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

Abstract

High-density oliveculture system needs irrigation and introduces new cultivars in new environments. 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 management 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 water 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 performed a higher water use efficiency by a lower leaf transpiration.