Response of Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) to Pruning Systems for Yield Attributes and Nut Quality in Tchamba District, Togo

The effect of different pruning systems combined with the application or not of chemical fertilizers was studied in Tchamba (Togo) during the 2020-2021 agricultural season (May to October). A randomized complete block design with five replications was adopted. There were six treatments in the experiment, F0T0 (N0P0K0 + no pruning), F0T1 (N0P0K0 + central opening pruning), F0T2 (N0P0K0 + modified leader pruning), F1T0 (N15P15K25 + no pruning), F1T1 (N15P15K25 + central opening pruning), F1T2 (N15P15K25 + modified leader pruning). The results revealed that the pruning systems associated or not with fertilization had a positive effect on cashew nut productivity and their quality. Modified leader pruning system associated to N15P15K25 gave significantly higher value of growth, and cashew nut yield attributes as compared to other treatments except for the value of kernel output ratio which is statistically identical to the control. Economic analysis showed that modified leader pruning system without fertilizer had a highest acceptability indice as compared to other treatments and can be recommended to producers under the conditions of our study.