The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of leaf fall on the flowering and yield of "Chimarrita" peach trees, in the region of Curitiba-PR, during two cycles (2004 and 2005). An experiment was carried out to obtain different levels of leaf fall with four treatments (control without spraying, spraying from December to January, from December to February and from December to April), and six replications. The plants were sprayed with mancozeb in intervals of 15 and 10 days in the first and second year, respectively. During all the flowering period, in these two years of the experiment, it was taken notes of the number of open flowers To assess the yield in the two harvests, the total number of fruit was determined on the plant before and after thinning was and only in the second harvest, the number of fruits obtained in 1,2 m of branches per plant. In the second year of the experiment, it was observed an autumnal flowering due to the earliness of the epidemic and the disease was stronger, causing the leaf fall, beginning in January, different from the last year, when the leaf fall initiated at the end of February. The data showed that the early leaf fall lengthened the flowering period and decreased the plant yield, and in the treatment with the greatest rust control, in the two studied harvests, the yield was 45% greater than the control.
Tranzschelia discolor; Prunus persica
