VEGETATIVE GROWTH HABIT AND EARLINESS OF BEARING OF DIFFERENT OLIVE CULTIVARS

In the last years, olive cultivation is evolving in the main olive producing countries from traditional to more intensive growing systems. Increasing productivity, shortening the unproductive period and adopting tree structure suitable for mechanical harvesting are some of the main objectives of these new systems. In this intensification process, higher planting densities are used, reaching up to 2000 trees/ha. However, there is scarce information about the behaviour of cultivars growing at high planting densities and outside its traditional area. In this work, three comparative field trials are under evaluation to determine the performance of several olive cultivars under different environmental conditions and planting designs. Orchards were located in three locations in Andalusia (south Spain) with different soil and climatic characteristics. Twenty-two different cultivars, including some of the most planted worldwide, were established at three different planting densities (156, 208 and 833 trees/ha) under irrigation or rained conditions. Preliminary results showed significant differences between cultivars regarding vigor and plant architecture, two decisive characters for an optimal cultivar choice in high density planting.