Search results for "orchards"
showing 10 items of 21 documents
Can Mating Disruption Be a Possible Route to Control Plum Fruit Moth in Mediterranean Environments?
2020
Simple Summary Grapholita funebrana is a main pest of plum throughout the Palearctic region. The management of this pest is generally carried out with chemical insecticides. In this study we investigated the suitability of the mating disruption as alternative method of control of this pest. Experiments were carried out in organic plum orchards during 2012 and 2014. Trap catches and fruit sampling were carried out to estimate the efficacy of this technique in reducing males catch and fruit infestation. The results indicated that the males caught in traps placed in the treatment plots was always significantly lower than untreated plots. The chemical analysis of the pheromone emission from the…
Are Cover Crops Affecting the Quality and Sustainability of Fruit Production?
2021
The study of the interaction between fruit trees and cover crops has been addressed in numerous works over the last 50 years or more, evidencing the need to evolve from a productive orchard to an orchard that plays different ecosystem roles in terms of environmental sustainability rather than just productivity. This review, through an analysis of the scientific literature since the 1950s, highlights the development of sustainable soil management models in fruit tree orchards, mostly considering the relationship with fruit quality traits and with the ecosystem services that result from the adoption of cover crops, aiming at identifying and formulating technical recommendations in perennial o…
SSR-based DNA fingerprints reveal the genetic diversity of Sicilian olive (Olea europaeaL.) germplasm
2005
Twelve published simple sequence repeat (SSR; microsatellite) markers, belonging to the ssrOeUA-DCA, GAPU and UDO series, were tested in a panel of 46 accessions of olive germplasm belonging to 30 unique cultivars collected in seven Provinces of Sicily. Four well-known reference olive cultivars were also added. The analysis was carried out on an automatic capillary sequencer using fluorescent dyes, and fragment sizes were determined using internal standards. The results allowed us to rank the SSRs assayed according to their information content and reproducibility. Up to 115 alleles were identified (119, if those unique to sport mutations were included), the frequency of which allowed geneti…
Improvement of FAO-56 Model to Estimate Transpiration Fluxes of Drought Tolerant Crops under Soil Water Deficit: Application for Olive Groves
2014
[EN] Agro-hydrological models are considered an economic and simple tool for quantifying crop water requirements. In the last two decades, agro-hydrological physically based models have been developed to simulate mass and energy exchange processes in the soil-plant-atmosphere system. Although very reliable, because of the high number of required variables, simplified models have been proposed to quantify crop water consumes. The main aim of this paper is to propose an amendment of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations FAO-56 spreadsheet program to introduce a more realistic shape of the stress function, valid for mature olive orchards (Olea europaea L.). The mod…
The impact of agricultural management on selected soil properties in citrus orchards in Eastern Spain: A comparison between conventional and organic …
2017
The agricultural management of citrus orchards is changing from flood irrigated managed orchards to drip irrigated organic managed orchards. Eastern Spain is the oldest and largest European producer of citrus, and is representative of the environmental changes triggered by innovations in orchard management. In order to determine the impact of land management on different soil quality parameters, twelve citrus orchards sites were selected with different land and irrigation management techniques. Soil samples were taken at two depths, 0-2. cm and 5-10. cm for studying soil quality parameters under the different treatments. Half of the studied orchards were organically managed and the other si…
Syntaxonomy and ecology of thermophilous deciduous open woodlands and scrub vegetation in Tajikistan (Middle Asia)
2022
In this paper we present the first syntaxonomic classification for the thermophilous open wood and scrub vegetation in Tajikistan with some remarks on its environmental gradients. Altogether 143 relevés were sampled between 2014–2021 using the seven-degree cover-abundance scale of Braun-Blanquet. They were classified by the modified TWINSPAN method with the use of the four step interval scale with cutoff levels of 0%, 2%, 5% and 10% and total inertia as a measure of cluster heterogeneity. Diagnostic species were identified using the phi coefficient as a fidelity measure. Detrended Correspondence Analysis was used to determine the relation between samples, vegetation units and the major grad…
Investigationes on population dynamics and mortality of Phyllocnistis citrella in western Sicily (Italy)
2006
Population dynamics and mortality of P. citrella, and its natural enemies with parasitism levels in two different citrus orchards, sprayed and unsprayed, were investigated. The effect of host density on percentage parasitism and mortality was calculated by regression analyses. In both sites, over the 3-years period from 2002 to 2004, P. citrella was detected during the summer months and it was not found during the first flush. Population levels were low, never exceeding 3.0/leaf. P. citrella began to increase from June in 2002-2003 and from July in 2004. The monthly percentage parasitism of P. citrella in sprayed orchard fluctuated from 0 to 19%, while in unsprayed from 0 to 30%. High morta…
Assessment of the Vegetation Parameters of Almond and Vine Plants for Designing a Compact Tractor
2018
The aim of this research is to assess the vegetation parameters of almond and vine plants, aimed at designing a compact tractor suitable for these orchards. The research is part of the Italian project TRACLAS, involving the Universities of Palermo, Milan, Bari, “Tuscia” of Viterbo and Agricultural Research and Economics - Research Unit for Agricultural Engineering (CREA-ING) of Treviglio (Bergamo). Based on the results of the surveys carried out in a sample of almond and vine farms, it was possible to define the vegetation parameters that will allow to design a very low and narrow tractor equipped with a fixed ROPS and suitable for these orchards.
First data on the repellent activity of essential oils of Citrus limon towards medfly (Ceratitis capitata)
2012
The biological activity of peel essential oils of two Sicilian cultivars of C. limon, ‘Interdonato’ and ‘Lunario’, was investigated by electrophysiological recordings (EAG) and field trials on Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera Tephritidae). The EAG data showed a remarkable dose-response relationship and a low activation threshold dose (10-3M) for both essential oil extracts. In field tests, essential oils showed a good repellent and antiovipositional activi- ty on ‘Navelina’ oranges, and in particular the essential oils of ‘Lunario’ pro- vided the same results of kaolin. Potential applications of essential oils from C. limon cultivars against C. capitata in organic farming are discuss…
Primi studi sulla biologia e sul controllo di Cydia funebrana (Treitschke) in susineti biologici siciliani
2011
First studies on biology and control of Cydia funebrana (treitschke) in Sicilian organic plum orchards. Cydia funebrana (Treitschke), considered the key pest in the Sicilian plum orchards. Few studies were carried out in Sicily concerning C. funebrana life cycle, forecasting models and the effectiveness of some products permitted in organic plum orchards. In 2010 researches were carried out in three Sicilian plum orchards, two in Palermo Province (Monreale and San Giuseppe Jato) and one in Agrigento Province (Castrofilippo), in order to monitor the population, to evaluate damage levels caused by the plum moth and to estimate how many generations it could complete by Charmillot’s forecasting…