NUCIS number 10. December 2001. 48 pages (full ... - IAMZ - ciheam

N U C I S 

N E W S L E T T E R 

Information Bulletin of the Research Network on Nuts (FAO-CIHEAM) 

INIA 

INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE INVESTIGACIÓN Y TECNOLOGÍA AGRARIA Y ALIMENTARIA 

Number 10 December 2001 

CIHEAM 

IRTA - Mas Bové ● Coordination Centre of the Research Network on Nuts 

FAO CIHEAM 

Nut Network 

EDITORIAL 

Activities 2001 

During 2001 some important activities 

were carried out within the FAO-CIHEAM 

Interregional Cooperative Research Network 

on Nuts following its programme 

(1997-2002). 

The Sixth Coordination Board meeting 

was held from 26-28 April 2001 in Zaragoza, 

Spain. During the meeting, Network 

activities were reviewed and future plans 

considered. The meeting was highly needed 

to communicate FAO and CIHEAM 

strategic priorities, to agree the restructurization 

of the Nut Network, to introduce 

new coordination team members and to 

prepare the workplan for the next few 

years. The increasing importance of geographic 

coverage and intensification of 

activities to foster development in selected 

areas like CEE or CIS member countries 

was also stressed. The decreasing 

Network resources compel its restructurization. 

Regarding training, it was decided 

to organize the next two week course on 

Nut Production and Economics in Zaragoza 

in November 2003. 

The XII GREMPA Almond and Pistachio 

Meeting jointly with the III ISHS International 

Symposium on Pistachios and Almond 

was held in late May 2001 in Zaragoza, 

Spain. This Symposium was organized 

jointly by the Servicio de Investigación 

Agroalimentaria of the Diputación 

General de Aragón, ISHS, FAO-CIHEAM 

Nut Network and AIDA. During this Symposium 

a parallel meeting of the Subnetwork 

on Economics took place with the 

outcome of a research pre-proposal on 

an Information System for Mediterranean 

Nuts for an INCO-DEV concerted action 

submitted to the European Commission 

which was unsuccessful. 

During 2001 the Proceedings of the XI 

GREMPA Seminar on pistachios and almonds 

held in Sanliurfa, Turkey, was published 

in the Cahiers Options Méditerranéennes 

series. Also, the Proceedings of 

the IV International Walnut Symposium, 

held in Bordeaux, were published in the 

Acta Horticulturae series. 

Genetic resources inventories 

Regarding the Inventories on Germplasm, 

Research and References, the 

third Inventory on Chestnut, edited by G. 

Bounous, is in press and will be published 

during 2002, following the first on Almond 

(1997) and the second on Hazelnut 

(2000). These inventories published as a 

REU Technical Series, are important 

compilations of the currently available 

species, genetic resources and information 

on ongoing research projects and bibliography. 

In addition, two more inventories 

are being compiled and are at different 

stages of completion. The Inventory 

on Walnut being compiled by E. Germain 

is close to completion and the Inventory 

P. atlantica growing at the Negev desert, Israel 

on Pistachio is being collated by N. Kaska 

and B.E. Ak. All these catalogues are being 

funded by FAO’s Regional Office for 

Europe and the Seed and Plant Genetic 

Resources Service (AGPS) together with 

CIHEAM-IAMZ. 

In addition, a draft Descriptors List for 

Hazelnut has been developed by members 

of our Network and has now been 

submitted to IPGRI for assessment and 

eventual editing and publication. 

Network restructurization 

In the last Editorial a renewal in the Nut 

Network structure was foreseen and has 

now been implemented. After the recommendations 

issued by the European Networks 

Advisory Committee (ERNAC) and 

the review made at the Ninth Meeting of 

the ESCORENA Coordinators held in 

Grignon, France in late November 2000, 

a simplification of its complex structure to 

make it more compact and economic to 

run, was agreed upon during the Sixth 

Coordination Board meeting. The newly 

FAO-CIHEAM - Nucis-Newsletter, Number 10 December 2001 

1

approved Network structure is based on a 

Coordination Centre and only six subnetworks 

instead of the previous nine (see 

back page of the issue). The Subnetworks 

on Almond and Stone Pine are now 

included in the Coordination Centre and 

the Subnetwork on Pecan has been amalgamated 

to the Subnetwork on Walnut. 

By refocusing its Network, FAO and CI- 

HEAM will be able to continue to serve in 

research cooperation and act as a link 

between the nut producing sectors 

throughout the Regions. 

Changes of four Liaison Officers and 

new appointments 

There were considerable changes in the 

composition of the coordination team. 

During 2001 two key Liaison Officers, E. 

Germain and N. Kaska, who have 

successfully managed the Subnetworks 

on Walnut and Pistachio respectively, since 

the start of our Nut Network in 1990, 

retired. Also G. Catalán, Liaison Officer 

since the establishment of the Stone Pine 

Subnetwork in 1995, retired. Ö. Tuzcu, 

the former Pecan subnetwork’s Liaison 

Officer is no longer coordinating its activities. 

All four have made an outstanding 

service to Network activities and members 

and we acknowledge their important 

contribution to the development of activities. 

J. Chat from INRA Bordeaux, France, 

replaced E. Germain and B.E. Ak, 

from the University of Harran, Turkey, 

took over N. Kaska’s position. 

Nut Network on the web 

In addition to the already existing information 

on the Nut Network at http:// 

www.iamz.ciheam.org/ingles/nuts.htm, 

from July 2000 the FAO European System 

of Cooperative Research Networks in 

Agriculture (ESCORENA) has opened a 

website Nuts Network at http:// 

Almond trees at bloom in Teruel, Spain 

www.fao.org/regional/europe/escorena/ 

nut-crops.html on which up-to-date information 

regarding the Network and subnetworks 

can be found. This is a useful 

step forward to becoming more global. 

NUCIS on the web 

A short version of the Newsletter (editorial, 

contents and back page) from issue 

number 6 and onwards, is available on 

the Internet web pages of both FAO 

(http://www.fao.org/regional/europe/public-e/nucis.htm) 

and CIHEAM (http:// 

www.iamz.ciheam.org/ingles/nucis6.htm). 

The contents of this Newsletter can be 

browsed through and also copied and 

printed. 

Contributions to NUCIS 

As in past NUCIS editorials, we again 

stress that this Newsletter must be an 

effective vehicle of communication for all 

the Network members. The pages of this 

bulletin are open to all readers who would 

like to suggest ideas or to express their 

opinion about the work developed by the 

Network (activities carried out and planned) 

or to publish short articles and reports 

on relevant horticultural subjects of 

general interest. We receive a sufficient 

number of contributions from the Mediterranean 

Basin and overseas for the articles 

and reports section. However, the 

sections on news and notes and also on 

congresses and meetings are usually difficult 

to cover due to the scarce information 

received and thus, contributions are 

most welcomed. Otherwise, the Editor 

has to report on the issues he is aware of, 

but certainly there must be many more issues 

on-going throughout the year which 

merit reporting. Also, the place for ‘grey’ 

bibliography (references and documents 

which are difficult to search like Masters 

or Ph Theses) is scarcely filled. 

The dissemination of information originated 

by the Network is of paramount importance 

and through this bulletin has been 

largely successful. The first NUCIS was 

published in 1993, this issue of the NU- 

CIS Newsletter is number 10 and during 

these eight years a wide editing task has 

been made. I acknowledge and gratefully 

thank all contributors for their effort and 

interest to produce and send me valuable 

information. The exchange of information 

between Network members through the 

pages of this Newsletter is the basis for 

developing collaboration. The editing task 

in the ten NUCIS issues already published 

has been huge (NUCIS 1, 9 pages; 2, 

20 pages; 3, 24 pages; 4, 28 pages; 5, 

36 pages; 6, 52 pages, 7, 44 pages, 8, 46 

pages 9, 68 pages and 10, 48 pages). 

This time-consuming major editing can no 

longer be provided by the Coordination 

Centre of our Nut Network as time and resources 

are limited. Therefore we are asking 

contributors who send articles, news, 

notes, bibliographic references, etc., to 

the different sections to provide them well 

organized and elaborated. Information 

should be sent in satisfactory English. 

Contributions could be sent through Internet 

using the Editor’s email. The alternative 

is to provide them on diskette and also 

in printed format. This bulletin is reproduced 

in black and white only, including slides 

and photographs. We thank all who 

have contributed to this issue. Please 

send your contributions for the next issue, 

number 11 (December 2002) by the end 

of October 2002. Finally, we wish all Nut 

Network members and collaborators a 

peaceful and happy 2002. 

The Editor 

The designations employed and the 

presentation of material in this publication 

do not imply the expression of any 

opinion whatsoever on the part of the 

Food and Agriculture Organization of 

the United Nations concerning the legal 

status of any country, territory, city or 

area or of its authorities, or concerning 

the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. 

This publication contains the collective 

views of an international group of experts 

and does not necessarily represent 

the decisions or the stated policy 

of the Food and Agriculture Organization 

of the United Nations, the International 

Centre for Advanced Mediterranean 

Agronomic Studies nor of the Organization 

for the Economic Cooperation 

and Development. 

Contributions should be written concisely 

in English. Please send contributions 

on paper and diskette (Microsoftâ Word 

or Word Perfectâ). Authors are responsible 

for the content of their papers. Reproduction 

of the articles is authorized, 

provided that the original source is 

clearly stated. 

2 FAO-CIHEAM - Nucis-Newsletter, Number 10 December 2001

CONTENTS 

Page 

ARTICLES 

AND REPORTS 

CHILE 

EDITORIAL .......................................... 1 

ARTICLES AND REPORTS 

ALMOND INDUSTRY 

IN CHILE 

Iquique 

I REGIÓN 

• Almond industry in Chile ............................................. 3 

• Biological and molecular assessment 

of self-incompatibility in Almond ................................. 8 

• Almond and hazelnut products. 

Consumers’ preferences ............................................ 12 

• Hazelnut production in Iran ....................................... 14 

• Hazelnut production in Chile ...................................... 15 

• Genetic and production improvement 

of Gevuina avellana Mol. in Chile: 

selected clones for nut production ............................ 16 

• Distribution of some morphological traits 

in walnut seedling trees ............................................. 20 

• The Australian Pistachio Industry .............................. 22 

• Selection criteria of the best pistachio male trees ..... 24 

• The effect of IAA, IBA, NAA 2,4-D on rooting 

in cuttings of very young Pistacia atlántica 

Desf. seedlings .......................................................... 26 

• Pistachio dieback: a devastating problem 

for the industry in Australia ....................................... 28 

• Amino acid proline fluctuation in some 

drought-stressed pistachio rootstocks ...................... 31 

• Update of the Spanish Chestnut Inventory 

of Cultivars ................................................................ 34 

• Utilisation of carob products in animal feeding and their 

effects on zootechnical results .................................. 37 

PRODUCING AREA 

Chile is located south-western in South 

America, between 17º 30’ and 56º 30’ parallels 

and 66º 30’ and 75º 40’ meridians. 

The country is divided in 13 Regions including 

the Metropolitan Region with its 

capital Santiago. The length of Chile is 

4.300 km and its average broadness is 

188 km. The Chilean population is around 

15,4 million people. 

Currently the total surface with deciduous 

fruit trees is 210.000 ha, 70.000 ha planted 

with grapes for wines and 45.000 ha 

for the “Pisco industry”, an alcoholic beverage. 

The main species planted are table 

grapes, apples, peaches and nectarines. 

According to the Agronomic Census 

(1997), there are 5,752 ha planted with 

almond trees in Chile. Most outstanding is 

the Metropolitan Region with 2,797 ha followed 

by the Sixth Region with 1,902 ha, 

representing 43.6% and 33.0 % of the total 

area respectively (Table 1). 

An increase of more than 2,200 ha is observed 

between the years 1990 and 

2000, estimating that at present the area 

is even higher, probably closer to 7,000 

ha (Table 2). 

