Articles
Development of innovative high-density orchards aiming for an efficient and sustainable sweet cherry production
Article number
1408_41
Pages
293 – 300
Language
English
Abstract
The primary areas of focus for cherry production in this study are cost of production, training systems, orchard efficiency, intensification and sustainability.
Among different Prunus species, sweet cherry is an important crop in Turkey, the United States, Russia, Chile, Poland, Italy and Spain.
Cherry production is labor intensive as harvest represents around 50% of the total cost of production.
As in other deciduous fruit species, the trend in the last decade has been moving toward more intensive orchards by using size controlling rootstocks.
This results in early yields from small and bi-dimensional canopies which are accessible to labor and mechanization of pruning, thinning and harvest.
Corette® and GiSelA® series rootstocks have provided some of this innovation in cherry rootstocks.
Prior work combining the UFO planar system with GiSelA®12 resulted in an increase of 72% of harvest rate compared with the traditional open center.
Additionally, an intensive orchard using GiSelA®5 with ‘Sweet Saretta®’ cultivar at 3.5×0.5 m spacing resulted in a cumulative yield of 73.3 t. ha‑1 in the 6th year.
Corette® selections provided a significant reduction of tree canopy with high yield efficiency and similar fruit size to GiSelA® selections.
Based on these previous results, a multi-site trial was started in 2022 in different locations in Spain to test the agronomical performance of these rootstocks in different climatic-edaphic conditions.
Significance of different interactions such as rootstock × cultivar or rootstock × cultivar × location will be determined.
Also, a set of new trials will begin in 2023 in Italy in association with the EUFRIN network which includes multiple European research institutes.
Intensification, planar canopies and mechanization combining the best cultivars, size controlling rootstocks and planar systems, are key factors needed to increase the efficiency required to reach high quality and high yield in modern cherry orchards.
Among different Prunus species, sweet cherry is an important crop in Turkey, the United States, Russia, Chile, Poland, Italy and Spain.
Cherry production is labor intensive as harvest represents around 50% of the total cost of production.
As in other deciduous fruit species, the trend in the last decade has been moving toward more intensive orchards by using size controlling rootstocks.
This results in early yields from small and bi-dimensional canopies which are accessible to labor and mechanization of pruning, thinning and harvest.
Corette® and GiSelA® series rootstocks have provided some of this innovation in cherry rootstocks.
Prior work combining the UFO planar system with GiSelA®12 resulted in an increase of 72% of harvest rate compared with the traditional open center.
Additionally, an intensive orchard using GiSelA®5 with ‘Sweet Saretta®’ cultivar at 3.5×0.5 m spacing resulted in a cumulative yield of 73.3 t. ha‑1 in the 6th year.
Corette® selections provided a significant reduction of tree canopy with high yield efficiency and similar fruit size to GiSelA® selections.
Based on these previous results, a multi-site trial was started in 2022 in different locations in Spain to test the agronomical performance of these rootstocks in different climatic-edaphic conditions.
Significance of different interactions such as rootstock × cultivar or rootstock × cultivar × location will be determined.
Also, a set of new trials will begin in 2023 in Italy in association with the EUFRIN network which includes multiple European research institutes.
Intensification, planar canopies and mechanization combining the best cultivars, size controlling rootstocks and planar systems, are key factors needed to increase the efficiency required to reach high quality and high yield in modern cherry orchards.
Publication
Authors
I. Iglesias, N. Dallabetta, M. Whiting, L.E. Long, A. Iezzoni
Keywords
training systems, intensification, rootstocks, planar canopies, cost, profitability
Groups involved
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