EFFECT OF DIFFERENT PRUNING METHODS ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF THE HAZELNUT CULTIVAR ‘TONDA GENTILE ROMANA’

In Central Italy (Latium region) the pruning of hazelnut is done during the winter when trees are dormant, and there is limited to little intervention of cleaning of the canopy and removal of old branches and suckers.
In order to study the effect of different pruning methods on cv. ‘Tonda Gentile Romana’, two treatments, respectively based on low (A) and high (B) intensity pruning, were carried out and compared with an un-pruned treatment from 2004 to 2006. Wood removed, vegetative growth, light infiltration at the base of the plots, yield and nut traits, defects and kernel quality were measured, in order to quantify plant response to different intensity of pruning in a medium-vigour cultivar.
The results indicate good productivity and vegetative growth from the high intensity pruning (B) at the end of three years, whereas yield per hectare was only slightly decreased in the first year with respect to the low intensity pruning (A). Light infiltration at the base of the plants was low in un-pruned plots, whereas high intensity pruning (B) was characterized by better light penetration.
The intensity of pruning had only a slight effect on nut traits and the content and profile of oil, sugars and organic acids.

VII International Congress on Hazelnut

V. Cristofori, C. Cammilli, F.B. Valentini, C. Bignami

Corylus avellana L., light infiltration, orchard management, nut composition

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.845.48