Phenological and agronomic observations on some almond cultivars and clonal rootstocks of commercial interest in Latium Region
Author(s)
CRISTOFORI, Riccardo
Pacchiarelli, Alberto
Date Issued
2026
Type
conferenceObject
Abstract
The growing demand for almonds has recently influenced the Italian nut market, pushing growers towards almond cultivation even in areas that historically have no full vocation due to certain climatic constraints, such as along the Latium coastline in Central Italy. In this new regional context, an almond collection orchard was set up in late 2017 in the municipality of Tarquinia (VT) to test: 1) the local adaptation of commercial almond cultivars and 2) the different effect of clonal rootstock on some almond cultivars. The collection field was subjected to digital soil mapping approach using an EMI sensor, to determine punctual soil traits. Phenological observations and data acquisition were conducted in the first trial for two growing seasons (2024-2025) and referred to eight cultivars introduced in the orchard: namely Genco, Guara, Lauranne Avijour, Penta, Soleta, Supernova, Tuono, and Vialfas all grafted onto a GF677 rootstock. For each accession, three plants were selected in order to monitor some parameters such as blooming, ecophysiological traits, yield and nut and kernel traits. The trial showed as the cultivars Lauranne and Genco, thanks to the late flowering of the first accession, and the good production performance, at least in one of the two research-year, were the most interesting cultivars during the investigation period, while the Vialfas cultivar, as already established in Spain, requires further agronomic testing as it was characterized by low productivity during the two-year trial period, suggesting that it is not suitable for use in the composition of varietal assortments in almond orchards in Lazio.
In the second trial the study aimed to assess the agronomic suitability of some clonal rootstocks (namely Rootpac 40, Rootpac 20 and GF677) in comparison to peach seedling rootstocks on cultivar Guara. The grafted plants were subjected to phenological and agronomical assessments on a four-year basis, in order to identify the most suitable clonal rootstock on the selected cultivar and drive the growers to the proper almond rootstock choice for the local environment. Overall, plants grafted on GF677 and on peach seedlings rootstocks exhibited the greatest yield during the four-year investigation, achieving the highest average values of in-shell almond per plant in 2025 (4 kg plant-1) and in 2022 (3 kg plant-1), respectively. Furthermore, Rootpac 20 rootstock generally anticipated fruit ripening by approximately one week compared to the other rootstocks tested.
Conference(s)
SEEDS OF INNOVATION - PHD SEARCH SYMPOSIUM