Spur Pruning Leaving One Bud is an Interesting Viticultural Strategy to Control Bud Acrotony in Bolivian Vineyards

Bolivian viticulture is mostly found in the Central Valley of Tarija, which is characterised by a subtropicalclimate with high thermal oscillation in winter that results in low accumulation of chilling units. Suchclimatic conditions accentuate acrotony in vines, which affect budburst uniformity and, consequently,yield and bunch quality at harvest. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different spur pruningstrategies on the percentage of budburst and fertility of buds located in different nodal positions in bothwine and table grape varieties growing in the Central Valley of Tarija. The results show that allocatingspurs with fewer buds improved the budding of most of the distal buds studied. This was noted in boththe wine and table grape cultivars, but mostly in the latter. Spur pruning leaving one bud improved thepercentage of budburst and the fertility of the distal buds in Cabernet Sauvignon, Cardinal and Ribier,thereby preventing bud acrotony, compared to spur pruning leaving two buds. Spur pruning leaving twobuds improved the budburst of latent buds in Cabernet Sauvignon. Therefore, to avoid acrotony patterns,viticulturists should perform pruning leaving one bud