Search Results (12)

Traditional and intensive planting systems have paved the way for the phenomenon of intensification, with the super high-density (SHD) system being the most prominent. This system has demonstrated high levels of profitability due to both the reduction in production costs achieved through complete mechanization and a significant increase in olive oil production per hectare, stemming from the more efficient utilization of resources such as light, water, and nutrients. The aim of this study was to evaluate, in a vocated olive-growing area, the phytosanitary status of a SHD olive orchard compared to a traditional one (TRD). The research focused on six key olive pests, considering the interaction between planting systems and eight cultivars in a semi-arid environment. The comparative analysis of pest infestations across the two planting systems revealed significant and complex patterns in pest population distribution and intensity. Overall, the planting system appeared to be the main factor influencing pest dynamics. The SHD olive orchard exhibited the highest infestation levels of Otiorhynchus cribricollis, Palpita unionalis, and Bactrocera oleae. Conversely, in the TRD system, the highest infestation levels of Saissetia oleae, Euphyllura olivina, and Prays oleae were observed. Moreover, the study highlighted a less pronounced effect of cultivars on the prevalence of all monitored key pests. These findings underscore the potential for developing more sustainable and effective pest management strategies tailored to specific planting systems. Furthermore, the results contribute to advancing eco-friendly control approaches and improving pest infestation management practices. Additional research will be necessary to deepen the understanding of these key pests and their interactions within different olive-growing systems. Full article

The circular economy with compost fertilization is included in the sustainable orchard paradigm, creating a holistic production ecosystem. Modern orchards are mostly intensive and super-intensive, requiring different rootstocks. This research presents the response to compost fertilization of two specific pear rootstocks (quince ‘CTS 212’ and ‘Farold^® 40’) and own-rooted trees, analyzing six resistant cultivars in a circular production system. The dynamic of nitrogen and carbon concentration in leaves, soil respiration coefficient, the evolution of the fruit maturity stage in the field, and some biometric parameters such as trunk cross-section area, the annual vegetative growth, and fruiting shoots annual number were analyzed. The results highlighted that compost fertilization led to increased leaf nitrogen concentration over the first two years while carbon concentration remained relatively stable. Rootstock and compost fertilization influenced the fruit maturity dynamic, but a single pattern was not identified. Quince, as pear rootstock, expressed a higher sensitivity to compost application; the biometric parameters, such as trunk cross-section area, and almost all cultivars’ annual vegetative growth were higher than the controls’. Positive output can lead to future model upscaling in farms and households. Full article

Olive orchards cover over 10 million hectares worldwide, with production techniques undergoing significant changes in the past three decades. The traditional rainfed approach, involving minimal inputs, has given way to irrigated super-intensive systems with higher planting density, increased productivity, a greater use of fertilizers and phytopharmaceuticals, and total mechanization. Its impact on soil chemical properties remains a topic of great debate, and no definitive consensus has been reached. Our main objective was to examine the different effects of traditional olive orchards and super-intensive orchards on soil chemistry over a decade. We collected and analyzed 1500 soil samples from an irrigation perimeter in southern Portugal in 2003 and 2013. Our findings indicate that, compared to traditional olive orchards, super-intensive ones show, in a decade, a significant decrease in soil organic matter (less 22.8%—p < 0.001), namely due to the increase in mineralization caused by an increase in soil moisture content as a result of irrigation practice, and an increase in sodization (more 33.8% of Ext Na—p < 0.001) highlighting the importance of monitoring this factor for soil fertility. In comparison to other irrigated crops in the region, super-intensive olive orchards promote a significant soil acidification (from 7.12 to 6.58), whereas the pH values of the other crops increase significantly (3.3%, 13.5%, and 3.0% more in corn, tomato, and cereals, respectively). Mainly because of the decrease in organic matter levels with soil acidification and soil sodization, we can underline that hedgerow olive orchards can affect soil characteristics negatively when compared with traditional ones, and it is necessary to adopt urgent measures to counter this fact, namely sustainable agriculture practices. Full article

Industrial production of olive oil generates large amounts of solid waste called ‘alperujo’. Its compost can fertilize many crops, especially olives. Furthermore, superintensive orchards are increasing their surface globally due to higher production and savings in different costs. Ants are considered an important part of the arthropod community in olive orchards and could even play a significant role in pest control. The tree canopy and ground were sampled to compare the ant assemblage in plots fertilized with compost and mineral products in two groves with different types of crop management (superintensive and traditional) over two years. The numbers of ants in both types of fertilization in each grove were not statistically different (p > 0.05), indicating that the type of fertilization did not have a significant impact on its populations in the ground or in the canopy, but the number of individuals was significantly higher in the superintensive grove than in the traditional grove (both in the ground and in the canopy, p < 0.01). The most frequent species in the ground were Pheidole pallidula, Plagiolepis smitzii and Aphaenogaster senilis (superintensive grove) and Pheidole pallidula, Tetramorium gr semilaeve, Plagiolepis pygmaea, and Tapinoma nigerrimum (traditional grove). In the canopy, the most frequent species were Plagiolepis spp. in both groves. Differences in ant densities and species between the groves could be due to the different management, especially of the soil, but it must be confirmed using more replicas and longer periods of study. Full article

