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ABSTRACT
Old fig trees produce weak leaves, thin and short shoots, followed by low fruit quality under rainfed conditions. One of the strategies to confront with weak growth is severe pruning in rainfed fig trees. So far, the effect of different pruning methods on increasing tolerance has not been determined for rainfed fig trees. This experiment aimed to investigate the effects of different methods of severe pruning on the tolerance of fig trees to rainfed conditions, and their fruit quality and quantity as well. For this purpose, the experiment was conducted on complete randomized block design during three consecutive years. The results showed that the trunk thinning out along with the limb heading back pruning (with removal of ~75% wood) treatment not only had positive effects on the criteria for measurement of plant tolerance level to rainfed, but also had effective role in improving vegetative characteristics and also had significant effect on improving fruit attributes. Therefore, this treatment with the highest tolerance level to rainfed could be introduced as a good practice to preserve fig trees and produce relatively suitable fruit under severe droughts. On the other hand, the trunk thinning out together with green pruning (with removal of ~55% wood and foliage) was effective treatment on increasing yield and commercial quality such as increasing ostiole and fruit diameter, enhancing the number of early ripening fruits and fruit weight. Generally, the latter treatment enhanced production and fruit quality of old fig trees under rainfed conditions with suitable rainfall.