Talca 

VII REGIÓN 

Concepción 

VIII REGIÓN 

Temuco 

IX REGIÓN 

Puerto Montt 

X REGIÓN 

Copiapó 

III REGIÓN 

Valparaiso 

V REGIÓN 

Rancagua 

VI REGIÓN 

Antofagasta 

II REGIÓN 

LaSerena 

IV REGIÓN 

Coyhaique 

XI REGIÓN 

Punta Arenas 

XII REGIÓN 

Santiago 

REGIÓN METROPOLOTANA 

TERRITORIO CHILENO ANTÁRTICO 

90° 

POLO 

60° 

731 ha 

SUR 

2,796.6 ha 

1,902.3 ha 

53° 

NOTES AND NEWS 

• Performances of Spanish and French 

almond varieties in the GAP region 

(Sanliurfa, Turkey) ..................................................... 40 

• In Memoriam: Umberto Menini ................................. 40 

• In Memoriam: Mohamed Laghezali ........................... 40 

CONGRESSES AND MEETINGS 

• III International Symposium on Pistachios 

and Almonds ............................................................. 41 

• Turkish First National Walnut Symposium ................ 41 

Table 1. Regional area with almonds (1997) 

Surface 

Region Orchards Nr. Non bearing (ha) Bearing (ha) Total (ha) 

III 5 0.9 4.5 5.4 

IV 40 168.4 83.7 252.1 

V 293 147.6 583.4 731 

M.R. 497 668.8 2,127.8 2,796.6 

VI 173 544.4 1,357.9 1,902.3 

VII 27 37.6 20.2 57.8 

VIII 13 1.4 4.7 6.1 

IX 3 0.5 0.2 0.7 

Total 1,051 1,569.6 4,182.4 5,752 

Source: INE 1997 Agronomic Census 

TO BE HELD ................................................................. 42 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................... 42 

BACKPAGE ................................................................... 48 

Table 2. Evolution of the planted area with almonds 

Year 1990 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 

Surface (ha) 3,750 4,930 5,335 5,750 5,923 5,982 

Source: ODEPA 


3

Almond orchard of 'Non Pareil' under irrigated conditions 

Table 3. Almond orchards classified by size 

Region Nr. orchards Range I Range II Range III Range IV Total Ciren-Corfo 

IV 33 163.7 72.2 0.0 0.0 235.9 1999 

V 175 200.4 198.8 161 2.5 562.7 1996 

R.M. 373 671 940 848.7 193.2 2,653 1998 

VI 114 714.9 575.1 321.1 19.2 1,630 1996 

VII 9 24.8 1.1 1.6 0.1 27.6 1990 

VIII 10 1.36 0.0 0.27 0.26 1.89 2000 

TOTAL 714 1,776.2 1,787.2 1,332.7 215.3 5,111 

Percentage 34.7 35.0 26.0 4.3 100.0 

Source: CIREN 

Range I: 1-4 years / Range II: 5-12 years / Range III: 13-35 years / Range IV: +36 years 

Table 4. In shell almond yield (1991-2000) 

Years 1990-91 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 

Production (t) 2,400 5,800 6,100 7,400 8,140 

Source: ODEPA 

Table 5. Volume and value of almond export market during 1990-2000 

Years 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 

Shelled tons 1,390 1,836 1,334 1,170 1,872 2,015 

FOB 000s US$ 8,120.8 11,773.7 8,309.3 6,537.3 6,311.2 7,827.5 

US$ / kg 5.84 6.41 6.22 5.59 3.37 3.88 

In shell (t) 163.5 123.8 69.8 68.5 137.1 599.0 

Value in 000s of US$ 551 446 299 224.5 290.6 1,480.9 

US$ / kg 3.37 3.60 4.28 3.27 2.11 2,47 

Total in 000s of US$ 8,671.8 12,219.7 8,608.3 6,761.8 6,601.8 9,308.4 

Source: Central Bank of Chile 

According to the 1997 Agronomic Census 

there were 1,051 almond orchards planted 

between the Third and Ninth Regions. 

However, according to the most recent 

Surveys (Table 3) the actual number of 

orchards planted with almonds is 714, located 

between the Fourth and Eighth Regions, 

outstanding the Metropolitan Region 

with 373 orchards, representing 

52.2% of the total. 

The difference shown in the number of orchards 

given by CIREN´s Survey and INE 

Census (Table 1) is due to the fact that 

INE considers as orchard plots those 

lands planted with a minimum of 0.1 ha. 

On the other hand, CIREN considers as 

industrial orchard only those plots larger 

than 0.5 ha planted with almonds. 

When the orchards are analysed according 

to the age range, it can be observed 

that 34,7% of the total surface belongs to 

range I and 35% to range II. This means 

that 70% of the planted area is in full development, 

with an enormous potential 

production which will be reflected in the 

near future. 

PRODUCTION 

The estimation of in shell almond production 

is 8,140 t, equivalent to 4,500 t in 

kernel. Approximately 2.000 t are exported 

in kernel and 150 t in shell. 

The increase observed in the in shell almond 

production is due to the coming to 

bear of young trees, as well as improve- 


ments in the management of orchards´ 

technology, which has lead to an increased 

average income per hectare (Table 4). 

EXPORTS 

The almond kernels export market has 

had a sustained growth from 554 t in 

1990 to 2,015 t in 2000, with an average 

FOB value of US$ 3.80/kg in 1990 and 

US$ 3.88 in 2000. It reached its highest 

price in 1996 with US$ 6.41 per kg. 

In relation to in shell almond exports, these 

have presented volumes of approximately 

150 t annually, reaching up to 600 

t in the year 2000, with an average FOB 

price of US$ 2.47/kg. Regarding the total 

value of shelled and in-shelled almond 

exports these had an increase from US$ 

2.52 millions in 1990 to US$ 12.22 millions 

in 1996, reaching 9.3 millions in 

2000 (Table 5). 

The main importers of Chilean almond 

countries in Latin America are currently 

Argentina and Brazil. In 1990 Argentina 

imported 236 t of almond kernels, in 1995 

it reached 622.9 t, and 1,224 t in 2000. 

Argentina has an annual demand higher 

than 1,500 t and Brazil higher than 600 t. 

This indicates that Chile could provide 

these markets, which are presently being 

supplied mainly by the United States. It is 

worth mentioning that during the last five 

years other countries like Colombia, Uruguay 

and Venezuela have imported 250 t 

in kernels. Brazil should be specially 

mentioned as in shell importer, with volumes 

reaching 137 t in 1999. Last year a 

new import market was opened with India 

and China – their imports reached up to 

525 t in shell almonds (Tables 6 and 7). 

IMPORTS 

Regarding Chilean imports, these have 

changed during the last few years, reaching 

536.5 t in the year 2000, with a value 

of US$ 1.6 millions with a CIF cost of 

US$ 2.99/kg. The origin of these almond 

imports is California (USA). This volume 

has caused distortions and great concern 

in the Chilean market ( Table 8). 

EXPORTING COMPANIES 

There are 42 marketing and growing 

companies that export almonds to different 

markets. The market participation is 

leaded only by six of them, reaching up 

the 76% of the export market in the period 

from 1997 to 2000. This is confirmed 

by the growth shown by the 6 largest 

companies, amounting their exports to 

1,500 t. The rest of the market is supplied 

by 36 companies or producer-exporters, 

which very often compete among them. 

These companies maintained their exports 

around 480 t during this same period, 

with an exception during the year 1999, 

reaching 890 t. 

Table 6. Destination and volume of kernels (t) per year (1995-2000) 

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 

Argentina 622.9 1,098.9 766.9 732.5 1,040.1 1,224.0 

Brasil 325.3 341.2 329.2 265.2 475.2 452.1 

Colombia 86.0 154.2 117.9 97.7 159.3 173.9 

Uruguay 21.5 30.0 42.1 22.1 45.5 29.5 

Venezuela 95.1 135.1 28.0 4.0 87.2 56.2 

Others 239.3 77.0 52.8 48.2 64.4 79.1 

TOTAL 1,390.1 1,836.4 1,336.9 1,169.7 1,871.7 2,014.8 

Source : Central Bank of Chile 

Table 7. Destination and volume of in shell almond exports (t) per year (1995-2000) 

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 

Argentina 0.02 0.03 0.01 0.02 0 7.90 

Bolivia - - 0.10 0.20 0.15 1.28 

Brazil 0.14 120 0.07 68.3 137.0 63.73 

China - - - - - 122.36 

India - - - - - 403.75 

TOTAL 0.16 120.3 0.18 68.5 137.2 599.02 

Source : Central Bank of Chile 

Table 8. Origin, volume and value of almond kernel imports (t) per year (1995-2001) 

Year Origin Amount (t) 000s US$CIF US$/kg 

1995 USA 68.3 333 4.88 

1996 USA 21.5 129 6.00 

1997 USA 65.8 298 4.53 

France 0.01 1 10.53 

Spain 28.7 199 6.93 

1998 - - - - 

1999 USA 64.6 302.6 4.69 

2000 USA 536.5 1,605.2 2.99 

Spain 2.0 3.8 1.87 

2001* USA 123.4 376.8 3.05 

Spain 0.2 0.7 3.53 

Holland 0.4 2.1 5.39 

Malaysia** 12.6 13.3 1.05 

*January-June ** in shell 

Source: Central Bank of Chile 

Table 9. Relative importance of the almond exporting companies (t) 

Company 1997 1998 1999 2000 

1 306.6 231.0 290.2 538.6 

2 207.3 134.2 250.8 320.6 

3 140.3 120.2 194.4 203.3 

4 81.0 69.5 183.9 187.2 

5 72.7 71.3 145.4 134.2 

6 81.4 57.1 140.8 149.0 

Sum 1 to 6 889.3 683.3 1,205.5 1,532.9 

Other companies 447.6 486.4 809.9 481.9 

Market share 1 to 6 66.5% 58.4% 59.8% 76.1% 

Total 1,336.9 1,169.7 2,015.4 2,014.8 

Source: Prepared by the author 


5

Almond orchard of 'Non Pareil' under irrigated conditions 

Table 10. Main varieties planted in Chile 

Variety IV V Metropol. VI VII VIII Total % 

Region Region Region Region Region Region (ha) 

(ha) (ha) (ha) (ha) (ha) (ha) 

‘N.Pareil’ 72.36 292.59 1,290.91 692.50 15.6 1.10 2,348.56 45.9 

‘Carmel’ 54.19 93.27 368.06 253.21 0.7 0 768.73 15.0 

‘Texas’ 9.13 13.67 202.92 103.74 0 0.2 329.46 6.4 

‘IXL’ 0 3.89 96.60 66.09 0 0 166.58 3.3 

‘Merced’ 0.30 67.93 93.46 61.49 0 0 223.18 4.4 

‘Butte’ 20.52 0 18.31 35.08 0 0 73.91 1.4 

‘Price’ 40.97 27.60 52.89 36.03 0 0 157.49 3.1 

‘Ruby’ 20.26 9.94 68.60 70.09 0 0 168.89 3.3 

Others 18.2 53.4 461.3 312.0 11.3 0.6 874.6 17.1 

TOTAL 235.9 562.7 26.3 1,630.3 27.6 1.9 5,111.4 100.0 

Source: CIREN 

Table 11. Plants to be sold in the 2001 season 

V Metropolitan VI VIII 

Varieties Region Region Region Region Total % 

‘Butte’ - - 9,020 - 9,020 2.6 

‘Carmel’ - 35,285 24,351 - 59,636 17.0 

‘Fritz’ - 8,000 18,980 - 26,980 7.7 

‘IXL’ - 500 - - 500 0.1 

‘Manon’ - - 5,700 - 5,700 1.6 

‘Merced’ /’Texa’ - 8,850 - 250 9,100 2.6 

‘Mission’ - 200 - - 200 0 

‘Morley’ - - 304 - 304 0 

‘Non Pareil’ 2,000 88,828 78,730 400 169,558 48.3 

‘Padre’ - - 9,000 - 9,000 2.6 

‘Price’ - 13,033 8,600 - 21,633 6.2 

‘Ruby’ - 5,010 6,455 - 11,465 3.3 

‘Savannah’ - - 100 - 100 0 

‘Solano’ - 13,000 8,500 - 21,500 6.1 

‘Thompson’ - 10 6,000 - 6,010 1.7 

Total 2,000 172,716 175,740 650 351,106 100.0 

Source: Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero. Plants declaration: Region V: 40 %; M.R.: 60%; 

Region VI: 83%; VIII: 100% of the nurseries 

PRICES 

The export price of almond kernels has 

experienced a sustained increase during 

the last few years, which has lead to 

make new plantings. 

