The aim of this work was to evaluate the yield and fruit quality of the 'Paluma' guava subjected to drastic pruning, in different months, at São Manuel Experimental Farm FCA/UNESP, Botucatu Campus-SP, Brazil. The experiment was carried out in a complete randomized design with four treatments and 10 replications, with one plant per plot. The treatments consisted of: T1: no pruning, T2: pruning in August, T3: pruning in September and T4: pruning in October. The following characteristics were measured: number of fruits, yield per tree, weight of fruits, longitudinal and transversal diameters, total soluble solid content (SS), titratable acidity (TA), SS/TA and pH. Regarding the number of days between the beginning and end of the harvest (productive period), the pruning, regardless of the time, increased the harvest period when compared with non-pruned plants (control). The guava plants pruned in August showed higher number of fruits (385) and yield per plant (58.82 kg / plant), differing from the other pruning times. The total soluble solid contents, titratable acidity, pH and SS/TA of the fruits were not influenced by pruning times.
Acidity; fruit yield; Psidium guajava L.; soluble solids
