Articles
GROWTH AND YIELD OF NECTARINE TREES AT DIFFERENT PLANTING DENSITIES AND TRAINING SYSTEMS
Tree growth was closely related to planting distances but not to the training system.
Maximum canopy development was recorded at the end of the fifth year.
Canopy volume per hectare of the free spindles was greater than that of free palmettes over the first 5 years from planting.
Yield per tree followed the same trend as canopy volume in the early years but did not show a marked reduction later so that the efficiency of the canopy, thanks to a greater quantity of fruiting shoots, increased constantly.
Yield per hectare was inversely related to planting distances: trees planted at 4.5×1.0 m produced 10 and 37 MT/ha more than trees at 4.5×1.5 m and 4.5×3.0 m respectively.
The greater cropping ability of the highest planting densities was inversely correlated to average fruit weight.
The best fruit quality was obtained on trees trained as free palmettes at 4.5×3.0 m.