In the period 1995-1997, FOB kernel price 

was higher than US$ 6.00/kg, value 

that explains partly the greater interest of 

growers and investors in entering this business. 

Furthermore, this interest has also 

developed due to the fact that this specie 

presents lower production costs than 

other fruit trees, with possibilities of being 

cultivated in the same agro climatic zones. 

However, the price of the latest campaigns 

has been much lower than the 

average price of the period l995-1997 

(Table 5). 

Even though almonds have no great problems 

in post-harvest and marketing, its 

price is clearly determined by the Californians’ 

year production, and Chile becomes 

a “price taker” country. This means 

Chile has to adapt itself to the prices established 

by California in the worldwide 

market. 

VARIETIES 

Analysing the composition of the different 

varieties planted, the introduction of new 

Californian cultivars such as ‘Carmel’, 

‘Merced’, ‘Butte’, ‘Price’ and ‘Ruby’ can 

be observed, which represent 27.2% of 

the total area planted. However, ‘Non Pareil’ 

is the main variety with a 45.9%, followed 

by ‘Texas’ with 6,4% and ‘IXL’ still 

appearing with 3.3%. The ‘Non Pareil’ variety 

was obtained in California in 1879 

and up to date has not been replaced due 

to its high quality and commercial demand. 


Table 13. Actives, machinery and general expenditure (in USA $) 

required for almond production 

Actives Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 California 

Hectares 175 30 37 40 

Orchard age (years) 7 6-17 6-7 - 

Buildings (US$/ ha) 1,096 3,058 3,174 971 

Irrigation System (US$/ha) 1,925 122 2,018 346 

Orchard establishment 3,565 1,193 2,660 7,447 

Real state * 2,752 9,174 17,431 12,355 

Others 14 306 248 472 

Total/ha 9,352 13,853 25,532 21,590 

Machinery/ha 187 520 424 1,139 

Office expenditure 14 88 371 131 

Salaries 1,017 758 476 482 

Total General Expenditure 1,031 846 847 613 

Source: Ramírez B. 2000. Thesis PUC 

Table 14. Total costs / ha and costs / kg of kernel 

Case Nr. 1 Case Nr. 2 Case Nr. 3 California 

Direct production costs in pesos* 803,237 708,701 1,114,611 2,120,050 

General Spendature 561,829 461,333 461,459 333,845 

Total Cost in pesos 1,365,066 1.170.034 1,576,070 2,453,895 

Total Cost in US$ 2,504 2,147 2,892 4,503 

Processing Costs in kg 200 140 250 250 

10% of the total 

Total kg of pepa 2,000 1,400 2,500 2,500 

Cost per kg in pesos 758 929 700 1,090 

Cost per kg in US$ 1.39 1.70 1.29 2.00 

Source: Ramírez B, 2000. Thesis PUC 

* Chilean pesos of Sept. 1999; 1 US$= $545 

Table 12. Estimation of almond splitting centres 

and harvesting equipment 

Type of equipment 

V-M.R.-VI Regions 

Splitting Centres 20 

Shakers 9 

Sweepers 5 

Harvesters 10 

Source: A. Hasbún (personal communication) 

HARVEST 

Most orchards use manual harvesting 

techniques such as rubber hammers and 

sticks, nets placed on the ground and 

bags or bins to collect the fruit. In recent 

years a great advance has been fulfilled 

in this operation due to the importation of 

several machinery and harvest implements. 

The inventory of machinery is unknown, 

even though The National Custom 

Service, Central Bank of Chile, the National 

Statistics Institute and the Trade Camera 

were consulted accordingly (Table 

12). 

PRODUCTION COSTS 

A strategy to reduce the incidence of decrease 

in exportation prices is to increase 

yield per hectare and reduce production 

costs. In order to learn growers’ production 

costs, a survey was prepared based 

on personal interviews to growers with 

different production systems in the Metropolitan 

and Sixth regions. The objective 

of this survey was to determine the minimum 

yield required to cover productioncost. 

Several growers were surveyed, 

only three of them were chosen and the 

results are presented on Table 13, compared 

to the costs published by the University 

of California. Total costs/ha and 

almond kernel/kg are compared and presented 

in Table 14. The costs of almond 

kernel/kg, in all three cases studied in 

Chile, are lower than the costs calculated 

for a grower in California with a great difference 

among them, which is directly influenced 

by the yield. 

ALMOND CONSUMPTION 

The apparent national consumption is the 

difference between the total estimated 

yield minus exports, plus imports. Regarding 

this information the annual apparent 

national consumption is of approximately 

1,600 to 1,700 t of kernel/year, which is 

equivalent to 100 g per capita. This low 

consumption is due to almond’s high retail 

price in comparison with peanuts, raisins 

and other cocktail products. 

REFERENCES 

Banco Central de Chile. Dirección de 

Operaciones. Almond Shipments. 1991- 

2001. 

Castro, J. 1998. Situación del Almendro 

en Chile. En: Seminario Internacional. 

Situación Actual y Perspectivas Tecnológicas 

del Almendro. Facultad de Agronomía 

e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia 

Universidad Católica de Chile, 1-16 p. 

The most recent varieties like ‘Butte’ and 

‘Carmel’ were introduced in California in 

1963 and 1966 respectively. At present, 

there is great interest in new varieties that 

are being introduced and obtained in California 

and Spain. 

Varieties available in nurseries 

The information of the trees produced by 

the nurseries is shown on Table 11. Although 

the information is not complete, it 

shows the cultivars that the main nurseries 

are propagating. 

You can observe that 48.3% of the grafted 

trees are ‘Non Pareil’ variety, followed 

by ‘Carmel’ with 17% and then ‘Fritz’, ‘Price’ 

and ‘Solano’ with percentages between 

6 and 7.7%. The remainig varieties 

are propagated in low percentage. 

CIREN-CORFO. Catastros frutícolas. 

1996-1998-1999-2000. 

Ministerio de Agricultura. Santiago, Chile. 

División de Estudios y Presupuestos 

(DEP) 1998. Estadísticas de Plantación 

y Producción de Huertos Industriales en 

Chile. 

Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (INE), 

1998. Censo Agropecuario 1997. 

J. Castro 

Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal 

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile 

E-mail: jcastr.sa@puc.cl 


7

BIOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR 

ASSESSMENT 

OF SELF-INCOMPATIBILITY 

IN ALMOND 

S 7 

(1.9 kb) 

SELF-INCOMPATIBILITY AND THE S 

GENE IN ALMOND 

Almond [Prunus dulcis Miller (D.A. 

Webb)] is a predominantly self-incompatible 

species. Self-incompatibility is of the 

gametophytic type and acts to prevent 

self-fertilisation through expression of 

specific proteins within the styles. The 

first detection and characterisation of these 

self-incompatibility proteins produced 

in the styles was in Brassica (Nasrallah 

and Wallace, 1967). These S-proteins are 

involved in the arrest of pollen tube 

growth in the style due to their RNase activity 

(McClure et al., 1989). A direct relationship 

between S glycoproteins and S- 

alleles was described in the Solanaceae 

(Huang et al., 1994) and Rosaceae families 

(Broothaerts et al., 1995). 

In almond, as in the case of Prunus 

(Lewis and Crowe, 1954), self-incompatibility 

is controlled by a single multi-allelic 

S-gene with gametophytic expression 

(Socías i Company, 1989, Dicenta and 

García, 1993). A direct relationship between 

stylar RNases and S-alleles was 

reported in almond by Boskovic et al. 

(1997) and Tao et al. (1997). 

Since self-compatible almond cultivars 

were observed in Puglia region in Italy 

(Godini, 1975; Grasselly and Olivier, 

1976) self-compatibility became a main 

objective for almond breeding programmes 

in Europe and USA (Godini, 1977; 

Grasselly et al., 1981; Socías i Company, 

1989; Dicenta and García, 1993; Gradziel 

and Kester, 1998; Vargas et al., 1998). 

Self-compatibility allows high yields even 

following poor cross-pollination conditions. 

OBJECTIVES OF THIS REVIEW 

In this work, a critical review of the different 

methods for assessment of self-incompatibility 

in almond is presented. Different 

aspects of the various techniques 

are described and an overview of our present 

knowledge is presented. 

BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT 


Traditionally, the methods used to assess 

self-incompatibility in almond have been 

the recording of fruit set of enclosed (bagged) 

flowers in the field, and in the laboratory 

the observation of pollen-tube 

growth after self-pollinating flowers. Both 

traditional methods could be considered 

as biological approaches as they deal 

Fig 1. Polyacrylamide gel showing S-alleles after 

NEpHGE electrophoretic migration conditions 

and staining (Boskovic et al., 1999), in almond 

seedlings from the cross ‘Falsa Barese’ x ‘Desmayo 

Largueta’ (lines 1-5 and 8-10) and the parents 

(lines 6 and 7). 

with the processes of pollination and fertilisation 

in almond flowers. 

Bagging at least 2 or 3 branches in the 

tree before anthesis (having around 100 

flowers per cultivar) and scoring fruit set 

40 days after full bloom is the most common 

method to assess self-compatibility 

in the field (Grasselly et al., 1981). When 

fruit set percentages are above the established 

level (normally around 5%) cultivars 

or selections are considered as selfcompatible. 

If the percentage is below 

this level, they are considered self-incompatible. 

Self-incompatibility assays in the laboratory 

consist on simulating natural process 

of pollination and pollen tube growth. The 

evaluation is performed in self-pollinated 

flower pistils by means of fluorescence 

microscopy. In this method the callose 

deposits of the pollen tubes fluoresce following 

aniline blue staining of pistil 

squashes (Socías i Company, 1979; Rovira 

et al., 1998). Pollen tube growth is 

measured on samples of at least about 

12 styles for each cultivar, and it is 

expressed as the percentage of pistils 

having pollen tubes reaching the ovary. If 

more than 3 or 4 of the pistils observed 

shows pollen tubes at the base of the 

style after 72 hours, which corresponds 

to 25-30% of total number of pistils, the 

cultivar is considered self-compatible. 

When all pollen tubes fail to reach the 

ovary, individuals are considered self-incompatible. 

MOLECULAR ASSESSMENT 


Molecular methods developed to assess 

self-incompatibility include stylar ribonucleases 

(S-RNases) detection and DNA 

amplification and identification by PCR 

(Polymerase Chain Reaction). The first 

method is considered as a proteomic 

approach since it deals with the ribonucleases 

enzymes directly associated with 

- S 5 

- S S 

1 

1 

(1.1 kb) 

S 5 

(0.6 kb) 

Fig. 2. Agarose gel showing amplified S-alleles 

using the specific PCR primers AS1II and 

AmyC5R (Tamura et al., 2000), in almond cultivars 

and related Prunus species. Lines 1-9: 1.- 

123 marker; 2.- ‘Mission’; 3.- ‘Nonpareil’; 4.- P. 

tangutica; 5.- P. bucharica; 6.- P. argentea-A; 

7.- P. argentea-B; 8.- P. webbii-A; 9.- P. webbii-B. 

self-incompatibility expression. The PCR 

approach is considered a genomic strategy, 

as detects the gene (S-gene) coding 

for S-RNase protein synthesis. 

S-RNase protein analysis and identification 

is by electrophoretic separation of S- 

proteins in polyacrilamide gels by electric 

charge, following IsoElectroFocusing 

(IEF) or Non Equilibrium pH Gradient 

Electrophoresis (NEpHGE) migration 

conditions and later staining (Boskovic et 

al., 1997; Boskovic et al., 1999). The only 

difference between IEF and NEpHGE 

conditions is the migration time, which is 

longer in IEF. By IEF technique proteins 

separation is finished when they reach 

their Isoelectric point (pI). However, by 

NEpHGE technique proteins stop before 

reaching their pI, and the separation is 

sufficient to interpret the results. Cultivars 

with an unknown S-genotype, for which 

genealogy is available, can be classified 

as self-compatible or self-incompatible 

using the RNases technique by comparing 

their banding patterns with those cultivars 

of known genotypes. When two 

bands of an S-genotype are detected 

using both IEF or NEpHGE, the cultivar is 

genotypically self-incompatible. When 

only one S band is present after IEF, it 

can imply that there exists only one S 

allele or that both S alleles have the 

same pI. However, if only one S-band is 

present after NEpHGE, it may mean that 

the cultivar possesses a self-compatible 

allele (S f 

), since S f 

appears as an absence 

of S-RNase activity (Boskovic et al., 

1997) (Fig. 1). These cultivars have been 

found to be self-compatible. RNases 

identification in almond, using IEF and Bidimensional 

Polyacrilamide Gel Electrophoresis 

(2D-PAGE), was possible owing 


Fruit set in the almond cross 'Desmayo Largueta' x 'Glorieta' 40 days after full bloom 

to their abundance in pistils and the high 

degree of diversity between S-genotypes 

(Tao et al., 1997). 

