Abstract: Shoot prunning is one of the most popular technologies in mountainous eggplant production; however, the physiology mechanism of shoot prunning is not well understood. Thus the effects of shoot prunning on leaf area index, net photosythesis rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration, transpiration rate, water use efficiency and dry matter distribution in mountainous eggplant were investigated in the present study. Leaf area and leaf area index increased significantly in the shoot prunned plants compared with control plants. The net photosythesis rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate and water use efficiency of middle leaves were similar to those of top functional leaves in shoot prunned plants, while are higher than those of control plants. And thus the shoot dry mass were increased in shoot prunned plants. The ratio of fruit to total dry mass increased from 61.9% to 85.5% in shoot prunned plants. In conclusion, shoot prunning enhanced leaf area index and net photosynthesis rate, improved the sinksource relation, and thus increased the yield.

Key words: shoot prunning, mountainous eggplant, photosynthesis, dry mass distribution