J. Expt. Biosci.

5(1):55-60, January 2014 ISSN 2223-9626 (Online), ISSN 2077-3358 (Print)

EFFECT OF PRUNING TECHNIQUE ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF BRINJAL

T.B.R. Tinni1, M.A. Ali1, H. Mehraj1, S. Mutahera1 and A.F.M. Jamal Uddin1*
*Correspondence author, E-mail: jamal4@yahoo.com

Abstract
The experiment was conducted at the horticultural farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural
University, during the period from October 2010 to March 2011 to study the effect of
pruning on growth and yield of Bringal (BARI Begun-10). The experiment consisted of
different types of pruning (P0: No pruning, control; P1: 3 stem retention and P2: 4 stem
retention) of brinjal plants conducted in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD)
with three replications. P2 produced the maximum number of fruits per plant (39.7), weight
of individual fruit (82.1 g) and the highest yield (50.6 t/ha). It may therefore be concluded
that seedling with 4 stem retention was suitable for better growth and yield of BARI begun
10.

Key words: BARI begun-10, pruning, growth and yield

Introduction

Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) has the early European name eggplant locally known as Begun is
a self pollinated annual crop belongs to the family Solanaceae (Thompson, 1951). Brinjal is
extensively cultivated in Bangladesh and is grown in homestead and as a field crop in both winter and
rainy seasons though bulk of its production is obtained during winter season. Brinjal is the second
most important vegetable crop next to potato in Bangladesh in respect of acreage and production
(BBS, 2010).
Proper pruning practices may lead to the production of relatively large sized fruit with better quality,
increase yield, early harvest, easy harvesting of fruits and conveniences in intercultural operation
without damage to the fruits or plants. But in Bangladesh, majority of the growers do not get good
quality fruit and high yield because of their ignorance about proper pruning practices. In that case,
pruning is necessary because the branch bend down to the ground due to heavy load of fruits. Pruning
could reduce production costs, increase yields and improve the quality of fruits (Davis and Ester,
1993). Appropriate pruning method gives the best quality and early fruit in tomato (Lopez and Chan,
1974). Tomato plant can be severely pruned without affecting the yield (Patil et al., 1973). Here
tomato is a member of the same family as the brinjal belongs to. Pruning associated with proper age
of seedling is an important factor for successful brinjal production. Pruning at the every node two fruit
set was recommended for higher yield with good quality of eggplant (Shehata, 2012). Stem pruning is
a growing technique generally used for protected cultivation. The role of pruning in eggplant
cultivation and historical review of pruning practices were demonstrated by Pessarakli & Dris (2003).
Pruning had a positive effect on irradiation on PAR range in eggplant profile (Ambroszczyk and
Cebula, 2003).
The significant increase of the fruit total yield was obtained with the introduction of the greater height
of the second shoot and to optimize the proportions between vegetative and generative development
of eggplant Cebula (1996) and Cebula & Ambroszczyk (2000) recommended the technique of pruning
to one, two or three shoots together with the leaves and fruit sets cutting.

1
Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207.

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Tinni et al.

By the proper management of these cultural practices it may be possible to increase the yield of
brinjal. Considering the facts, the research work was carried out to find out suitable pruning operation
on the growth and yield of brinjal.

Materials and Methods

The experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University
during the period from October 2010 to March 2011 to study the effect of pruning on growth and
yield of brinjal. Seeds of BARI Begun-10 were collected from the local market. Before the seeds
sowing, germination test was done in laboratory and found to be over 90% germination. The
experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications.
7.0 m 0.7 m sized plots was prepared; 0.5 m plot to plot distance; 0.7 m plant to plant distance and
1.0 m distance between two adjacent replications (blocks) was also maintained. In each plot there was
one row having 10 plants. BARI recommended doses of Triple Super Phosphate and Murate of Potash
were applied during the final land preparation (BARI, 2005). Urea was applied in three equal
installments at 15, 30 and 45 days after transplanting (DAT). Well-rotten cowdung also applied @ 10
t ha-1 during final land preparation. Thirty days old healthy and uniform brinjal seedlings were
transplanted in the experimental plots in the afternoon. When plants were well established, staking
was given to each plant by bamboo sticks to keep them erect.
Within a few days of staking, as the plants grew up, the plants were pruned as per the treatments after
25 days of transplanting, P0: No pruning (control); P1: 3 stem retention and P2: 4 stem retention. The
plants P0 were left to grow without any interference. In case of three (3) stem retention, all the side
shoots were removed keeping only three branches while in case of four (4) stem retention, only four
branches were kept. Pruning was done with the help of secateurs. Malathion 57 EC was applied at the
rate of 2 ml l-1 fortnightly for a week after transplanting to a week before first harvesting to control
shoot and fruit borer. Precautionary measures against disease infection especially phomopsis fruit rot
of brinjal was taken by spraying Bavistin fortnightly at the rate of 2g l-1. Brinjal fruits were harvested
when they attained full maturity indicating deep violet in color and hard in consistency and harvesting
continued till to economic production.
Plant height, number of branches and leaves per plant, days to 1 st flowering, number of flowers per
plant, fruits per plant, fruit length and diameter, dry matter content in plant and fruit, weight of
individual fruit, yield per plot were recorded and yield per hectare was calculated. Recorded data for
different characters were statistically analyzed, the mean values were evaluated and analysis of
variance was performed by the F test. The significance of the difference among the treatment of
means was estimated by Duncans Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% level of probability (Gomez
and Gomez, 1984).