Self-incompatible genotype identification 

by PCR consists on the amplification of 

target DNA using specific primers which 

code for S-alleles specific sequences, following 

electrophoresis in horizontal agarose 

gels and posterior staining (Tamura 

et al., 2000). Although banding patterns 

comparison in PCR assay share the 

same bases as in the RNases method, 

when only one allele is detected by PCR 

it does not imply that the cultivar is selfcompatible, 

since it could have an S-allele 

that still can not be amplified by the 

pair of primers employed. At present, cD- 

NAs of four S-alleles (S 1 

, S 5 

, S 7 

, S 8 

) have 

been cloned and characterised and specific 

primers obtained of these alleles 

(Tamura et al., 2000). These four primers 

have been used to identify self-incompatibility 

genotypes by PCR analysis of offspring 

and other lines possessing these 

S-alleles. These known specific primers 

have also amplified other S-alleles, including 

S 9 

and S 10 

alleles in almond, and related 

Prunus species (Martínez-Gómez et 

al., 2002) (Fig. 2). Additionally, the Australian 

almond breeding program has now 

sequenced S 2 

, S 9 

, S 10 

, S 13 

and S f 

alleles 

(Collins, personal communication). Sequences 

of other eight S alleles from European 

almond cultivars have been already 

cloned and analyzed (Ma and Oliveira, 

2001). The sequencing and development 

of specific primers for S f 

and other self-incompatibility 

alleles is presently being 

pursued in several labs. In fact, sequencing 

the S f 

allele would be the most interesting 

goal, since it is dominant and responsible 

for the self-compatibility trait. 

Molecular markers provide many relevant 

applications for crop improvement, easing 

breeding efforts in many fruit and nut 

tree programs (Luby and Shaw, 2001). 

Molecular markers associated to many 

interesting traits other than self-incompatibility 

could be developed using available 

information about the almond genome. 

The application of PCR for the determination 

of S-alleles genotype (Tamura et al., 

2000) is a good example of the practical 

application of molecular markers and introduces 

powerful new opportunities for 

almond breeding. 

These molecular approaches allow a 

more rapid genotyping of S-alleles than 

field crosses or pollen tube growth analysis 

(Batlle et al., 1997). Since molecular 

methods allow selection at the protein or 

DNA level, environmental effects are eliminated. 

In addition, selection can occur 

in young seedlings or out of the oftenhectic 

blooming period. 

Molecular markers only indicate genetic 

self-incompatibility, not commercial production. 

Confirmation of self-fruitfulness 

must always be verified in the field. Therefore, 

field pollination tests are still required 

to confirm whether promising selfcompatible 

genotypes are sufficiently 

productive in practice (Boskovic et al., 

1999). Pollen tube growth analysis would 

also support this research as it could confirm 

self-incompatibility more quickly than 

making field tests of fruit set. Moreover, 

since both biological methods involve relatively 

low costs, molecular techniques 

for the assessment of self-compatibility 

will not lead to discard traditional and 

time-consuming methods. 

ESTABLISHMENT 

OF SELF-INCOMPATIBILITY GROUPS 

Following the identification of self-incompatibility 

in almond (Tufts and Philp, 

1922), cross-incompatibility groups (formed 

by cultivars possessing the same 

self-incompatibility genotypes) were identified 

for California almond cultivars 

through field crosses. Incompatibility alleles 

were assigned to many new genotypes 

(Kester et al., 1994; Crossa-Raynaud 

and Grasselly, 1985). 

More recently, the S-genotypes of many 

new European and American almond cultivars 

have been identified and previously 

S-genotypes verified using the RNases 

technique (Boskovic et al., 1997; Boskovic 

et al., 1999). Many S-genotypes for 

European and American cultivars have 

also been identified or verified using PCR 

techniques (Tamura et al., 2000; Martínez-Gómez 

et al., 2002). 

COMPARISON AMONG 

THE DIFFERENT METHODS 

Field assessments of self-incompatibility 

have weaknesses, such as the need to 

establish fruit-set thresholds to compensate 

for varying environmental conditions 


9

RNase polyacrylamide gel 

Agarose PCR gel 

leading to year to year fluctuations. Nevertheless, 

field-testing is required to verify 

the best crossing combinations to 

achieve self-compatible progenies or to 

identify production differences among related 

S-genotypes. To improve the efficiency 

of the field methods, autogamy levels 

for the same cultivars should be recorded 

over several years. Similarly, pollen-growth 

studies in the laboratory suffer 

from moisture stress in flowers removed 

from the tree, and consequently growth 

rates may be adversely affected. Pollen 

tube growth in laboratory should be tested 

at least for two years to be confident 

on results. Only by field assays it is impossible 

to predict the best crosses to 

achieve 100% self-compatible progenies 

or to identify genetic differences between 

related individuals. 

Table 1 summarises different aspects of 

the biological and molecular approaches 

for the assessment of self-incompatibility 

in almond. Applicability for routine work, 

usefulness, preciseness, rapidity and cost 

of the different methods has been rated. 

RNases analysis provides important advantages: 

• It tests the enzyme directly associated 

with self-incompatibility. 

• Since all self-incompatible alleles are visible 

after gel staining, it allows differentiation 

between self-compatible and selfincompatible 

cultivars in segregation progenies 

as well as the detection of new S- 

alleles. 

• It can provide S-genotype information to 

Table 1. Ratings of biological and molecular approaches for the assessment 

of self-incompatibility in almond. 

Aspects rated 1 Biological methods Molecular methods 

Field crosses Microscopy S-RNases PCR 

Availability of facilities ++++ +++ +++ ++ 

Repetitiveness ++ ++ +++ ++++ 

Interpretation of results +++ ++ +++ ++++ 

Ease of routine application ++ ++ ++++ ++++ 

Speed in obtaining results + ++ ++++ ++++ 

Initial investments +++ +++ ++ + 

Cost of development ++++ +++ ++ + 

Cost per sample ++++ ++++ ++ + 

1 

Rates given as a scale between ++++ (good) and + (bad). 

assist early field selection of parents to 

obtain 100% self-compatible offspring 

(Batlle et al., 1997; López et al., 2001; 

Mnejja et al., 2002). 

• Testing of only 5-10 pistils is required 

(Batlle et al., 1999). 

• It allows modification of electrophoresis 

conditions in order to improve discrimination 

between alleles. 

• It presents a high reproducibility. 

• It involves moderate costs for equipment 

and consumables and so less initial 

investment than PCR and other molecular 

techniques. 

Limitations of the RNases approach include: 

• Pistils are required during the blooming 

period, thus flowering trees of at least 2-3 

years old are needed. 

• Protocol development is arduous and 

specific only for RNases assessment. 

• Many factors influence protein migration 

during electrophoresis. 

• The electrophoresis process is tedious 

and time-consuming, particularly for vertical 

polyacrilamide gels, which are very 

thin (0.75-1 mm), and posterior staining. 

• Difficult zymograms interpretation. 

The main advantages provided by PCR 

approaches include: 

• It allows the use of vegetative tissues, 

which are available since first sprout, therefore 

it is not necessary to wait for the 

blooming period. Seedlings can be grown 

easily in greenhouses to provide leaves, 

selecting only the self-compatible ones to 

plant in the field. 

• Only 0.1g of leaf tissue is necessary. 

• Easy preparation and management of 

horizontal agarose gels, and good applicability 

for routine work. 


• High reproducibility, and easy interpretation 

of results. 

• PCR methodologies have exciting opportunities 

for other genetic studies, therefore 

the high initial investment is redeemable. 

The main drawbacks of this genomic 

approach are: 

• Only four primers for self-incompatibility 

assessment of almond are presently developed. 

• High specificity of the primers to amplify 

S-alleles, therefore more than one pair of 

primers is necessary for the detection of 

all known S-alleles. 

• Unless primers for all S-alleles or specific 

primers for S f 

allele are developed, selfcompatible 

cultivars will not be detected. 

• Difficulties in the development of specific 

primers for all known S-alleles. 

• High initial investment required in equipment. 

• Time-consuming DNA extraction procedure. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Biological and molecular methods are 

complementary. Traditional approaches 

provide phenotypic information, while molecular 

approaches (S-RNases and PCR) 

provide genetic information. 

Molecular markers could greatly facilitate 

breeding programs and so appear to have 

interesting future applications in breeding. 

They allow breeders to efficiently distribute 

evaluations through out the year, 

rather than during the normally hectic pollination 

season. In addition, they can be 

applied to individuals in later stages of 

selection or for early selection of self-incompatibility 

trait. However, traditional 

self-incompatibility field assessment will 

not completely disappear because it is 

essential to confirm field performance. 

S-RNase analysis has proved useful in 

determining incompatible genotypes of almond 

cultivars and selections. This information 

could be used to plan crosses, to 

select individuals, and to design commercial 

orchards (pollinators and varieties 

which are cross compatible). Additionally, 

the use of RNases as a selection technique 

is likely to be very useful for the identification 

of self-compatible seedlings, given 

that all S-alleles can be detected except 

for S f 

. Similarly, self-compatible cultivars 

and selections will be more easily 

detected by PCR analysis, when specific 

primers for more S-alleles are developed. 

In addition, PCR methodologies will allow 

advances in many areas beyond self-incompatibility 

assessment, including variety 

identification and characterisation, 

phylogenetic studies, and the evaluation 

of agronomic traits. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Batlle I., Ballester J., Boskovic R., Romero 

M.A., Tobutt K.R. and F.J. Vargas. 

1997. Use of stylar ribonucleases 

in almond breeding to design crosses 

and select self-compatible seedlings. 

Nucis-Newsletter. 6: 12-14. 

Boskovic R., Tobutt K.R., Batlle I., and 

H. Duval. 1997. Correlation of ribonuclease 

zymograms and incompatibility 

genotypes in almond. Euphytica 97: 

167-176. 

Boskovic R., Tobutt K.R., Batlle I., Dicenta 

F. and F.J. Vargas. 1999. A stylar 

ribonuclease assay to detect self-compatible 

seedlings in almond progenies. 

Theor. Appl. Genet. 99: 800-810. 

Broothaerts W.J., Janssens G.A., Proost 

P. and W.F. Broekaert. 1995. cDNA 

cloning and molecular analyses of two 

self-incompatibility alleles from apple. 

Plant Mol. Biol. 27: 499-511. 

Crossa-Raynaud P. and C. Grasselly. 

1985. Existence de groupes d’intersterilité 

chez l’amandier. Options 

Méditerranéennes. 85 1: 43-45. 

Dicenta F. and J.E. García. 1993. Inheritance 

of self-compatibility in almond. 

Heredity, 70: 313-317. 

Godini A. 1975. Il mandorlo in Puglia. Panorama 

della situazione varietale. Notiziario 

di Ortoflorofutticoltura, 6: 11-12. 

Godini A. 1977. Contributo alla conoscenza 

delle cultivar di mandorlo (P. 

amygdalus Batsch) della Puglia. 2) Un 

quadriennio di ricerche sull’autocompatibilita. 

III GREMPA Coll., CIHEAM, Bari 

(Italy). 

Gradziel, T.M. and D.E. Kester. 1998. 

Breeding for self-fertility in California almond 

cultivars. Acta Horticulturae, 470: 

109-117. 

Grasselly C., Crossa-Raynaud P., Olivier 

G. and H. Gall. 1981. Transmission 

du caractère d’autocompatibilité chez 

l’amandier (Amygdalus communis). Options 

Méditerranéennes Serie Études, I: 

71-75. 

Huang S., Lee H.S., Karunanandaa B. 

and T.H. Kao. 1994. Ribonuclease activity 

of Petunia inflata S-proteins is essential 

for rejection of self-pollen. Plant 

Cell 6: 1021-1028. 

Kester D.E., Gradziel T.M. and W.C. 

