Study on Effective Methods for Reducing the Alternate Bearing in Golden Delicious Apple Cultivar

The effects of nitrogen application (Urea, 46% N), fruit thinning and ringing on flower bud formation of “Golden Delicious” apple trees were studied in two independent ex-periments in 1992 and 1993. In the first experiment, the effects of nitrogen application and fruit thinning at levels of 0, 25, 50 and 75% on flower bud formation were studied in full-bearing trees. In the second experiment, the effects of nitrogen application and ring-ing on flower bud formation were studied in poor-bearing trees. The results showed that full-bearing fertilized and unfertilized apple trees produced almost the same flower buds, but the thinning treatments at levels of 50 and 75% produced higher flower bud forma-tion as compared with controls ( P 0. 0 1). For poor-bearing trees, both ringing and ap-plication of nitrogen together or alone showed an increase in flower bud formation in the following year compared to the controls (P 0. 0 5 ).