The interest of the countries with traditions of walnut cultivation to increase the quantity and quality of walnut production is due to the fact that the organic cultivation of walnut is a sustainable business, with an ecological, economic and social impact. The walnut plant (Juglans regia) is a resource for food, dermatocosmetic and phytotherapeutic products, is raw material in the wood industry and a source of biomass. It is a species suitable for organic farming, with no chemical factors input (in line with the EU program to reduce pesticide use and fuel consumption by 35% in the context of the current energy crisis), and has properties of atmosphere purification and air-conditioning. Due to the creation of varieties with high production potential, suitable for cultivation in intensive and super-intensive plantations and also due to the government financial support, walnut plantations can contribute to the development of new valorization directions for the obtained production, by processing fruits and other vegetative organs (green nuts, green and dried shells, foliage, timber) with significant profits. In order to establish and capitalize on a walnut plantation in the pedological and climatic conditions of Romania, pedological studies, worthiness and pedoclimatic studies were carried out in the depression area of Gorj County and show the stages of cultivation technology in intensive and super-intensive systems. The sustainability and economic efficiency of setting up organic walnut cultivation has been highlighted in view of the costs for agrotechnical works, labor and material expenses. According to the analysis of the efficiency indicators, it has been shown that the establishment of an ecological walnut orchard, on an area of 1 ha, in Gorj County, Romania, is a sustainable, appropriate and opportune investment, in terms of capitalizing on the agricultural potential of the land, environmental protection and with social and economic impact. Full article

Olive orchard intensification has transformed an originally drought-resilient tree crop into a competing water user in semi-arid regions. In our study, we used remote sensing to evaluate whether intensive olive plantations have increased between 2010 and 2020, contributing to the current risk of aquifer depletion in the Saïss plain in Morocco. We developed an unsupervised approach based on the principles of hierarchical clustering and used for each year of analysis two images (5 m pixel size) from the PlanetLabs archive. We first calculated area-based accuracy metrics for 2020 with reference data, reaching a user’s accuracy of 0.95 and a producer’s accuracy of 0.89. For 2010, we verified results among different plot size ranges using available 2010 Google Earth Imagery, reaching high accuracy among the 50 largest plots (correct classification rate, CCR, of 0.94 in 2010 and 0.92 in 2020) and lower accuracies among smaller plot sizes. This study allowed us to map super-intensive olive plantations, thereby addressing an important factor in the groundwater economy of many semi-arid regions. Besides the expected increase in plantation size and the emergence of new plantations, our study revealed that some plantations were also given up, despite the political framework encouraging the opposite. Full article

Until today, only Leccino and Fs-17 (=Favolosa^®) olive cultivars proved resistant to Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca (Xfp) due to a low presence of bacteria in the xylem. Integrated disease management in olive growing areas threatened by the spread of Xfp is crucial to overcoming the environmental, economic and social crisis. Since the EU Decision allows for the plantation of resistant olive cultivars in infected areas, there is a need to define a suitable plantation system for these cultivars. The adoption of new planting systems, such as intensive and super-intensive (SHD), could compensate for the economic losses and restore the olive agroecosystem. The aim is to ascertain the suitability of the available Xfp-resistant cultivars to SHD planting systems that demonstrate the best economic and environmental sustainability. Hence, a five-year study was established in an experimental SHD olive orchard (Southern Italy) in order to analyse the main vegetative and productive traits of Leccino and Fs-17, together with four other Italian cultivars (Cipressino, Coratina, Frantoio and Urano), compared with the well-adapted cultivars to SHD orchards (Arbequina and Arbosana), by means of the von Bertalanffy function. The results indicated that cv. Fs-17 showed sufficient suitability for SHD planting systems, giving the best-accumulated yield despite some canopy growth limitations, whereas cv. Leccino did not show satisfactory results in terms of both vegetative and yield parameters, confirming its suitability for intensive planting systems. These results are useful for optimizing integrated resistance management in Xfp-infected areas by planting resistant host plants. Full article

This study presents an evaluation of soil organic carbon (SOC) and stock (SOC_stock) for the whole rooting depth (60 cm), spaced 55 months in two adjacent olive orchards with similar conditions but different tree densities: (i) intensive, planted in 1996 at 310 tree ha⁻¹; (ii) superintensive, planted in 2000 at 1850 tree ha⁻¹. This was carried out to test the hypothesis that olive orchards at different plant densities will have different rates of accumulation of SOC in the whole soil rooting depth. SOC increased significantly in the superintensive orchard during the 55-month period, from 1.1 to 1.6% in the lane area, and from 1.2 to 1.7% in the tree area (average 0–60 cm), with a significant increase in SOC_stock from 4.7 to 6.1 kg m⁻². In the intensive orchard, there was not a significant increase in SOC_stock in 0–60 cm, average of 4.06 and 4.16 kg m⁻² in 2013 and 2018, respectively. Results indicate a potential for a significant increase in SOC and SOC_stock in olive orchards at higher tree densities when combined with temporary cover crops and mulch of chopped pruning residues. The increase is associated with an increase in SOC, mainly at a 0–15 cm depth. Results also point to the need for improve our monitoring capabilities to detect moderate increases in SOC. Full article