Micke. 1994. Identifying pollen incompatibility 

groups in California almond 

cultivars. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 119: 

106-109. 

Lewis D. and L. K. Crowe. 1954. Structure 

of the incompatibility gene. IV. Types 

of mutations in Prunus avium L. Heredity 

8 (3): 357-363. 

López, M.; Mnejja, M.; Romero, M.A.; 

Vargas, F.J.; Batlle, I., 2001. Diseño de 

cruzamientos en almendro para mejora 

por autocompatibilidad utilizando ribonucleasas 

estilares (in Spanish). ITEA, 

97V (3): 226-232. 

Luby J.J. and D.V. Shaw. 2001. Does 

marker-assisted selection make dollars 

and sense in a fruit breeding programs. 

HortScience, 36: 872-879. 

Martínez-Gómez P., López M., Alonso 

J.M., Ortega E., Batlle I., Socías i Company 

R., Dicenta F., Dandekar A.M. and 

T.M. Gradziel. 2002. Identification of 

self-incompatibility alleles in almond and 

related Prunus species using PCR. 

XXVI ISHS Int. Hort. Congress. Toronto 

(Canada), August, 2002. Acta Hortoculturae 

(in press). 

McClure B.A., Haring V., Ebert P.R. and 

A. Anderson. 1989. Style self-incompatibility 

gene products of Nicotiana alata 

are ribonucleases. Nature 342: 955-957. 

Mnejja M., López M., Romero M.A., Vargas 

F.J. and I. Batlle. 2002. Cross design 

for self-compatibility in almond 

breeding using stylar ribonucleases. 

Acta Horticulturae (in press). III International 

Symposium on Pistachios and Almonds. 

XII GREMPA Coll., Zaragoza 

(Spain), May 2001. 

Nasrallah M.E. and D.H. Wallace. 1967. 

Immunogenetics of self-incompatibility 

in Brassica oleracea. Heredity 2: 519-527. 

Rovira M., Clavé J., Romero M., Santos 

J. and F.J. Vargas. 1998. Self-compatibility 

in almond progenies. Acta Horticulturae, 

470: 66-71. 

Socías i Company, R. 1989. Breeding 

for self-compatible almonds. Plant 

Breed Rev., 8: 313-338. 

Tao R., Yamane H., Sassa H., Mori H., 

Gradziel T.M., Dandekar A.M. and A. 

Sugiura. 1997. Identification of stylar 

RNases associated with gametophytic 

self-incompatibility in almond (Prunus 

dulcis). Plant Cell Physiol. 38 (3): 304- 

311. 

Tamura M., Ushijima K., Sassa H., Hirano 

H., Tao R., Gradziel T.M. and A.M. 

Dandekar. 2000. Identification of self-incompatibility 

genotypes of almond by 

allele-specific PCR analysis. Theor Appl 

Genet 101: 344-349. 

Tufts W.P. and G.V. Philp. 1922. Almond 

pollination. California Agric. Exp. 

Sta. Bull. 346. 

Vargas F.J., Romero M.A., Batlle I. and 

J. Clavé. 1998. Early selection in almond 

progenies. In: X GREMPA meeting. 

Options Méditerranéennes, 33: 

171-176. 

1 

M. López, 2 J.M. Alonso, 3 P. Martínez-Gómez, 

2 

R. Socías i Company, 3 T.M. Gradziel, 

and 1 I. Batlle. 

1 

IRTA-Centre Mas Bové. Dept. d’Arboricultura 

Mediterrània, 

Apartat 415, 43280-Reus, Spain. 

2 

SIA-DGA, Unidad de Fruticultura, Apartado 

727, 50080, Zaragoza, Spain. 

3 

University of California-Davis, Dept. 

of Pomology, Davis, CA-95616, USA. 

E-mail: merce.lopez@irta.es 


11

Range of hazelnut derived products 

ALMOND AND HAZELNUT 

PRODUCTS. CONSUMERS’ 

PREFERENCES. 

INTRODUCTION 

Spain is the second almond world producer 

(65,000 t kernel) having some 

640.000 ha cultivated (MAPA, 1999). 

‘Marcona’ and ‘Desmayo Largueta’ variety 

types are considered, besides the commercial 

type “comuna” (mixed cultivars), 

cultivated in coastal areas free of late 

frost and very appreciated by the turron 

industry and confectionery shops, for 

their good sensory and technological characteristics. 

However, in recent years, 

new late blooming varieties, better adapted 

to the climatic conditions of the Spanish 

inland plantations are being introduced. 

In this sense, it is necessary to stand 

out two new varieties from IRTA’s almond 

breeding programme (‘Masbovera’ and 

‘Glorieta’) that were released and are being 

widely introduced in a large part of 

new orchards (Vargas and Romero, 

1994), together with ‘Nonpareil’, base of 

the USA industry and export. 

Regarding hazelnut, Spain is the fourth 

world producer (6,000 t kernel) with a surface 

about 28.000 ha (MAPA, 1999), concentrating 

95 % in Catalonia region and, 

particularly in Tarragona (26.000 ha), 

where the hazelnut represents, in diverse 

districts, an important source of income. 

‘Negret’ cultivar is the base of Spanish 

hazelnut production for industry and, together 

with ‘Pauetet’, they constitute the 

commercial type ‘negreta’ that obtains the 

best price on the national market (Tous et 

al., 1995). It is due to their good organoleptic 

characteristic and high aptitude for 

toasting which is important for most commercial 

applications. 

In the last years, some nut industries in 

Catalonia, Spain have started to elaborate 

new products with hazelnut, many of 

which are typical for almond. However, it 

is unknown if all hazelnut varieties are 

suitable for these products and, also, the 

grade of consumers’ acceptance. Traditionally, 

it has been considered that almond 

and hazelnut are substitute products 

and that a relationship exists 

among the world production of both nuts 

with their respective market prices (Vargas, 

1990; Tous and Romero, 1997). It 

should be checked to what extent the 

main hazelnut and almond varieties are 

technologically adapted to each industrial 

specialty, as well as their grade of acceptance 

at consumer’s level would allow to 

settle down if this relationship is real, as 

well as the future potential market of 

each product. 

For this reason, IRTA-Mas Bové started 

in 1998 a research project related to the 

commercial characterization of the main 

hazelnut varieties, besides the evaluation 

of new industrial applications of hazelnut 

in comparison with almond. This research 

has been supported by Instituto Nacional 

de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y 

Alimentaria (INIA) of the Spanish Ministry 

of Science and Technology, project number 

SC99-002. 

INDUSTRIAL MAIN ACTIVITIES 

The aim of the present study was to know 

the behaviour of 5 hazelnut varieties 

(‘Negret’, ‘Pauetet’, ‘Tomboul’, ‘Tonda 

Giffoni’ and ‘San Giovanni’) and 5 almond 

varieties (‘Marcona’, ‘Desmayo Largueta’, 

‘Masbovera’, ‘Francolí’ and ‘Nonpareil’). 


Table 1. Almond and Hazelnut varieties and their main field of choice. 

RAW MATTER 

ALMOND: 

‘Marcona’ (Spain) 

‘Llargueta’ (Spain) 

‘Masbovera’ (Spain) 

‘Francoli’ (Spain) 

‘Nonpareil’ (USA) 

HAZELNUT: 

‘Negret’ (Spain) 

‘Pauetet’ (Spain) 

‘T. Giffoni’ (Italy) 

‘San Giovanni’ (Italy) 

‘Tomboul’ (Turkey) 

MAIN INTEREST 

Excellent quality: turron industry and peeled 

Very good toasting and peeling aptitude 

Obtained at IRTA, with good agronomic perspectives 

Obtained at IRTA, with good agronomic perspectives 

Base of the USA industry and exports 

Base of the Spanish industry. Good toasting and peeling 

aptitude, and also good organoleptic characteristics 

Commercially it is included in the ‘negreta’ type 

Good toasting and peeling aptitude 

Good organoleptic characteristics 

Base of Europe’s chocolate industry. Good toasting 

and peeling aptitude. 

Their choice comes from the approaches 

defined in Table 1. 

Ten different industrial applications were 

studied: 

• Toasted snacks 

• Black chocolate with nut (50%) 

• Milk chocolate with nut (50%) 

•White chocolate with nut (50%) 

• Bonbon with entire nut nucleus 

• Bonbon padded with nut paste 

• Turron ‘hard’ (type ‘Alicante’ with almond 

and type ‘Agramunt’ with hazelnut) 

• Turron ‘guirlache’ 

• Turron ‘jijona’ (only with almond) 

• Marzipan (only with almond) 

The elaboration of toasted nuts was carried 

out in IRTA’s experimental toasting 

plant, the chocolates and bonbons were 

manufactured in the industry “L’Art of the 

Xocolata” located in Vendrell, Tarragona, 

while the elaboration of turrons and marzipans 

were carried out in the industry 

“Turrons i Mel Alemany, SL” sited at Os 

de Balaguer, Lleida. 

The studies try to answer the following 

questions: 

a) For one and the same speciality, either 

made with hazelnut or almond, do there 

exist differences in the industrial behaviour 

and consumption preferences among 

varieties 

b) For one and the same speciality, which 

is the grade of consumers’ acceptance, 

when this product is elaborated with hazelnut 

or with almond 

c) What should be analysed in the raw 

nuts in order to know their aptitude for 

each speciality 

There have already been carried out 

some industrial tests aiming to compare, 

independently for hazelnuts and almonds, 

the different varieties among each other. 

For each of the 8 applications carried out 

with almond and hazelnut, there is planned 

to carry out comparative studies of 

acceptance, at consumers’ level, between 

the best hazelnut variety-product 

blend and the best almond blend. 

First results show that each variety is 

adapted in a different form to each industrial 

product, depending on its physical 

and chemical characteristics. In addition 

consumers prefer different varieties for 

different products (Gou et al., 2000; Romero 

et al., 1999 and 2001). Also, there 

seem to be some specialities for which 

nut variety is not recognised by consumers. 

For these products, only industrial 

aptitude and nut price should be considered. 

REFERENCES 

Gou, P.; Díaz, I.; Guerrero, L.; Valero, 

A.; Arnau, J.; Romero, A., 2000. Physico-Chemical 

and sensory property 

changes in almonds of Desmayo Largueta 

variety during toasting. Food Sci. 

Tech. Int., 6 (1): 1-7. 

MAPA (Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca 

y Alimentación), 1999. Anuario de Estadística 

Agroalimentaria. Madrid. 

Romero, A.; Tous, J.; Guerrero, L.; 

Gou, P.; Guardia, M. D., 1999. Aplicaciones 

del análisis sensorial en el tostado 

industrial de avellana en grano. 

Fruticultura Profesional (Especial Frutos 

Secos II), 104: 71-77. 

Romero, A.; Tous, J.; Plana, J.; Guardia, 

M.D.; Díaz, I., 2001. How variety 

choice affects Spanish consumers’ acceptance 

of marzipan and chocolates 

with almonds. III International Symposium 

on Pistachios and Almond. ISHS. 

Zaragoza, Spain (in press). 

Tous, J.; Romero, A.; Rovira, M., 1995. 

Hazelnut production in Tarragona 

(Spain). Nucis-Newsletter, 3 (1): 10-12. 

Tous, J.; Romero, A., 1997. Situació 

mundial de la producció i comerç de 

l’avellana. “El conreu de l’avellaner”. p. 

9-24. En: J. Santos, J. Santacana, J.F. 

Gil, F.J. Vargas (eds). DARP. Generalitat 

de Catalunya, Barcelona. 

Vargas, F.J., 1990. Nut tree in Spain: 

Almond, hazelnut, walnut and pistachio. 

Reunión FAO «Expert Consultation 

on the Promotion of Nut Production 

in Europe and Near East Region». Yalova 

(Turkey). Ed. FAO, REUR, Technical 

Series, 13: 255-280. 

Vargas. F.J.; Romero, M.A., 1994. 

‘Masbovera’, ‘Glorieta’ y ‘Francolí’, 

nuevas variedades de almendro. Fruticultura 

Profesional 63: 16-22. 

