Sprouts seasonal elongation of two olive cultivars in a high-density orchard

Abstract

The new high-density cropping systems (>1200 trees ha −1 ) represent a very interesting proposal for olive orchard profitability. It is crucial to know the morphology and the dynamics of sprout elongation of a cultivar in order to fully assess its suitability for a high-density olive orchard. For this reason we planned a research on two cultivars, Coratina and Arbequina, in a high-density orchard. The apical sprouts elongation of Arbequina early stopped at fruit set without a further step, while Coratina showed a little growth flux after pit hardening. Similar trends showed the lateral proleptic sprouts. Only the sylleptic sprouts of both cultivars had a second period of activity. In all cases, the sprouts elongation finished at the end of summer, when oil accumulation started. Coratina showed higher apical shoot growth and internodes mean length than Arbequina. On the contrary, Coratina showed lower lateral proleptic shoot growth and nodes number than Arbequina, but the same internodes mean length. No significant differences were observed between cultivars for growth, nodes number and internodes mean length of sylleptic shoots. The differences observed between the two cultivars could be explained considering their different vigour. The introduction of this innovative cropping system is allowed to register a considerable reduction of production costs. The result is a considerable increase in the economic performance of the olive grove and a consequent reduction in the unit cost for kg of oil. These data are very useful for varietal choice and field management in high-density orchards and then for new olive breeding programs.

Vegetative Growth Dynamic and Its Impact on the Flowering Intensity of the Following Season Depend on Water Availability and Bearing Status of the Olive Tree

“…One might speculate that this unknown response of the olive trees could be especially specific to the cultivar 'Zalmati'. Nevertheless, the significant enhancement of shoots growth during the second period of vegetative growth previously reported in several cultivars grown under full irrigation conditions suggests that this response could be observed in other olive trees cultivars [13,14,31,53,54]. From an irrigation management point of view, our results suggest that it could be possible to partially recover the vegetative growth that could be lost during dry springs in rainfed olive groves using late complementary irrigation (that will be tested in further studies).…”

Micropropagation Effects on Juvenile Traits, Flower Differentiation, and Tree Architecture in Young Olive Trees

“…Successful mechanical harvest depends on trees' shape/architecture [9][10][11][12][13][14] shoot growth and architecture [10,15,16], selective pruning integrated with mechanical topping, hedging and trimming [17][18][19][20][21] with branch renovation near the scaffold [22], and a specific control of irrigation and nutrition [23]. In addition, in high-density olive groves, an early onset of production is related to a rapid achievement of the continuity of vegetation along the row (hedgerow systems), with mature reproductive trees of small dimensions.…”

Olive genotypes cultivated in an adult high-density orchard respond differently to canopy restraining by mechanical and manual pruning

“…Indeed, up to now only two Spanish cultivars, Arbequina and Arbosana, and the Greek Koroneiki have been demonstrated to have vegetative (medium-low vigour, slow canopy growth) and productive (early bearing, high yield efficiency) parameters fitting this new cropping system (Camposeo et al, 2008;Camposeo and Godini, 2010;Connor et al, 2014). Several aspects of varietal behavior have already begun to be studied for this new cropping system in Mediterranean environments: productive and vegetative parameters (Camposeo et al, 2008;Tous et al, 2010,4;Farinelli 2011, 2014;Allalout et al, 2011;Moutier et al, 2011;Papachatzis et al, 2011;Larbi et al, 2015;Proietti et al, 2015), plant architecture (Rosati et al, 2013;Strippoli et al, 2013), light interception (Connor and Gómez-delCampo, 2013), soil management Russo et al, 2014), ecophysiology and irrigation (Proietti et al, 2012;Gómez-del-Campo, 2013;Vivaldi et al, 2013), harvesting time . So, varietal response to pruning is still a crucial topic to be investigated in order to supply information about the agronomic management of high-density oliveculture for different cultivated genotypes (Connor et al, 2014).…”