The south of Portugal is one of the regions that will be most affected by the impacts of climate change (CC), with an expected increase in water scarcity. Irrigated super-intensive olive orchards occupy a large area of the used agricultural surface in the Alentejo region, south of Portugal, making it necessary to adapt this crop to the effects of CC. This study assessed the impacts of CC and defined adaptation measures concerning irrigation management of the super-intensive olive orchard. To compute the crop irrigation requirement (CIR), the soil water balance model ISAREG was combined with climate data relative to the reference period 1971–2000 and to the representative concentration pathways RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 for the periods 2011–2040, 2041–2070, and 2071–2100. The growing degree-days (GDD) approach was used to estimate olive phenology for these CC scenarios. Unchanged irrigation management with an average CIR increase up to 16% in RCP4.5 and 31% in RCP8.5 is expected. By adopting higher levels of water deficit, water savings of up to 22% can be realized. The results showed that the anticipated CIR increase for the CC scenarios can be mitigated through regulated deficit irrigation strategies. Full article

In Spain, water use in agriculture is expected to become limited by resources in the future. It is pertinent to study the effect of decreased irrigation on the presence of pests, plant damage, and arthropod communities in a super-intensive olive orchard examined from 2017 to 2019. Arthropods were studied with visual and vacuum sampling methods in two irrigation treatments (T1—control and T2—Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI)). Univariate analyses showed that the total arthropod abundance was significantly greater in T1 than in T2 in 2018 and 2019, mostly due to Diptera Nematocera. Visual sampling revealed that the feeding damage produced by Eriophyidae (Trombidiformes) was significantly lower in T2 in 2018 and 2019: 10–40% of shoots were affected in the late season compared with 50–60% affected for T1. The feeding symptoms caused by Palpita unionalis Hübner (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) and Zelleria oleastrella (Milliere) (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) were significantly less for T2 than for T1. Multivariate principal response curves showed significant differences between irrigation strategies in the 2018 and 2019 data for both sampling methods. In conclusion, irrigation schemes with restricted water use (T2—RDI) help to reduce the abundance of several types of pests in olive crops, especially of those that feed on the plants’ new sprouts. Full article

The objective of fully mechanizing olive harvesting has been pursued since the 1970s to cope with labor shortages and increasing production costs. Only in the last twenty years, after adopting super-intensive planting systems and developing appropriate straddle machines, a solution seems to have been found. The spread of super-intensive plantings, however, raises serious environmental and social concerns, mainly because of the small number of cultivars that are currently used (basically 2), compared to over 100 cultivars today cultivated on a large scale across the world. Olive growing, indeed, insists on over 11 million hectares. Despite its being located mostly in the Mediterranean countries, the numerous olive growing districts are characterized by deep differences in climate and soil and in the frequency and nature of environmental stress. To date, the olive has coped with biotic and abiotic stress thanks to the great cultivar diversity. Pending that new technologies supporting plant breeding will provide a wider number of cultivars suitable for super-intensive systems, in the short term, new growing models must be developed. New olive orchards will need to exploit cultivars currently present in various olive-growing areas and favor increasing productions that are environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. As in fruit growing, we should focus on “pedestrian olive orchards”, based on trees with small canopies and whose top can be easily reached by people from the ground and by machines (from the side of the top) that can carry out, in a targeted way, pesticide treatments, pruning and harvesting. Full article

The tree-growing sector is considered to be an important supplier of food and raw material for industry worldwide. Increasingly competitive decisions regarding international investment in orchards depend on business analysis. This study compares three apple orchards situated in Cluj-Napoca, on the Eastern limits of the Transylvanian Plain, Romania. While the climatic and soil conditions are relatively consistent among the three orchards, the technical and economic results (expressed in hectares) vary due to the use of three different technological systems of apple production: extensive, intensive, and super-intensive. The study compares the life cycle, starting with age of fructification, production level (quantity and quality), costs (investment and production costs—divided into material costs, mechanical costs, human costs, and overhead costs), income, profit (including rate of profit), and investment efficiency: Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and Payback Period (PP). It was observed that the most economically efficient technological system in terms of investments is the super-intensive one, with a higher production level, a higher share of Extra Class apples, and a younger age of initial fructification. However certain inconveniences of this system—such as a more expensive investment, a higher cost of running the business throughout the year, and a reduced life cycle—cannot be ignored. Full article