Abstract
The whole ISAFRUIT study aimed at comparing the effects of an innovative training system based on precision spur-pruning management, the Centrifugal Training (CT), and two other training systems. The first one is the Solaxe system (So), used as a french reference, with the bending of branches and no renewal pruning. The second one is a more contrasted training system, the Structured Axis (AS), used as a world-wide reference, with renewal pruning of side branches and well-established tiers. In both cases the control of fruit load is carried out via chemical and hand-thinning whereas in Centrifugal Training the extinction procedure aims at adjusting before flowering the spur load on each individual branch. In this latter case chemical and/or hand-thinning is only a complementarily means to fit fruit load to branch and tree development. The 4-year study was divided in two steps of 2 years each: - the first one on cv ‘Ariane’, comparing and CT and So. - the second one on the strong alternate bearing cv ‘Jubilé’, comparing CT and AS. Both cultivars were grafted on M9. In both experiments comparisons were made at similar crop load, ie similar nb of fruits/TCSA (Trunk Cross-Sectional Area) to avoid the possible effect of a difference in TCSA between trees leading a difference in yield.