Comparative study of productive performance of two olive oil cultivars Chemlali Sfax and Koroneiki under arid conditions

In order to utilize arid lands, an olive varietal orchard was established in 2000 in the arid region of Boughrara (Sfax, Tunisia) under rainfed conditions. The orchard contained the local variety Chemlali Sfax and Greek one, Koroneiki at a density of 34 trees/ha (17 m x17m). The study looked at the production for six years (2008 to 2014) and evaluated the productive performance of olive trees over the period. The performance of the two cultivars showed that they were potentially promising under rainfed conditions around an average of six years (1188.54 kg/ha) since they demonstrated a strong flowering rate (41.71-61.47%), a low ovary abortion of the flowers (0.95-16.82%) and an inflorescence quite furnished with flowers (13/inflorescence -21/inflorescence). The agronomic parameters bring out common points between the two cultivars. Indeed, a high production of olives is intricately linked with a strong flowering, an abundance of inflorescences with a reduced number of flowers. These characteristics of flowering in year "on" or year of production indicated a specific strategy to establish an internal balance to cope with rainfed conditions in arid climate. Thus, in the event of strong flowering, Chemlali Sfax and Koroneiki reacted similarly by the reduction of the flowers per inflorescences. The only difference was the fruit set rate which was higher in Chemlali Sfax. In addition, the two varieties ensured high production by increasing the rate of inflorescence and decreasing the rate of ovary abortion. It could be deduced at this level that the good productive performance under the arid climate was due to mobilizing small inflorescences and the reduction of ovary abortion.(c) 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of SAAB.