EFFECT OF DIFFERENT PRUNING TIMES ON THE YIELD OF TEA (Camellia sinensis L.) UNDER THE CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF MANSEHRA-PAKISTAN

This experiment was conducted at National Tea Research Institute, Shinkiari, Mansehra-Pakistan during 2010-11 with the objectives to find out the most suitable time for pruning of tea to get high production of fresh tea leaves. Mature tea bushes of Qi-men variety were top pruned manually with shears on 10th November, 10th December, 2010, 10th January, 10th February, and 10th March, 2011 with one month interval. November, December and January pruning recorded the 1st plucking on 3rd May, 2011 while the first plucking in the tea bushes pruned during March, 2011 was obtained on 13t h May 2011 with ten days delay as compared to early pruning. Pruning in December gave 3403 and 3292 kg more fresh tea leavesproduction ha^-1 as compared to March and February pruning, respectively. A gradual decline wasobserved in plucking density points, shoot growth, fresh tea leaves yield and black tea production in plots pruned after December. It was found that the tea bushes pruned on 10th December, 2010 recorded significantly the highest number of plucking points m^-2 (305.26), shoot growth (95.8 cm), fresh tea leaves yield (17888 kg ha^-1) and black tea (3563 kg ha^-1) followed by 10th January, 2011 pruning regarding these parameters, while the pruning on 10th March, 2011 produced the minimum number of plucking points m^-2 (246.82), shoot growth (76.7 cm), fresh tea leaves yield ( 14486 kg ha^-1) and black tea (2912 kg ha^-1). Higher shoot density and shoot growth were associated with higher fresh tea leaves and made t ea production. On the basis of these findings, it can be concluded that top pruning of tea during December and January gave the highest production of fresh leaves and black tea under the climatic conditions of Mansehra-Pakistan.