Introduction. The chemical fruit thinning of apple trees carried out after flowering
is a current practice used to improve fruit size and quality, to ensure the return of flowering
and to reduce the biennial bearing. Our work studied the effectiveness of two particular chemical
thinners (Accel and carbaryl) applied to three apple tree cultivars, and their effects on the
fruit yield and quality. Materials and methods. Two identical experiments were undertaken
on mature apple trees in 1995 and 1996. They made it possible to test spraying after flowering
of Accel and carbaryl at three different concentrations and applied to the three `Empire',
`Jan-A-Red' and `Braeburn' apple tree cultivars. The effect of the chemical substances was evaluated
with parameters of fruit set, fruit quality and yield. Results and discussion. For the three
apple tree cultivars studied, the spraying of Accel and carbaryl made it possible to reduce
the fruit set and to improve the apple yield, pH and soluble solids concentrations. However,
the treatments did not affect the fruit seed number, the fruit length and diameter, or the [fruit
length / fruit diameter] ratio. Conclusion. With the concentrations used, Accel and carbaryl
were effective for thinning the three apple tree cultivars tested. These chemical thinners
increased yield and improved certain parameters of the apple quality.