J. Tous and A. Romero 

Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia 

Agroalimentàries (IRTA) 

Centre Mas Bové. Departament 

d’Arboricultura Mediterrània 

Apartat 415, 43280-Reus, Spain 

E-mail: joan.tous@irta.es 


13

HAZELNUT PRODUCTION 

IN IRAN 

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 

The hazelnut has been grown from ancient 

Iran up to now. It was well known 

and called “Panetha” or “Peneth” 2500 

years ago. It appears wild in Arasbaran, 

Astara, Tavalesh, Tarom-e-Zanjan, and 

Gorgan forests. Corylus avellana orchards 

have been established in Gorgan, 

Roodbar Alamoot, Eshkevarat, Tarom 

and Central mountains from 2000-2300 m 

altitude. Corylus colurna shrubs are found 

in Lahijan and Astara at 2000 m height. 

IRAN IN THE WORLD RANKING 

In 1997, based on FAO reports, Iran was 

fifth (2.1%) in the world hazelnut planted 

area rankings. Turkey (71%), followed by 

Italy (15%), Spain (6.3%), and United 

States (2.4%), occupied the first place. In 

this year, with 2% of the global production, 

Iran was the fifth. Turkey (67.8%), 

Italy (17.25%), US (6%) and Spain (3.2%) 

were the most important producers. That 

year the Iranian average production was 

1.342 t/ha. World average was 1.400 t/ 

ha. 

PROPAGATION 

In Iran, hazelnut is propagated mainly by 

one or two-year old suckers. 

TRAINING AND PRUNING 

Because many orchards have been established 

in slopes, a multistem (2-6-stem) 

shrub is trained by planting suckers with 

a smooth angle. However, in the new orchards, 

especially Moghan agricultural 

complex where orchards have been established 

by using well known foreign cultivars, 

the training system is vase and with 

only one stem. Annual summer and winter 

pruning is made to remove young and unfavorable 

suckers and dried and old 

shoots. 

PESTS AND DISEASES 

In Iranian orchards, damages caused by 

white grub (Polyphylla olivi), leafhoppers, 

Scolytis spp. and Eryophes avellanae 

have been reported. The main reproted 

disease is bacterial canker. 

HARVEST 

Harvest starts from early August to early 

October. It is done manually. Nuts are 

mainly picked up after they are fully mature 

and have dropped to the ground. Some 

growers harvest when it is pre-mature as 

the semi-dry nut is for table consumption. 

Husking is also done by hand. 

CULTIVARS 

A large number of varieties and cultivars 

are grown. Some (‘Rondo de Pimon‘, 

‘Fertile de Coutard‘, ‘Negreta‘, ‘Grossal‘, 

‘Segorbe‘, ‘Cosford‘, ‘Long d’Espagne‘, 

‘Mereille de Bollwiller‘) have been introduced 

from different foreign countries and 

planted in modern orchards, and others 

are local and undefined varieties (figures). 

'Gerd-e-Eshkevar' 

'Zar abadi-e-Alamout' 

MARKET AND EXPORT 

Annually a small part of production is exported 

directly and indirectly (re-export), 

but generally the main part is consumed 

domestically because of high home market 

demand. 

'Gerd nakhoni-e-Gorgan' 

'Babami-e-Alamout' 

REFERENCES: 

Agricultural Statistics and Information 

Dept.,1999. Dried Fruits, Figures and 

Views. Ministry of Agriculture. Iran. 

Akhavizadeghan M.J.,1987. Hazelnut 

Production and Problems in Alamout. 

Extensional Booklet. Agriculture Ministry 

of Iran. 

Gholipour Y., 2000. Hazelnut Production 

Views, In: A Report on Iranian Hazelnut 

Production Areas. Unpublished. 

Tous J., Romero A., Rovira M. and Clavé 

J., 1994. Comparison of different training 

systems on hazelnut. Acta Horticulturae, 

351: 455-460. 

Y. Gholipour 

Pistachio Research Station 

Agricultural Research Center 

Qazvin, Iran 

E-mail: youseph.gholipour@hotmail.com 

'Se gosh-e-Eshkevar' 

'Ghorjeh-e-Qom' 


HAZELNUT PRODUCTION 

IN CHILE 

INTRODUCTION 

Although early immigrants from Italy and 

Spain introduced hazelnuts (Corylus avellana 

L.) more than 200 years ago, this 

species is still largely unknown in Chile. 

As most of the first crop introductions in 

many countries of the world, they were introduced 

as seed of unknown origin. As 

early as 1920, Chilean nursery sales brochures 

offer hazelnut plants with undefined 

cultivar name. Scattered and isolated 

trees may be found in some farms, mainly 

from the VII region (33° 30’) to the X region 

(40°, south latitude) of the country. 

Several reasons may have contributed to 

this lack of development of the crop, including 

the absence of named commercial 

cultivars in the country, the complex 

floral biology of the species, and a lack of 

information about orchard management 

practices for hazelnut. Governmental restrictions 

on the introduction of germplasm 

are very strict, and Chile remains free of 

the main hazelnut pests and diseases. It 

is known that in some areas of Italy where 

hazelnut is grown since hundreds of 

years ago, hazelnuts are pollinated by 

spontaneous wild hazelnut trees which 

grow widespread at the top of the hills 

and allowed a “normal” fruit set. Therefore, 

it is possible that early introductions 

did not consider the crucial importance of 

pollinizers. Moreover, the importance of 

the climatic conditions in the fall before 

the pollination period on the phenological 

behavior of the pollinizers is well known 

today as well as a right synchrony among 

female bloom and pollen shed. 

Female flowers grouped in clusters 

It is interesting to mention the great contribution 

to the dissemination of the hazelnut 

in Chile made by a Catalonian man 

Mr. Agustin Sotera Farriol, who bought 

hazelnut plants near Santiago (where 

nuts were never produced) by the 1920 

and planted them in Linares city (VII region) 

and, after 3 years they produced 

nuts. This situation, although only recently 

understood, reflects one of the first noticeable 

reports in Chile where hazelnuts’ 

performance is highly dependent on the 

climatic conditions of the area where it is 

grown. The good results achieved with 

these trees planted in the backyard of his 

home, encouraged Mr. Sotera to establish 

a 4 ha hazelnut orchard near Linares. 

This orchard is one of the few adult 

orchards where this crop is being grown 

and currently producing in Chile. The genetic 

material from this orchard constitutes 

an important source of planting material 

planted so far. The success of this orchard 

first allowed to convince farmers 

about the ecological and technical feasibility 

to grow hazelnuts in Chile, and since 

then also stimulates some farmers to 

establish few hectares in other regions. 

Although there does not exist any information 

about the name of the planted material, 

the phenotypic traits of the nuts are 

close to ‘Barcelona’ cultivar. 

FIRST INTRODUCTION 

OF COMMERCIAL CULTIVARS 

INTO CHILE 

By the middle 80’s, the Agricultural Research 

Institute (INIA), the governmental 

institution responsible for Research and 

development of agricultural research in 

Chile introduced for the first time commercial 

cultivars. Plant material from 

Spain (Reus), Italy, and USA (Oregon) 

was introduced and after the post entry 

quarantine period, evaluation orchards 

were established in three experimental 

stations from the VIII to the X region, although 

due to limited resources, currently 

the Quilamapu experimental station located 

in the VIII region is the only one which 

still develops research and development 

among farmers since the VII and X region. 

Male catkings grouped in clusters 

The commercial cultivars introduced 

were; ‘Negret’, ‘Gironell’, ‘Culplà’, ‘Morell’, 

‘Grifoll’, ‘Tonda Romana’, ‘Tonda di 

Giffoni’, ‘Tonda Gentile delle Langhe’, 

‘Mortarella’, ‘Riccia di Talamico’, ‘Noccione’, 

‘Imperial de Trebizonda’, ‘Tombul’, 

‘Daviana’, ‘Cassina’ and ‘Barcelona’. Recently 

the newly released varieties from 

the Oregon State University hazelnut programme 

were introduced by INIA Quilamapu, 

which after the completion of quarantine 

period are being planted in the 

evaluation trials all over the country. 

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION 

OF INTRODUCED CULTIVARS 

Since the establishment of the hazelnut 

orchard, the work developed at INIA Quilamapu 

has allowed the annual evaluation 

of the cultivars introduced. At first a 

low fruit set was detected in the cultivars. 

The reason was the absence of synchrony 

among female bloom and pollen 

shed of its pollinizers, according to the literature. 

Different situations are present 

in Chile in the phenological behavior 

among the introduced cultivars, as absolute 

lack of synchrony among female 

bloom and pollen shed, absence of catkins 

elongation and pollen shed, falling 

the catkins before pollen shed, very low 

pollen production and very low viability of 

the pollen. For this reason, and thanks to 

the presence of a wide range of seedlings, 

made it possible the presence of 

a wide range in variability of different 

traits as pollen production, genetic compatibility, 

phenology etc. The “in vitro” 

compatibility test developed by the OSU 

in USA made it possible to screen the potential 

pollinizers of the previously tested 

phenological behavior among commercial 

cultivars and the selected ecotypes. 

Some cultivars from Italy have shown a 

more strict climatic adaptation range 

mainly when the conditions are windy 

and/or low relative humidity causing 

stressful conditions by the end of spring 

and summer. 


15

'Barcelona' nut harvested in the VIII Region 

Tasting of different hazelnut cultivars at INIA 

One year old orchard of 'Barcelona' cultivar in the 

VIII Region 

Four years old orchard of 'Tonda delle Langhe' at 

the VII Region 

Three years old orchard of 'Tonda delle Langhe' 

at VII Region 

Under some environmental conditions, 

an abnormal cluster of female flowers is 

observed (picture 1 and 2), and also a 

cluster of catkins (picture 3 and 4) although 

the presence of abnormal catkins 

is more frequent. Those abnormal catkins 

necrose and fall before the period of pollen 

shed. Studies are being carried out 

on this subject and a physiological disorder, 

due to plant stress ocurred by the induction 

and differentiation period in the 

last season was the cause of this abnormal 

flowering behavior. However, the 

wide diversity of climatic conditions in the 

country allows the survey and selection 

of specific areas where cultivars may fit 

well their specific environmental requirements. 

Several studies are being carried 

out trying to identify specific areas where 

cultivars fit well and express their potential. 

Once established those areas, development 

programmes will be set up in order 

to transfer them to the farmers on 

plant establishment, tree training, orchard 

management etc. between the VII 

and X region of the country. 

PEST AND DISEASES 

IN HAZELNUT PRODUCTION 

IN CHILE 

In other world producing regions the presence 

of Phytoptus avellanae (Big Bud 

Mite) and Annisograma anomala (Eastern 

Filbert Blight) are the two main concerns 

of hazelnut pest and disease management. 

Chile is free from the main pests 

and diseases which affect hazelnut in its 

main producing areas. However, three 

native Chilean weevils commonly called 

“burritos”, (Aegorhinus superciliosus 

Guerin, A. Nodipenis and A. Phaleratus 

(Coleoptera: Curculionidae) are widely 

distributed and their wide range of hosts 

includes Corylus avellana. Efforts are being 

carried out to find methods for 

controlling the insect. Biological control 

based on entomopathogenic nematodes 

(Steinernema sp.) and entomopathogenic 

fungi (Metarhizium sp.) is being studied. 

The nematodes are specific to one insect 

pest and innocuous to plant and vertebrates. 

This control method would be a 

useful component for organic production 

of hazelnut in Chile. 

ADVANTAGES OF HAZELNUT 

PRODUCTION IN CHILE 

One of the main advantages of Chile as a 

hazelnut producer, besides the absence 

of the main pests and diseases is its position 

in the southern hemisphere. The very 

high quality standards of the chocolate industry, 

main use of the nuts, allows off 

season production for export to the northern 

hemisphere. As high quality hazelnuts 

command premium prices, one of 

the main objectives of the research is to 

determine the best areas to grow specific 

cultivars. 

Moreover, in the southern hemisphere 

(Latin America), there is an unsatisfied 

demand of hazelnuts in the local market 

that must import this fruit from European 

countries during the year. Chilean production 

would provide fresh hazelnut 

availability all year round in the northern 

hemisphere as well as avoid the import 

needs from far away producing countries. 

