The bagging technique of Nashi pears not only insures good environmental effects by avoiding inseticide use, but also improves the flavor of fruits by decreasing the damages caused by fruit-fly and oriental fruit moth. This study was carried out with the cultivars Housui and Nijisseiki. The fruits were bagged just after thinning in order to avoid the development of russeting and to protect them against insects attack. For cv. Housui a single bag was enough. The total cost of bagging was R$ 4,075.00/ha, considering 110.000 fruits/ha. For cv. Nijisseiki it was necessary to use a double bagging, with a total cost of R$ 4,188.00/ha to protect 73.370 fruits/ha. The estimated bagging cost per fruit was R$ 0.04 for cv. Housui and R$ 0.06 for cv. Nijisseiki. Not only the bagging cost of 'Nijisseiki' fruits was higher compared to 'Housui' fruits, but also the price of 'Nijisseiki' is being lower at the Brazilian market as compared to 'Housui' price. The higher production cost by using fruit bagging should be assimilated by fruit growers considering it improves fruit quality that insures better price at market place.
Pyrus; Nashi pears; bagging; techniques; cost
