Global warming affected some morphological characters of Pistachio trees (Pistacia vera L.)

Abstract

Pistachio is one of the main horticulture crops in Iran where have the first cultivation and exportation position in the world. Climate change has already affected species distribution shifts in many parts of the world and more impacts are expected for the future, yet few studies have aimed for a general understanding of the regional basis for species vulnerability. In this research meteorology data of four months (December, January, February and March) from 1991 to 2008 and Phenology data of six pistachio cultivars that ranked in 3 groups: early flowering (Kalehghoochi and Ahmadaghaei), mid flowering (Momtaz and Amiri) and late flowering (Akbari and Shahpasand) during summer of 1997, 2001-5, and 2007 were studied in Kerman province. The evaluated factors included leaf area, normal and abnormal leaves. The results showed the mean of temperature on March has significant increasing during 1991 to 2008 and fluctuations between years increased after 1999 in December, January and February. Phenological characters including leaf area and number of normal and abnormal leaves were different each year that abnormality leaves in early and late flowering cultivars had negative correlation with mean temperature of December and mid flowering cultivars had positive correlation with mean temperature of February. The level of leaf area changing in Ahamadaghaei cultivar was less than other cultivars but kallehghoochi and Akbari had the highest range which can probably be a good marker for determining the effects of temperature changes in winter on production level.