The experiment was carried out at Aparecida do Rio Doce, located at the Southwestern part of Goias State, during the years of 2007 and 2008, aiming the characterization of the phenological stages and thermal requirements "Niagara Rosada" in different pruning times: (1) 7/9/07, (2) 9/28/07, (3) 3/3/08 and (4) 4/19/08. The number of days were evaluated for the following phenological phases: pruning times to bud swelling,_bud swelling to bud breaking, bud breaking to five to six leaves unfolded, five to six leaves unfolded to beginning of flowering, beginning of flowering to ending of flowering, ending of flowering to fruit set (pellet-like berries), fruit set to the pea-size berries, pea-size berries to beginning of bunch touch, beginning of bunch touch, beginning of bunch touch to veraison and veraison to berries ripe. Heat summation requirements were observed in degree-days (DG) necessary to start the following subperiods: pruning to budding, budding to flowering and flowering to harvest. It was evaluated the days duration of the following phenological stages: 127, 130, 163 and 161 days for pruning 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively, taking into account that in pruning times 1 and 2 the harvest was anticipated 32 days as compared to the others. The periods between the beginning and ending of the maturation, beginning of bunch touch to beginning of maturation, pea-size berries to beginning of bunch touch presented the longest duration in the four pruning times. The highest and lowest thermal requirement, considering base temperature 10 °C and 12 °C, was recorded for pruning realized in July (lower cycle) and in April (second highest cycle) with 2.214.5 and 1.911.5 DG and 1.960.3 and 1.638 DG, respectively.
pruning times; phenology; degree-days; Vitis labrusca L