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

OF HAZELNUT PLANTATIONS 

In the last years, private farmers as well 

as international companies have devoted 

increasing interest to invest in hazelnut 

plantations in Chile. According to the 

available information, more than 500 ha 

have been planted in the last decade 

(FIA, 1999). INIA Quilamapu is currently 

carrying out a research and development 

programme among farmers between VII 

and X region. Small farmers have shown 

an increasing interest to establish hazelnut 

orchards as lower financial resources 

are needed for their establishment as well 

as management of this crop compared 

with any other standard fruit orchard. Moreover, 

no sophisticated cold infrastructure 

for postharvest handling is needed, 

and there exists a very good technical capability 

in the well recognized Chilean 

fruit industry. In the coming years there 

are some good prospects for new orchards 

of European hazelnut in Chile. 

REFERENCES 

FIA., 1999. Frutales de nuez en Chile. 

Situación actual y perspectivas. Documento 

de trabajo. Fundación para la Innovación 

Agraria. Abril 1999. 

Grau, P., 2001. Informe anual programa 

de mejoramiento de frutos de nuez. 

Avellano europeo. INIA, Cri Quilamapu, 

Chillan, Chile. 

Grau, P., France A., Gerding M., Lavin 

A., and Torres A., 2001. Preliminary 

evaluation of hazelnut performance in 

Chile. Acta Horticulturae 556: 49-57 

Mehlenbacher, S.A., 1997. Testing 

compatibility of hazelnut crosses using 

fluorescence microscopy. Acta Hort. 

445: 167-171. 

Perez, H., 1994. Descripción de aspectos 

morfológicos, biológicos y de comportamiento 

de Aegorinhus superciliosus 

(Coleoptera, Curculionidae). Tesis 

de Licenciado en Agronomía. University 

of Austral of Chile, Valdivia. 102 p. 

P. Grau 

Nut tree programme 

Cri Quilamapu 

INIA, Chile 

pgrau@quilamapu.inia.cl 


GENETIC AND PRODUCTION 

IMPROVEMENT OF GEVUINA 

AVELLANA MOL. IN CHILE: 

SELECTED CLONES FOR NUT 

PRODUCTION 

INTRODUCTION 

Gevuina avellana Mol. (Gevuina, Gevuin, 

Chile Nut, Chilean Hazelnut) is a plant 

species of the Proteaceae family, constituting 

a Chilean native monospecific genus. 

It develops between latitude 35º and 

44º S , from sea-level to 700 m ( Donoso, 

1998; Medel, 1987). An evergreen tree, it 

grows under the influence of a temperate 

oceanic climate in a wide range of temperatures 

and rainfall with a good frost resistance 

(Fig. 1). Adapted to diverse types 

of well drained soils and a range of 

organic matter content, Gevuina has 

many possibilities to make it an excellent 

candidate for marketing, including edible 

nuts (raw, dehydrated, roasted, salt and 

roasted), derivated products for nutrition 

industry mixed with chocolate, butter, 

pastry cook, deoiled flours, table oil (Fig. 

2), pharmaceutical and wood suitable for 

timber production. Other options are its 

ornamental beauty and the pollen and honey 

production from bees activity (Medel 

and Medel, 2000). 

GENETIC AND PRODUCTIVE 

IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME 

With the purpose to study Gevuina and 

to promote its use, a programme of ‘Genetic 

and Productive Improvement of Gevuina’ 

started in 1970, with three research 

lines: a) the development of genotypes 

with high quality and yield edible 

nuts; b) selection of superior clones based 

in the chemical composition of nut 

(specially in fiber, minerals, fatty acids, 

amino acids, vitamins and sterols) with 

nutritional, cosmetic and pharmaceutical 

applications, and c) ‘plus trees’ with suitability 

for planting as a forest tree and for 

timber production (Medel and Medel, 

2000). 

The central hypothesis of this work was 

that it would be possible to select clones 

within the genetically diverse native po- 

Table 1. Nut production characteristics and tree 

vigor of six selected Gevuina VAX clones 

Characteristics 

VAX Clones 

21 33 42 43 53 64 

NIS 

Yield/tree 8.07 20.53 19.93 24.48 24.63 33.72 

Nuts (Nº/kg) 361 460 413 468 378 460 

Weight (g) 2.77 2.17 2.42 2.13 2.64 2.17 

Width (mm) 17.50 17.20 17.30 16.80 17.20 17.40 

Length (mm) 20.70 19.60 20.20 19.10 19.00 20.00 

Form (W/L) 0.84 0.87 0.85 0.87 0.90 0.87 

KERNEL 

Weight (g) 1.00 0.95 0.87 0.80 0.95 0.80 

Weight (%) 36 44 36 38 36 37 

Size (W) 11.90 12.20 11.70 11.40 12.00 11.70 

SHELL 

Weight (g) 1.87 1.23 1.56 1.33 1.71 1.37 

Weight (%) 64 56 64 62 64 63 

Thickness (mm) 2.80 2.50 2.80 2.70 2.60 2.85 

Tree vigor L-M M L M-H M-H M-H 

L: low vigor : 3.5 - 4.0 canopy width 

M: moderate : 4.0 - 5.0 canopy width 

H: high : 5.0 - 6.0 canopy width 

pulation with a great productive adaptability 

in ex situ conditions. The concept of 

‘productive adaptability’ has been important 

for the commercial development of a 

single species in Chile or in any site of 

the world, and takes into consideration 

high productivity and quality germoplasm 

with a minimum technologic and operational 

cost input in training to allow production 

in a sustainable environment (Medel, 

1990; Medel, 2000; Medel, 2001 a). 

Nuts, flowers and foliage of Gevuina in summer 

Delicious cake with flour and roasted nuts mixed with chocolate 


17

72° 68° 

CHILE 

Table 2. Total yield and superior nuts from trees of selected Gevuina VAX clones 

VAX Clones Total yield (kg/tree) Nut >2.5 g (kg/tree) 

53 24.63 14.53 

33-42-43-64 24.66 5.98 

21 8.07 5.97 

19° 

Iquique 

I REGIÓN 

19° 

Antofagasta 

II REGIÓN 

Table 3. Yield per hectare at peak production of six Gevuina VAX 

clones with two plant arrangements 

Copiapó 

III REGIÓN 

Clones NIS avg. (kg/ha) Kernel avg. (kg/ha) 

43-53-64 

(4.0 x 6.0 m = 416 trees/ha) 11,485 4,247 

LaSerena 

IV REGIÓN 

32° 

Valparaiso 

V REGIÓN 

Rancagua 

VI REGIÓN 

Santiago 

REGIÓN METROPOLOTANA 

32° 

21-33-42 

(3.0 x 5.0 m= 666 trees/ha) 10,773 4,235 

Talca 

VII REGIÓN 

Concepción 

VIII REGIÓN 

Temuco 

IX REGIÓN 

Puerto Montt 

X REGIÓN 

43° 

Coyhaique 

XI REGIÓN 

Punta Arenas 

XII REGIÓN 

90° 53° 

43° 

TERRITORIO CHILENO ANTÁRTICO 

SELECTED CLONES FOR NUT 

PRODUCTION 

The selected six clones are part of 119 

accessions evaluated among the years 

1977 and 2000 (Fig. 3). They are grouped 

by their rusticity in the series VAX that 

adapt in productivity to temperate climate 

(frost resistance), with a lack of summer 

rainfall (hydric stress) and soils of low natural 

fertility and good drainage (Medel, 

1988; Medel, 2001 b). The clones began 

their production between the 3rd and 5th 

year of age, arriving to their productive 

peak between the 8th and 10th year, to 

continue with a stabilized production. 

shell. The kernel is cream-white with a 

crisp texture, rich flavor and good taste 

(Figs. 4, 5 and 6). 

A synthesis of the central characteristics 

of the six clones are presented at Table 

1, qualifying them mainly by their yield, 

nut characteristics (NIS: nut-in-shell, kernel, 

shell) and vigor of the trees. In Table 

2 the total yield and the kg/tree of high 

class of nuts (>2.5 g) are exposed, that 

show an important proportion of kernels 

with a weight superior to 1.0 g, and therefore 

their commercial value for edible nut 

production. 

56° 

72° 68° 

0 

POLO 

SUR 

300 600 Km 

Geographic distribution of Gevuina in Chile (bar 

at right) and origen of the first selected VAX 

clones (map marked area) 

Harvest is carried out in February and 

March of each year in Chile, gathering 

from the soil almost 80% of the nuts in 15 

to 20 days. The nut is a black lignified 

drupe, with a thin easy-to-peel, smooth 

The note on tree vigor is important to 

arrange them in the orchard for the most 

efficient use of land. Several clones in the 

same orchard are important for a good 

cross pollination by bees for a high fruit 

set. Considering densities and plantation 

arrangements according to vigor of plants 

in relation with the six selected clones, at 

Table 3 the mean yields per hectare of 

NIS and kernels for two combinations of 

clones are shown. 

These values are important if they are 

compared with other species (NIS) as Hazelnut 

(C. avellana) and Macadamia, with 

values of 2.0 to 4.8 ton (Baron et al., 

1985) and 2.0 to 9.0 ton (Halloy et al., 

1996), respectively. The kernel yield can 

be considered also as high and the class 

higher than 1.0 g, similar to important cultivars 

of hazelnut (Manzo and Tamponi, 

1982), is appreciable in both clone combinations. 

Different clones with moderate vigour in Valdivia, Chile 

It is possible that yield and nut quality can 

be modified under the local conditions of 

other geographical places. Nevertheless, 

the productive adaptability of these clones 

was tested under elementary orchard 

management. In fact, the trees were al- 


Big nuts with good flavour and taste is one of the 

main objectives of Gevuina genetic and 

production improvement programme 

A young plant of a selected clone showing a high nut yield 

A Gevuina new plant of healthy material 

propagated by root cutting 

lowed to grow freely, without fertilization 

nor pesticides and complementary irrigation 

to overcome the summer lack of rainfall, 

all this with the purpose of proving 

their productive adaptability. The only orchard 

management was the reap of the 

natural prairie during summer to facilitate 

crop harvesting. 

Additionally it is possible to imagine good 

results especially in relation to temperature 

restrictions of other subtropical Protaceae 

like Macadamia. The frost resistance 

of adult plants of Gevuina and the fact 

that flowering, anthesis, pollination and 

fecundation are concentrated during February 

(summer), permits a good development 

of nuts and harvest at the following 

year, 12 months after pollination. 

In summary, these results show that the 

clonal selection in a native plant with a 

wide distribution in respect to climate and 

edaphic diversity has worked well. The 

resulting clonal selections represent a diverse 

gene pool that will allow further advances 

in the genetic improvement of Gevuina. 

A similar concept was presented 

by Reid (1995) for the wild Eastern Black 

Walnut, and recently the clonal selection 

method was used with exit within cultivars 

in Hazelnut (Islam and Özgüven, 2001; 

Valentini et al, 2001). 

CONCLUSIONS AND PROSPECTS 

The previous considerations allow to 

identify genetically the six clones proposed 

by the series VAX (21-33-42-43-53- 

64) and to register them as protected cultivars 

at an international level for their 

commercialization process. Together with 

that, several vegetative propagation techniques 

(plant tissue culture, cuttings, 

budding and grafting, with selected rootstocks; 

Medel and Medel, 2001) are available 

for growing selected clones (Fig. 7). 

This first step permits to continue with 

more vigor the research and development 

programme of Gevuina. It is considered 

essential to enlarge the base of the genetic 

resource with surveys embracing all 

their biodiversity area. The techniques of 

orchard management for the better certificate 

quality of nuts are determining for 

commercial production. This is especially 

important for the relationship soil-waterplant 

and proteoid roots, the handling of 

tree structure and the harvest systems. 


19

The work carried out in relation to phytochemical 

products in the nuts are illustrative 

of the nutritional, cosmetic and pharmacological 

Gevuina potentialities, that 

will be presented in a second paper in 

NUCIS 11. 

A wide variety of products, plus an adequate 

marketing strategy, would permit 

this species to reach an expectant position 

among other nuts at a world level. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

FRUVAX Ltda. (Valdivia, Chile) gave the 

grant to develop the research programme 

with Gevuina avellana Mol. accessions 

and clones. 

REFERENCES 

Baron, Ll., Riggert, C., Stebbins, R.L. 

and Bell, S. 1985. Growing Hazelnuts in 

Oregon. Oregon State Univ. Ext. Serv. 

Ext. Circ. 1219:19. 

Donoso,C. 1998. Chilean Trees Identification 

Guide. CONAF, 4ªed. Marisa Cuneo. 

116 pp. 

Halloy, S., Grau, A. and McKenzie, B. 

