Question

11. Girdling is the removal of the bark from the entire eircumference of a branch or trunk of a woody plant. The bark of a Bark woody plant is composed of the cork, cork cambium and phloem So, girdling totally disrupts the phloem but leaves the xylem intact. Imagine a peach tree with several main branches and lots of small, -Wood green and immature fruits on each one of these branches. a) If you girdle one main branch at a position close to the trunk, what happens to the fruits growing on this branch? Do they die and fall off the tree or do they grow slower and remain smaller than the fruits on other branches or do they grow even larger than the fruits on other branches? Why? b) What happens if you girdle the same branch and then do fruit thinning, i.e. remove some of the developing fruits? Why? Explain by referring to source-sink relations. c) What happens to the fruits on the entire tree if you girdle the trunk? How will the tree be affected in the long run? Why?

Answer 1

Ans a) girdling of one of a main branch close to the trunk willl result in the fruits with larger growth than the fruits in other branches. This is because girdled tree has proven to synthesise ethylene in much more amount in branches. This lead to fast ripening of fruits and their growth. Girdling for this reason is generally experienced in horticulture. Inspite of the absence of phloem.

But in long term it will effect plant growth.