systems were in between the two but kniffin trained vines out yielded the telephone trained vine. Bilateral cordons produced more yield as compared to unilateral cordons especially in telephone system. Experiments carried out at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, and Haryana Agricultural University, Haryana to evaluate the suitability of different training systems of various commercial cultivars revealed the superiority of bower system over other systems of training. Experiments carried out at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore with Muscat Hamburg on pandal (bower), telephone, kniffin and head systems of training revealed that pandal system was more economical with the highest cost benefit ratio of 1: 2.09 followed by 1:1.71 in telephone, 1:1.42 in kniffin and lowest being in head system with 1:0.05 (Anon. 1982).
• Tolmer and brar (1982) studied the efficacy of four training systems viz. bower, telephone, kniffin and head in four cultivars namely Perlette,
• Thompson Seedless, Beauty Seedless and Himrod. Among the training systems, bower gave higher yield which was .146, 1.70 and 3.05 tonnes more than telephone, kniffin and head systems respectively.
• Chadha (1984) remarked that research on training in other country has been given a major emphasis, whereas in India only conventional systems are evaluated and no innovations in this regard have been tried.
  
This aspect therefore needs priority attention and newer systems of training are required keeping in view the following points.

1. Adequate ventilation and light interception.
2. Orientation of the shoots either vertically or diagonally for greater exposure to light.
3. Economy and vine productivity.
4. High density planting.

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