Irrigation plan for a local olive cultivar – ‘Piantone di Falerone’ – grown in central Italy

In modern olive cultivation, a suitable irrigation plan is necessary, even in central and northern Italy, to compensate for the increasing scarcity and balance production.
This experimental work aimed to evaluate the impact of irrigation on fruit and shoot growth applied during the critical phases of the annual cycle of the olive trees.
The experiment was carried out in Agugliano (Ancona, Central Italy), in 2021, on a local cultivar ‘Piantone di Falerone’ grown in a high-density orchard (4×2 m), planted in 2012, on clayey-loamy soil.
Two irrigation plans were adopted through the drip irrigation: medium deficit irrigation (MDI) applying 30% of the Et₀ from June 4^th (fruit set phase) to June 29^th, 15% of the Et₀ from June 29^th to September 1^st, and 30% of the Et₀ from 1^st to 16^th September and severe deficit irrigation (SDI) applying half amount of water used of the medium irrigation regime.
Rainfed trees were used as controls.
The results showed that mixed branches developed a greater number of new nodes from June 12^th to October 12^th when subjected to the MDI regime.
The fruits of all irrigated trees had a similar dry weight, but were significantly higher than those of the control.
At harvest, despite the higher retention force under MDI treatment, the percentage of dry weight in the medium and low regimes was higher than in the control.
Therefore, the findings revealed that a medium irrigation regime until August and a low regime until harvest time could improve both the current year’s production and the productive potential of the following year.

EHC2024: International Symposium on Fruit Production Systems for Sustainable and Resilient Development

M. Zucchini, S. Crescenzi, V. Giorgi, F. Belluccini, E.M. Lodolini, D. Neri

shoot elongation, fruit growth, high-density orchard, irrigation

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2026.1457.91