AGRONOMIC BEHAVIOUR OF ´PISANA´ CULTIVAR ON SEVERAL ROOTSTOCKS IN DRY, SANDY HILLS

‘Pisana’ is a new apricot cultivar, resulting from Pisa University’s breeding programme, with low vigour, late blooming and ripening and self-compatibility, but with very few flowers. The fruit is very big, attractive and delicious. A trial was carried out in northern Italy, in the dry sandy soil of the Berici hills, near Vicenza, in order to evaluate the behaviour of cultivar ‘Pisana’ on several rootstocks. Fifteen rootstocks were tested (10 lines of apricot seedlings and 6 Prunus clones). In the dry conditions of the Berici hills, with an active limestone (calcium carbonate) content higher than 8%, the best performance came from apricot seedlings, with great differences between lines. They began to crop in the third year: the average crop per tree ranged between 45 and 60 kg, with an average fruit weight of 70 g. The refractomer index was never lower than 14-15°Brix. The Prunus clones suffered due to the sandy soil and the lack of water and induced a higher sensitivity to trunk bacterial canker.