MANUAL THINNING OF TANGERINE MONTENEGRINA

Hand thinning of 66.6% or 83.3% of young fruits, at different interval s, was tested with the objective to avoid biennial bearing and to impr ove fruit quality of 'Montenegrina' tangerines (Citrus deliciosa Tenor e). The experiment was conducted during four harvesting seasons on a 1 0-year old orchard at the Estacao Experimental Agronomica of the Unive rsidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, located in Eldorado do Sul - Sou thern Brazil. Both thinning intensities of young fruits, reduced bienn ial bearing. Thinning of 66.6% was more efficient for the stabilizatio n of the production of marketable fruits on trees with a medium initia l fruit set while thinning of 83.3% produced better results on trees w ith a high initial fruit set. With these experiments it became evident that fruit thinning has to be done every two years.