Articles
WALNUT CULTIVARS PERFORMANCE IN CENTRAL ITALY
- AIMS
To define the most important traits, phenological, agronomical and pomological, of the cultivars in collection, for to single out the best performing cultivars adaptable to our conditions.
- METHODS
The trial was established in 1972, with 20 cultivars, grafted on Juglans Regia rootstock, spaced m 10 x 5, 4 trees each cultivar trained as palmetta.
French cultivars: Franquette, Mayette, Parisienne, Grand Jean, Corne, Marbot; Californian cultivars: Serr, Payne, Hartley, Midland, Amigo, Eureka, Tehama, Vina, Lompoc, Pedro, Chico, Gustine; plus the Italian leading cultivar, Sorrento.
The following traits were examined: vigor, habit and tree size, leafing, blooming and ripening time, fertility and productivity, sensitivity to walnut blight, fruit characteristics: weight size, shape, color, kernel-shell ratio.
- RESULTS
A comprehensive judgment was made for all cultivars; the most interesting and suitable for the Italian environments are: Sorrento, Hartley, Franquette.
Other cultivars, have been marked out, for breeding purposes because of particular interesting traits such as high fertility, late leafing time, resistance to walnut blight, good pollination ability, high kernel-shell ratio.