Fruiting, Morphology, and Architecture of ‘Arbequina’ and ‘Calatina’ Olive Branches

Alessandro Carella,Giuseppe Milazzo,Tiziano Caruso,Riccardo Lo Bianco,Roberto Massenti

doi:10.3390/horticulturae8020109

Abstract

Two different olive cultivars grown under a high-density hedgerow system were studied to compare their fruiting and branch architecture features and to determine the possibility to use ‘Calatina’ olive trees for intensive plantings, as a local alternative to the international reference ‘Arbequina’. Weights of two-year-old branches, fruits and leaves were recorded to estimate the growth partitioning. Growth and architectural parameters, such as shoot length, vector and diameter, branching angle, branch total length, height, width, area, and branching frequency, were determined by digital image analysis. Digital images of the fruits were also used to estimate fruit maturation by peel color analysis. Whole branch and fruit crop weights were similar in the ‘Arbequina’ and ‘Calatina’, while the latter had a greater fruit/leaf ratio, showing a higher production efficiency than ‘Arbequina’. Fruits were fewer but bigger in ‘Calatina’ than in ‘Arbequina’, suggesting an advantage for both trunk-shaking and straddle machine harvesting in the Sicilian cultivar. Leaf/wood ratio, branching frequency and branching angle were similar in the two cultivars. ‘Calatina’ shoots exhibited a greater bending degree than those of ‘Arbequina’ and this trait particularly favors straddle harvesting. In addition to many similarities between the two cultivars, the present study indicates that ‘Calatina’ is more efficient in terms of yield and harvesting than ‘Arbequina’. This qualifies ‘Calatina’ as a superior, yield-efficient olive cultivar suitable for intensive hedgerow plantings to be harvested with straddle or side-by-side trunk shaker machines.

Highlights

Plant architectural analysis has led to the development of new approaches ranging from gaining knowledge about tree development to the investigation of intra-species variation in related characters and, in more applied cases, to improving plant management at the orchard level [1]
Studying plant architecture is important for understanding tree growth, branching pattern, productivity, and for developing cultural models
The results ofreference the present trial show that the Sicilian architectural olive cultivartraits

Summary

Introduction

Plant architectural analysis has led to the development of new approaches ranging from gaining knowledge about tree development to the investigation of intra-species variation in related characters and, in more applied cases, to improving plant management at the orchard level [1]. The architecture of a plant depends on the spatial and temporal arrangements of its parts, and is based on morphological traits at the shoot and branch scale [2]. Several studies showed that branching density, branching frequency, and frequency of flowering on one-year-old branches are traits that vary depending on the cultivar, they can be influenced by environmental factors [2,7,8,9]. Another factor that influences plant architecture is the rootstock. Arenas et al [10] used dwarfing rootstocks to develop a superhigh density system to permit mechanical harvesting of sweet orange trees for industrial

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Results

Conclusion