Country fruit tree regularly pruned (9)
I believe the answer is:
sultanate
'country' is the definition.
(I know that sultanate is a type of country)
'fruit tree regularly pruned' is the wordplay.
'fruit' becomes 'sultana' (sultana is a kind of fruit).
'regularly pruned' means one should take alternating letters (letters removed at regular intervals).
The alternating letters of 'tree' are 'te'.
'sultana'+'te'='SULTANATE'
(Other definitions for sultanate that I've seen before include "Country" , "Turkey was" , "Muslim dominion" , "Brunei?" .)