Results and Discussion

Plant height: Significant variation was fond in case of plant height of brinjal for different types of
pruning at different DAT. Tallest plant was found from P2 (84.4 cm) followed by P1 (82.7 cm) while
minimum from P0 (78.5 cm) at 70 DAT (Fig.1a). Baki (1987) found that pruning showed a significant
effect on plant height of tomato. Srinivasan et al. (1999) found that pruned plants were significantly
taller than non-pruned plants of Hybrid tomato ARTH-4. Ambroszczyk et al. (2007) also reported
similar results in eggplant.

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J. Expt. Biosci. 5(1):55-60, January 2014 ISSN 2223-9626 (Online), ISSN 2077-3358 (Print)

Number of leaves per plant: Number of leaves per plant of brinjal showed significant differences for
different types of pruning at different DAT. Maximum number of leaves/plant was recorded from P2
(42.1) followed by P1 (38.4) whereas minimum from P0 (35.2) at 70 DAT (Fig.1b). The result
indicated that P2 i.e., 4 stem retention pruned plant provided maximum number of leaves in Brinjal.

Number of branches per plant: Number of branches per plant of brinjal showed statistically
significant variation for different types of pruning at different DAT. Maximum number of
branches/plant was recorded from P2 (31.8) followed by P1 (28.5) whereas minimum from P0 (24.1) at
70 DAT (Fig. 1c). The most beneficial light conditions were observed in treatments pruned to one
shoot with two fruit sets per node of eggplant (Ambroszczyk and Cebula, 2003 and Ambroszczyk et
al., 2007).

Days to 1st visible flower bud: Significant variation was recorded due to the different types of
pruning for days from transplanting to 1st visible flower bud. The maximum 41.9 days was required
from transplanting to 1st visible flower bud by P0 while from P2 (39.9) which was statistically similar
with P1 (40.2) (Table 1). It is believed that removal of the axillary shoots normally enhances the
quality of fruits and lead to earlier fruiting (Tindal, 1983)

Number of flowers per plant: Number of flowers per plant showed significant variation due to the
different types of pruning. The maximum number of flowers per plant was observed from P 2 (53.9)
while minimum was recorded from P0 (47.2) (Table 1).

Number of fruits per plant: A statistically significant difference was recorded due to the different
types of pruning for number of fruits per plant. The maximum number of fruits per plant was recorded
from P2 (39.7) followed by P1 (36.7) while the minimum number of fruits per plant was recorded from
P0 (29.3) (Table 1). Ahmed et al. (1986) reported that fruit numbers of tomato had shown significant
differences amongst methods of pruning. P2 provided the maximum number of fruits this is probably
due to high potential of leaves to produce more assimilates. Arzani et al. (2000) reported that fruits, as
powerful sink for carbohydrates, growth till end of the growing season and increase of volume depend
on fruit number.

Length of fruit: Length of fruit varied significantly among the different types of pruning. The
maximum length of fruits was recorded from P2 (20.7 cm) which was statistically similar with P1
(19.6 cm) whereas the minimum length of fruits was recorded from P0 (17.8 cm) (Table 1). Hernandez
and Sanches (1992) found that fruit length of tomato was greatest in plants for pruning one stem and
the number of fruits was higher.

Diameter of fruit: Significant variation was recorded due to the different types of pruning for
diameter of fruit. The maximum diameter of fruits was recorded from P2 (3.8 cm) followed by P1 (3.5
cm) while lowest from P0 (2.8 cm) (Table 1).

Dry matter content in plant: From the present study, it was observed that dry matter content in plant
differed significantly among the different types of pruning. The highest dry matter content in plants
was found from P2 (13.6%) statistically similar with P1 (13.2%) while lowest from P0 (12.2%) (Table
1).

