The rapid entry into production of super-intensive varieties would be the cause, not the effect, of its reduced vigor. In short, just to name the names, the Spanish variety Arbequina it does not have a quick production start because it is a low vigor cultivar. Rather, it remains a cultivar of low vigor precisely because it enters production quickly.
This result, which represents a decisive change of perspective, comes from a study developed by some researchers from CREA – Oli and by professors of the University of Perugia conducted for two years on two diametrically opposed varieties such as, in fact the Arbequina (not very vigorous) and the Frantoio (very vigorous).
In the two years examined, in young plants of both cultivars, it was evaluated the influence of fruiting on plant growth, eliminating or not the little fingers. At the end of the experimentation, for each thesis (plants not de-pinched, de-pinked only in the first year, de-pinked only in the second or de-pinked in both years) the determined the total vegetative dry mass of two years and lcumulative production in terms of dry mass of fruits.
Vegetative biomass was much lower in plants that were not de-pinched. However, by adding the productive biomass to the vegetative one, similar total biomass values were obtained for all the thesis compared (cultivars and de-pinky treatments). As expected, when the pinkies were not removed, Frantoio was less productive and more vigorous than Arbequina, while when the inflorescences were removed in both years, no differences in terms of vegetative biomass were observed between the two cultivars consider.
In all treatments and in both cultivars, plant growth (vegetative biomass) was strongly and inversely correlated to production (productive biomass), and when the growth was expressed in terms of increase in trunk diameter, and when it was expressed as increase in vegetative biomass. The results represent the first quantitative evidence which shows differences in vigor completely explained by different distributions of dry matter in the fruits. This indicates that the early production found in young Arbequina plants would be the cause rather than the consequence of its low vigor.
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