In the study we investigated the effect of different pruning methods on the yield and chemical quality of the aronia fruit (Aronia melanocarpa) cv. 'Nero'. We included 3 treatments in the trial: control, quick pruning and sectorial pruning. The control consisted of unpruned bushes; in the quick pruning, we removed the inner older shoots of the bush; in the sectorial pruning, in addition to the older shoots, we also removed some extra annual shoots. In this way, the bushes were exposed to light and aerated. During the vegetation period, the SPAD values were measured on the leaves to determine the chlorophyll content, and in August, the ripe aronia fruits were harvested. The yield was weighed individually for each bush. We also weighed the weight of 100 berries and calculated the average weight of the berries. We carried out a chemical analysis of the fruit where determined the content of primary and secondary metabolites using HPLC. We found that the control plants had a statistically significant higher yield. The plants on which we carried out sectorial pruning had a statistically significant lower yield. The average weight of the berries was significantly higher in the treatment with sectorial pruning than in the other two treatments. The SPAD values of the leaves measured in the sectorial pruning treatment were significantly the highest, while the control bushes had the lowest SPAD values. The sugar content results showed that pruning only affected the sucrose content in the aronia fruit, which was lowest in the sectorial pruning treatment. In terms of organic acid content, the berries from the bushes treated with sectorial pruning had the lowest total organic acid content, while the control plants had the highest organic acid content. The berries of the control plants contained the highest levels of tartaric acid, quinic acid and shikimic acid. The malic and ascorbic acids content of the aronia fruit was significantly lower with sectorial pruning than with the other pruning method and control. Among the phenolics analysed in the aronia, the highest content of anthocyanins was found, followed by hydroxycinnamic acids, flavanols, flavonols and flavanones. Significant differences between the treatments were found only in the content of two phenolics, namely quercetin-3-rutinoside and 3-p-coumaroylquinic acid. The fruits of chokeberry from the control treatment had the highest content of the mentioned phenols.
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