PRODUCTIVITY AND YIELD EFFICIENCY OF HAZELNUT (CORYLUS AVELLANA L.) CULTIVARS IN CHILE

In the 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 growing season the behaviour of ‘Barcelona’, ‘Tonda Romana’, ‘Gironell’, ‘Tonda delle Langhe’, ‘Grifoll’, ‘Morell’ and ‘Negret’ was evaluated at Los Robles, near Camarico in the VII region of Chile. ‘Barcelona’, ‘Tonda Romana’, ‘Grifoll’, ‘Morell’ and ‘Gironell’ showed the highest cumulative yield by the 4^th year (5^th leaf), almost 3.9 kg/tree, with no significant difference between them. ‘Negret’ and ‘Tonda delle Langhe’ presented the lowest cumulative yield (1.4 and 1.1 kg/tree respectively, not different between them). The cultivars' yield efficiency by the 4^th year showed the same trend as for the yield, maintaining the same relations between the cultivars. Finally, the cultivars under study did not show any difference in the trunk cross-sectional area as a measure of vigour. These findings explain the close relationship between the yield per tree and the yield efficiency between the cultivars under study.