Canopy Regulation and Intelligent Branch Operations in Fruit-Tree Pruning: A Review

Abstract

Fruit-tree pruning has to keep tree structure under control while continually renewing fruiting wood, and many decisions still depend on practical experience. This narrative review synthesizes 92 English-language publications from 1983 to 2026, identified through Google Scholar and backward citation tracking. As orchard systems become more regular and mechanization expands, mechanical pruning has been used to control canopy edges. Vision and 3D sensing are now being used to identify branches and locate pruning points, while robotic systems are beginning to attempt selective pruning. This review looks at the literature at canopy and branch scales. Mechanical canopy pruning is effective for quickly treating regular canopy profiles, but field trials show that regrowth, follow-up manual pruning, and crop-load management can change later yield and economic outcomes. Branch-level automation has moved from 2D recognition to 3D reconstruction, pruning-point generation, and small-scale robotic trials. The harder questions are increasingly about branch function and continuous whole-tree operation. For pruning automation, machine speed or a successful cut is only part of the result; post-pruning tree responses and longer-term production also have to be considered. Multi-temporal tree records, branch-function information, continuous operation, and long-term field testing deserve more attention.