TY  - GEN
T1  - Pruning effects on the biomass and yield production of mulberry (Morus alba)
A1  - Mohd Radzi, Amirah Hani
LA  - English
YR  - 2015
UL  - http://discoverylib.upm.edu.my/discovery/Record/oai:ethesis.upm.edu.my:9775
AB  - This research was conducted to investigate the pruning effect on the biomass and yield production of mulberry (Morus alba L.). The study was conducted under controlled structure (CES) at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor. The planting media used was top soil: organic matter: sand (v/v). The total number of plants used was 30 plants. The experiment consists of two treatments
that are non-pruning and pruning. Each treatment was replicated five times with six single plants in
each treatment. The experimental design was t-test design. Data on growth parameter (plant height,
number of leaf, leaf width, total leaf area, chlorophyll content, fresh and dry weight of leaf and root)
were collected from each treatment.
For final harvest, yield analysis of fruit number, fruit fresh weight, total soluble solid (TSS),and nutrient analysis of leaf were taken from each plant. Data were analysed statistically using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and mean comparison among treatments was performed using t-test at probability 0.05. There were significant differences on data growth and yield parameters. For data
growth parameter, the plants that were pruned show higher growth compared to un-pruned plant. Meanwhile the yield in pruned plant, for fruit number showed higher value that is 44.40 g compared to un-pruned plant with 0 g. Meanwhile, this study showed that plants that were pruned give higher value to the total soluble solid compared to un-pruned plant.
In conclusion, there were differences in plant growth and nutrient uptake ability between unpruned and pruned plants. Since there were more number of leaf and number of fruit produce in pruned treatment compared to un-pruned treatment, it is better to prune a mulberry tree because it can provide more biomass and yield production in a short period of time while saving work labour and
investment on maintaining the plants.
ER  -