Efficiency of the Ananas comosus (L.) Merr. flower induction treatment based on ethylene enriched activated carbon (TIFBio). Pineapple is an important export crop for tropical countries. The flower induction treatments are essential to the pineapple production for economical and social reasons. For conventional agriculture, many chemicals are available but for organic farming ethylene is the only allowed product. A new flower induction method suited to small organic growers has been developed by the Pesticides Initiative Programme of the Coleacp funded by the European Development Fund. The trials conducted proved that the method reaches more than 80% efficiency at 10 weeks for the different application methods evaluated. The wet application trials show a doses response effect as well as effect of the application replication at 2 days interval. The flowering rate culminates at 100% after 8 weeks for the best results, obtained with the wet treatment at 250 mg per plant applied two times at 2 days interval. The different dry treatments tested gave all 85 – 90% flowering rates at 10 weeks, suggesting the presence of an undetermined limitation factor in the conditions prevailing for the trial. The time of application during the day shows no significant effect. It is concluded that the growers can use the TIFBio technique for production control. It is recommended to evaluate the most suited application technique according to their particular case as environmental effect can affect the efficiency
