YIELD OF TWENTY FOUR ALMOND CULTIVARS IN A DRY AREA CLIMATE IN TUNISIA: FIVE YEARS OF STUDY

A collection of almond cultivars from different origins (5 from Tunisia, 5 from the USA, 7 from France, 4 from Italy, and 3 from Spain) was established in a dry climate area in south Tunisia without irrigation.
The yield of the different cultivars was measured in several years with records of climatic data of the orchard.
The last five years (1994-98) presented important differences in rainfall and temperature.
The results show a close relationship between those factors and yield, especially with autumn rainfall.
The origin of the cultivars is also an important factor for yield results.
The Spanish (‘Desmayo Rojo’, ‘Mollar’ and ‘Tarragona’) and Italian cultivars (‘Avola’, ‘Mazzetto’ and ‘Fasciuneddu’) showed the highest yield average over the five year period (9.7 kg/tree). Results within the same origin group of cultivars vary.
Some cultivars presented a higher yield average and less alternate bearing effect than others.
These results are presented and discussed in this paper.

III International Symposium on Pistachios and Almonds

M. Ghrab, M. Ben Mimoun, H. Triki, R. Hellali

Almond, production, rainfed

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.591.72