Hazelnut production areas in Chile, performance of cultivars from Oregon State University, and an equation to predict performance

In the last 5 years, the area planted to hazelnut has considerably increased in Chile.
The hazelnut cultivation areas begin in south-central Chile in the 7^th region of Maule (Linares) where the soils are alluvial with a high clay content and the climate is temperate Mediterranean, moving south to the Biobio region (Los Angeles) where the soils are mostly sandy and the climate is temperate.
The southern end of the production zone is in the Los Lagos region (Osorno) where the soils are called “Trumao type” and are of volcanic ash origin and the climate is temperate and rainy.
An important percentage of the new orchards are planted to cultivars from the Oregon State University (OSU) breeding program.
In all of these areas in Chile, the nut yield and quality of the OSU cultivars is similar or higher than that reported in Oregon, in some cases reaching yields over 5 t ha^‑1. These nut yields are affected by the climate zone, season, management practices, and age of the orchard.
From collected data we constructed an equation to predict the performance of each cultivar in each region.

X International Congress on Hazelnut

J.V. Mohr Fuchslocher, S.A. Navarro Gaete

Corylus avellana, Oregon State University, Maule, Bio Bio, Los Lagos

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1379.4