[Guides and cellular processes in olive growth] | Pautas y procesos celulares en el crecimiento de la aceituna
1997
Manrique Gordillo, T.
In this study fruit development is compared for irrigated and non-irrigated olive trees. The variety utilised was 'Picual', growing in the province of Cordoba in Spain. The experimental trees were under treatment during a number of years previous to the study, although in the year in which the study was carried out rainfall was high. General fruit growth was first characterised using the agronomic parameters of fresh weight, dry weight and oil content, and morphological measurements of fruit volume and diameter. Then anatomical studies were carried out to determine the contributions of cell number and cell size to olive mesocarp expansion. Total productivity was much higher in the irrigated treatment, largely due to greater fruit number. Fruit size was similar in the two treatments. Under dryland conditions the growth curves for fruit weight, diameter and volume followed a double sigmoid pattern, with two phases of rapid growth in the first phase. In both treatments, a reduction in relative growth rate indicated the end of the first rapid growth phase. The seasonal pattern of oil accumulation was similar for both treatments, however oil content per fruit was higher in the non-irrigated trees. Cell expansion occurred throughout fruit growth, with the maximum rate of increase in cell size once cell division was reduced. Young fruits in the non-irrigated treatment were larger than in the irrigated trees due to higher cell number.
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This bibliographic record has been provided by Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari