Ecophysiological response to irrigation of two olive cultivars grown in a high-density orchard

Abstract

High-density oliveculture system needs irrigation and introduces new cultivars in new environ-ments. So the evaluation of varietal ecophysiological response to irrigation is a crucial topic. For this reason it was planned a research on two cultivars, Coratina and Arbequina, trained according to high-density system. In 2009 the irrigation was conducted according to the conventional man-agement by applying an irrigation frequency of 4 days. The leaf water potentials reached values similar to the limits reported for the recovery within 48 hours. However, plants showed a leaf wa-ter status and gas exchange recovery just after 24 hours from watering. The results highlighted some varietal differences: Arbequina showed a better response to irrigation, while Coratina per-formed an higher water use efficiency by a lower leaf transpiration

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).…”

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

“…Several physiological and agronomic aspects are already started to be studied for high-density olive orchards: light interception [5], soil management [6], irrigation [7,8], harvesting time [9]. Moreover, in the literature some vegetative and productive parameters are considered in order to assess the varietal response since considerable differences are observed among different cultivars, mainly depending on both growth habit and vigour [1,2,4,10].…”

Planting Systems for Modern Olive Growing: Strengths and Weaknesses

“…Few and targeted mechanical pruning operations (topping, hedging), in fact, allow reaching quantities of intercepted light and photosynthetic efficiency that are greater compared to other planting systems [46,88,89]. Investigations on the dynamics of transpiration and the determination of tree water status in hedgerow systems have allowed the development of targeted deficit irrigation leading to a significant improvement of water use efficiency [43,90,91], which is difficult to achieve in other systems. Studies on root system distribution, nutrient absorption and balance have made it possible to adapt the inputs to the actual tree nutritional needs, reducing the environmental impact of fertilization.…”