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Tinni et al.

90.0 50.0
P0 P0
P1 P1
P2 40.0
P2

Number of leaves/ Plant

70.0
Plant height (cm).

30.0
50.0
20.0

30.0
10.0

10.0 0.0
20 30 40 50 60 70 20 30 40 50 60 70
Days after Transplanting (DAT) Days after Transplanting (DAT)

35.0
P0
P1
30.0
P2
Number of brunches/ plant.

25.0

20.0

15.0

10.0

5.0

0.0
20 30 40 50 60 70
Days after Transplanting (DAT)

Fig. 1. Effect of different types of pruning on a) plant height, b) leaves numbers/plant and
c) number of branches/ plant of brinjal (P0: No pruning, control P1: 3 stem
retention; P2: 4 stem retention)

Table 1. Effect of ages of seedlings and types of pruning on yield contributing characters of
brinjal

Treatments Days to Number Length Diameter Fruits Dry Dry Weight of Yield Yield
1st visible of of fruit of fruits per matter matter Individual (kg (t ha-1)
flower flowers (cm) (cm) plant content in content in fruit (g) plot-1)
bud per plant plant (%) fruit (%)
P0 41.9 a 47.2 c 17.8 b 2.8 c 29.3 c 12.2 b 11.0 c 75.9 b 22.4 b 45.6 b
P1 40.2 b 51.0 b 19.6 a 3.5 b 36.8 b 13.2 a 12.0 b 79.5 a 23.8a 48.6 a
P2 39.9 b 53.9 a 20.7 a 3.8 a 39.7 a 13.6 a 12.7 a 82.1 a 24.8 a 50.6 a
LSD(0.05) 0.555 1.894 1.142 0.258 2.09 0.603 0.593 3.066 1.256 2.563
CV(%) 5.61 8.41 6.97 9.05 5.22 5.49 5.9 8.58 3.5 6.27
In a column means having similar letter(s) are statistically similar and those having dissimilar letter(s) differ
significantly as per 0.05 level of probability
P0: No pruning (control) P1: 3 stem retention P2: 4 stem retention

Dry matter content in fruit: From the present study, it was observed that dry matter content in fruit
differed significantly among the different types of pruning. The highest dry matter content in fruits
was found from P2 (12.7%) followed by P1 (12.0%) whereas lowest from P0 (11.0%) (Table 1).

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J. Expt. Biosci. 5(1):55-60, January 2014 ISSN 2223-9626 (Online), ISSN 2077-3358 (Print)

Increase of fruit quality on account of weak pruning can be due to more assimilate production by
leaves. In pruning lights penetrate into the canopy, low leaf area decreases photosynthesis rate. There-
fore in double branch or pyramidal pruning there is an appropriate proportion between leaves and
light penetration into the canopy. Obviously, less leaves and branches ease fruit harvesting. In severe
pruning treatments there is high ventilation around the plants and on the other hand more light pen-
etrates into the plant canopy so nutrient content on the fruit would be increased (Kanyomeka and
Shivute, 2005) that may increase the dry matter content of fruit.
Weight of individual fruit: Weight of individual fruit varied significantly among the pruning
treatments. The highest weight of individual fruit was observed from P2 (82.1 g) that was statistically
similar with P1 (79.5 g). On the other hand the lowest weight of individual fruit was found from P0
(75.9 g) (Table 1). The greatest affect of stem pruning would be to increase fruit load. Stem pruning is
used to increase fruit load to restore the source: sink balance in plants (De Koning, 1996). Stem
pruning achieves this through a higher relative increase in generative sink strength compared to the
relative increase in source strength from increased LAI; this not only increases overall partitioning to
fruits but also reduces available assimilates per fruit (Nederhoff and Houter, 2009). Maintaining a
high fruit load may result in maximum total yield.
Yield per plot: Types of pruning in brinjal showed significant statistical variation in terms of yield
per plot. The highest yield was found from P2 (24.8 kg plot-1) that was statistically similar with P1
(23.8 kg plot-1) and the lowest yield was recorded from P0 (22.4 kg plot-1) (Table 1).
Yield per hectare: Different types of pruning showed statistically significant variation in terms of
calculated yield per hectare. The highest yield was calculated from P2 (50.6 t ha-1) that was
statistically similar with P1 (48.6 t ha-1) whereas lowest from P0 (45.6 t ha-1) (Table 1).
Considering the results regarding yield and yield contributing characters as have been found to be
influenced by pruning techniques in this study, it may be concluded that the treatment with 4 stem
retention was suitable for brinjal cultivation.

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