Effect of uniconazole on fruit development of 'Breda' and 'Margarida' avocado fruits

Avocado is a fruit produced and consumed in several countries. Brazil is the one of the leading producers of avocado in the world, representing its 17^th most produced fruit and occupying an area of 10.354ha.Brazilian avocado production in 2018 was 180.636 t. In the ranking of Brazilian exports of fresh fruits, avocado occupied the 14^th place with a revenue (US$ Fob) of 9,537,147 and a volume (kg) of 5,806,712. The application of the uniconazole (UCZ) plant regulator, in the dosage of 0.7% in full bloom occurred in September 2016, in an area of commercial avocado cultivation, in the city of Rio Paranaíba, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. After harvest, the objective of the evaluations was to verify the effect of the plant regulator applications on ‘Breda’ and ‘Margarida’ avocado fruits, in relation to the following parameters: longitudinal and transverse diameters, relationship between the diameters and fruit mass. Three fruit per replication were harvested at random on both sides of the plant, 30 fruit per treatment, 60 per cultivar, totaling 120 evaluated fruits. For ‘Margarida’ avocado, a mean difference of 100 g was found in the fruit masses of plants that received the UCZ application. For the ‘Breda’ cultivar, there was no significant statistical difference for this parameter. For the longitudinal length, there were no differences between treatments for both cultivars. However, for the transverse length of the fruit, the treatment with UCZ provided an average increase of 12 mm for ‘Breda’ fruit and 16 mm for ‘Margarida’. In this way, the possible effect of the increase of the mass and transverse length of the fruit of the plants that received the application of the UCZ in the dosage of 0.7% in full bloom was verified.