Canopy Architecture Management in Fruit Crops

Canopy architecture management is an important component of modern fruit production, influencing light interception, photosynthetic efficiency, vegetative growth, flowering, fruit set, fruit quality and orchard productivity. The canopy architecture management includes spatial arrangement of trunk, scaffold branches, shoots and leaves which determines the effective distribution of solar radiation inside plant canopy. The poorly or unmanaged canopies lead to reduction in overall production of crops. This happens due to insufficient penetration of light inside crop canopy, hence, causing hindrance in sprays and increased risk of disease, insects and pests. Appropriate training, pruning, branch bending, crop-load regulation, rootstock selection and high-density planting can help maintain a balanced canopy. The selection of canopy manipulation strategy depends on growth habit of trees, fruiting behavior, cultivar, rootstock and agroclimatic conditions.