Influence of Chemical Thinning on Plum Fruit Weight and Diameter

Fruit quality is a very important objective because the consumers have increasing demands for high quality plums, where as it depends of the morphological and organoleptic characteristics of the fruit (shape, size, background color and coverage, color and consistency of the pulp, juiciness, taste, flavor, etc.), as well as technological, biochemical and nutrition value of them. Fruit size is expressed most often by weight or fruit diameter. The study took place in two fruit-growing ecosystems Călacea-Sălaj County and Cluj-Napoca County (at Agroindustriala fruiting tree farm) respectively, and were analyzed 7 varieties of plum in total. Determinations regarding the influence of thinning have been made for these varieties on fruit weight (g) and fruit diameter (mm). Following the chemical treatments for thinning, the highest percentage of fruit with a diameter bigger than 35 mm, in fruit-growing ecosystem Călacea-Sălaj County, was obtained for Stanley cultivar, after the treatment with Cosavet, while in Cluj-Napoca fruit-growing ecosystem, the highest percentage of fruit with a diameter bigger than 35 mm was obtained also for Stanley cultivar, but after the treatment with Ethrel. The highest fruit weight in fruit-growing ecosystem Călacea-Sălaj County was recorded for Stanley variety, after the treatment with Cosavet products (60.2 g), Sulfomat (49.6 g) and Ethrel (48.28 g); in fruit-growing ecosystem Cluj-Napoca, the highest fruit weight was recorded for Nectarină Roșie variety, after the treatment with Cosavet products (57.8 g) and Sulphur (57.8 g).