Rejuvenation of old and senile mango orchard; senility, principles of rejuvenation; paclobutrazol

1. Rejuvenation of old/senile
mango orchards
Dr. Parshant Bakshi
Associate Prof. (Fruit Science)
SKUAST-Jammu

2. What is senility ?
Senility is a stage of the plant in
which after a long span of continuous
fruiting, the ability of the branches or
limbs and or whole tree to produce
vigorous and efficient twigs having
capacity to bear the fruit is reduced.

3. What is rejuvenation ?
Rejuvenation is the process of
pruning and after pruning
management of the plants to make
them productive by utilizing the
existing root system for support and
absorption and existing limb / branch
system to rebuilt the productive
canopy

4. Why rejuvenation of senile plants?
 India is a leading fruit producing
country.
 Fruit production in the country is an
age old enterprise.
 A large acreage is under systematic
fruit plantation.
 The low average productivity of
orchards in India is attributed to
prevalence of senile orchards
 Hence, rejuvenation is required to
improve the productivity of senile
orchards

5.  Predominance of long unfruitful branches
and tip bearing habit
 Reduction in the ability of a particular
branch to produce vigorous and efficient
twigs which can bear fruits
 Over crowding of branches in the inner
part of the canopy leading to restricted
sunlight penetration
 Heavy incidence of pest and disease
 Drastic reduction in fruit yield, size and
appearance
Characteristics of senile orchards

6. Principle of rejuvenation
1. Trees have latent buds on their
limbs and branches which are
activated to put forth new sprouts
which ultimately form the canopy
and fruiting area of the plant.
2. Improvement in root : shoot ratio

7. Considerations for rejuvenation
1. Age of the plant
2. Ability of the species to coppice
3. Frame of the tree
4. Time and severity of rejuvenation
5. Post rejuvenation care
6. Transformation of rejuvenated
juvenile shoots into productive one
7. Top working to change the variety

8. Advantages of rejuvenation
1. Utilization of existing root system
2. Lowering the fruiting area which can be
conveniently managed
3. Creation of extra space for intercropping
in the orchard
4. Availability of large amount of pruned
wood which can provide additional
income
5. Enhancing the productivity of plant

9. Methodology and operations in
mango

10. Convincing the farmers

11. Marking and cutting of the trees

12. Heading Back
&
Selection of
main
branches

13. Pasting on cut ends

14. New shoot initiation on rejuvenated trees

15.  Profuse shooting

16. Thinning of shoots

17. Keeping 8-10 well spaced
shoots per branch

18. First flush Second flush
Fully developed canopy

19. Application of Paclobutrazol to restore
the Canopy productivity
Year of application : Third year after pruning
Time of application : September-October
Method of application : Trunk pour method
Canopy drip area method
Uniformly distributed localized
pit method
Doses : 4-6 gram a.i. per tree (16-25 ml P333)

20. What is Paclobutrazol?
Paclobutrazol is a growth retardant which
intercepts the Gibberellins Synthesis path
way and therefore known as Anti-
gibberellins. With the application of
Paclobutrazol, gibberellins and auxin
balance in the terminal shoots changed
more towards auxin which is responsible
for florigin formation and ultimately the
flowering in the terminal shoots

21. Method of application

22. Rejuvenated plants started flowering
in third year

23. The orchard intercropped with Carrot
and bottle gourd

24. Yield of intercrops in rejuvenated orchard
Crop Area (acre) Yield (q)
Potato 0.50 16.0
Ginger 0.25 9.0
Bottle
guard
0.25 16.0
Pigeon pea 0.25 2.5
Mustard 0.25 3.5

26. Conclusion
 Rejuvenation has been found successful in
mango.
 It is responding in the trees having strong shoot
renewal and coppicing capacity
 Efforts should be made to improve productivity
of other fruit and plantation crops having similar
growth habit
 In crops where young shoots have economic
importance, rejuvenation practice should also be
tried to improve their productivity