1996. Gevuina nut (Gevuina avellana, 

Protaceae), a cool-climate alternative to 

Macadamia. Economic Botany 50(2): 

224-235. 

Islam, A. and Özgüven. 2001. Clonal 

Selection in the Turkish Cultivars 

Grown in Ordu Province. Acta Horticulturae: 

203-208. 

Manzo, P. and Tamponi, G. 1982. Monografia 

di cultivar di nocciouolo. Inst. 

Sperimentale per la Frutticoltura, Roma. 

62 pp. 

Medel, F. 1987. Arboles Frutales: situación 

y potencial en el Sur de Chile. Universidad 

Austral de Chile y Corporación 

de Fomento de la Producción. 59 pp. 

among the walnut producing countries in 

nativo para el mercado internacional. the world (Anonymous, 1998). Kahramanmaras 

province of Turkey, located at a 

Revista Frutícola 21(2): 37-47. 

transition zone that runs from the 

Medel, F. and Medel, G. 2001. Growth 

of Seedling Rootstocks of Gevuina avellana 

Mol. by soil and foliar fertilization. ner regions of Anatolia with continental 

Southern Mediterranean region to the in- 

International Symposium on Foliar Nutrition 

of Prennial Fruit Plants. Int. Soc. 

climate, has become a prominent walnut 

area with an increasing number of walnut 

Hort. Sci. Merano, Italy, 11-15 Sept. 

2001. 1 p. 

trees (about 200.000 trees in 1999). Unfortunately, 

the production mainly comes 

Reid, N. 1995. Eastern Black Walnut: from seedling trees, resulting in non uniform 

bulk of nuts. 

Potential for Commercial Nut Producing 

Cultivars. J. Janick and J.E. Simon. In: 

Advances in New Crops. Timber Press, 

Portland, Oregon. pp. 327-331. 

Selection studies are being carried out in 

order to obtain high yielding better quality 

Valentini, N., Marinoni, D., Me, G. and nuts in the Kahramanmaras region. During 

the first step of a selection study, 171 

Botta, R. 2001. Evaluation of ‘Tonda 

Gentile Delle Langhe’ Clones. Acta Horticulturae 

556: 209-218. 

types were selected after careful inspection 

of the whole walnut population 

growing spontaneously as scattered trees 

(Anonymous, 1998; Germain, E., 1998). 

F. Medel 

During this selection, the distribution of 

Instituto de Producción y Sanidad Vegetal some horticulturally important morphological 

traits for walnut breeding studies 

Universidad Austral de Chile 

Valdivia-P O Box 567-Chile. 

E-mail: fmedel@uach.cl 

were also determined on these seedling 

trees. 

MATERIAL AND METHODS 

The whole population consisted of about 

180.000 trees in number was surveyed 

DISTRIBUTION OF SOME 

and after eliminating the undesirable 

MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS 

IN WALNUT SEEDLING TREES 

INTRODUCTION 

Walnut is one of the several fruit species 

indigenous to Anatolia where the history 

of fruit culture is dated back to ancient times. 

It is still playing an important role in 

the economy and culture of the people, 

as had been in past, in places where walnut 

growing is intensified. With a number 

of 4.5 million trees and a production of 

115.000 metric tons, Turkey is ranking 3 rd 

Medel, F. 1988. Fertilización y nutrición 

mineral de huertos frutales en el sur de 

Chile. UACH-CORFO, Gerencia de Desarrollo. 

AA 88/59. 64 pp. 

Medel, F. 1990. Fruit production research 

and development in the South of Chile: 

a twenty year experience. Agro Sur 

17(2): 119-131. 

Medel, F. 2000 . ‘Gevuin’: a New Nut for 

International Trade. New Zealand Institute 

for Crop and Food Research. 2 pp. 

Medel, F. 2001 a. Fruticultura en el sur de 

Chile. Agenda del Salitre. SOQUIMICH. 

pp.1007-1026. 

Medel, F. 2001 b. Gevuina avellana: 

Potential for Commercial Nut Clones. 

Acta Horticulturae 556: 521-528. 

Medel, F. and Medel R., 2000. Gevuina 

avellana Mol: características y mejoramiento 

genético de un frutal de nuez 

Figure 1,2. The higher number of nuts on a cluster can be an important trait in walnut breeding. 

This is the fruiting style Type No. 700 (Maras 12) selected in the Kahramanmaras region by M. Sütyemez. 


ones, the selected 171 types were used 

in this study. The age of surveyed trees 

was estimated in a range of 20 to 340 

years, and trunk height ranged from 1.0 

m to 5.5 m, and trunk diameter from 0.8 

m to 5.0 m. 

A descriptor for walnut (Juglans spp), edited 

by the International Plant Genetic Resource 

Institute, Rome (Italy) was used in 

determining the morphological traits of 

walnut trees. 

% 

100 

90 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

Figure 3. Distribution 

of tree growth habit (%) 

Spreading Semi-Upright Upright 

% 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 


of lateral fruitfulness (%) 

High Medium Low 

RESULTS 

Most walnut seedling trees had spreading 

growth habit with a percentage of 

91.7, while a small proportion of them represented 

semi-erect (7.1 %) or erect 

growth habit (1.2 %). (Figure 3). The 

whole tree productivity prior to harvest 

period was determined using a scale of 1 

to 5. The percentage of very productive 

and productive trees were 27.2 % and 

39.7 % respectively, while 29.6 % and 

3.5 % of the population consisted of medium 

and low productive trees, respectively 

(Figure 4.). The higher percentage of 

productive trees indicated the removal of 

unproductive or low yielding types by farmers. 

The lateral fruitfulness of the trees was 

grouped as high, medium and low. About 

one third of the trees had high lateral fruiting 

habit and a small proportion had (8.3 

%) low lateral fruiting habit, however, a 

high percentage of trees (61.5 %) had 

medium lateral fruitfulness (Figure 5). Lateral 

fruitfulness is one of the most important 

criteria in selecting walnuts along 

with nut number. The number of nuts on a 

cluster ranged from 3 to 26. The higher 

number of nuts on a cluster in Turkish types 

can be one of the important components 

of walnut productivity (Figure 1 and 2). 

Only 14.2 % of the walnut trees consisted 

of homogamous inflorescence habit, remaining 

trees were either protandrous (40.3 %) 

or protogynous (45.5 %). (Figure 6). 

Some nut properties of the selected 171 

walnut types in Kahramanmaras Region 

were also given in Table 1 with mean values 

and range. 

% 


of productivity (%) 

45 

40 

35 

30 

25 

20 

15 

10 

50 

0 

Very 

Medium Low 

productive Productive productive productive 

% 


of inflorescences (%) 

45 

40 

35 

30 

25 

20 

15 

10 

5 

0 

Homogamous Protogynous Protandrous 

Table 1. Some nut properties of the selected walnut types 

Properties Mean Range 

(Min- Max) 

Inshell nut weight (g) 15.45 12.06 - 25.80 

Kernel weight (g) 7.56 6.01 - 12.29 

Kernel percentage (%) 49.10 42.75 - 60.45 

Nut height (mm) 36.76 31.23 - 45.92 

Nut diameter (mm) 35.88 30.22 - 44.15 

Nut length (mm) 42.81 34.88 - 52.02 

Shell thickness (mm) 1.18 0.71 - 1.75 

Plumb kernel (%) 90.35 60.00 - 100 

Kernel protein content (%) 18.80 9.29 - 29.65 

Kernel oil content (%) 68.34 58.72 - 76.53 

Kernel ash content (%) 1.97 1.15 - 2.17 

In overall evaluation of some morphologic 

traits in walnut types, especially productivity, 

lateral fruiting habit and homogamous 

flowering traits found in our selections 

are considered to be the most important 

criteria in walnut breeding. Therefore, 

these selected types are used as 

genitors in our breeding programme with 

promising traits for developing new walnut 

cultivars. 

REFERENCES 

Anonymous, 1998 a. FAO Production 

Year Book 1997. Food and Agriculture 

Organization of the United Nations 

Rome (htttp://www.fao.org.). 

Anonymous, 1998 b. Walnut Production 

Manual. University of California Division 

of Agriculture and Natural Resources. 

87– 90. 

Germain, E., 1998. Genetic improvement 

of the the persian walnut (Juglans 

regia L.) Production and economics of 

Nut Crops. Coures Booklets. 18 – 29 

May, Adana – Turkey. 

IPGRI. 1994 Descriptors for Walnut (Juglans 

spp). International Plant Genetic 

Resources Institute. Rome, Italy, 51pp. 

M. Sutyemez, S. Çaglar 

KSU Facülty of Agriculture 

Dept. of Horticulture/Kahramanmaras, Turkey 

E-mail: sutyemez@ede.ksu.edu.tr 


21

THE AUSTRALIAN PISTACHIO 

INDUSTRY 

The motivation for the Australian pistachio 

industry developed out of concern in 

the 1960s over poor financial returns to 

grape growers. The government put resources 

into developing alternative crops 

such as pistachios. That the Australian 

wine grape industry is now extremely profitable 

and expanding rapidly says something 

about the cyclical nature of agriculture 

and also something about the ability 

of governments to pick winners in its industry 

policy. However, the Australian 

pistachio industry is the result. The industry 

is still small, less than 500 hectares 

with 2001 production reaching almost 

1,000 metric tons. However, after almost 

20 years of commercial farming, the opportunities 

are now there for significant 

expansion. 

In the 1960s an introduction and selection 

programme was commenced by the research 

arm of the Australian government, 

CSIRO, to identify pistachio varieties suitable 

for Australian conditions. The land 

and water available in Australia suitable 

for pistachios tend to have lower chill 

hours than the traditional pistachio 

growing regions of the world. The criteria 

for selection were high, consistent yields 

of good quality nuts with high split rates, 

under Australian conditions. 

From a large number of seedlings and imported 

clones, CSIRO selected an open 

pollinated seedling of ‘Red Aleppo’. The 

‘Red Aleppo’ used came from the UC collection 

at Chico, California. ‘Red Aleppo’ 

is described in the original CSIRO publication 

as “an important Syrian variety”. 

Syrian growers today claim not to know of 

it. Brooks and Olmo describe ‘Red Aleppo’ 

as an old cultivar from Syria or Turkey 

that was introduced into California by R.A. 

Fuller. They continue saying it may be a 

seedling of Turkish or Syrian ‘Red Aleppo’. 

In the early 1980’s CSIRO released 

the selected clone and named it ‘Sirora’. 

Cultivar ‘Sirora’ has a number of desirable 

characteristics. 

• It has a very high split rate in commercial 

production, 90 to 97% is typical. 

• It has an excellent green kernel colour 

and good flavour. 

• It will produce reasonably well even in 

years with poor chilling hours (1,000) although it is much 

worse in low chilling years. Nut maturity is 

spread over three weeks from the end of 

February to the end of March. Growers 

with large orchards double shake ‘Sirora’ 

trees to maximise the return of clean shell, 

split nuts with the shakers about 10 to 16 

days apart. 

Small areas of ‘Kerman’ are also grown. 

Yields are typically 55% to 65% of the ‘Sirora’ 

yield. Non-split rates are very high, 

typically 15-25%. 

The rootstocks used are: P. terebinthus, 

P. atlantica and Pioneer Gold (P. integerrima). 

Whilst Verticillium wilt (V.dahlia) is 

'Sirora' cluster at harvesting time in Mildura, Australia 


a very minor problem, Pioneer Gold has 

proven to be more vigorous and higher 

yielding than P. terebinthus or P. atlantica 

trees. This seems largely to be due to 

the consistency of the Pioneer Gold 

rootstock compared to the high variability 

of the open pollinated unselected species. 

Most new plantings are made using 

Pioneer Gold. 

Soil types are typically shallow sandy 

loams on beds of heavy clay or limestone. 

Drainage is only fair compared to the 

deep soils of California (USA) or Rafsanjan 

(Iran). Soil pH is usually high, 7.5 to 8.5. 

Whilst pistachios are largely pest free, a 

serious bacterial disease is causing substantial 

tree death and crop loss. This is 

detailed elsewhere in this issue. No pesticides 

are applied and few, if any, fungicides. 

Several indigenous insects have been 

shown to cause damage to small nuts but 

rarely of any commercial significance. 

Both known pests are of the order Hemiptera 

(true bugs). Any damage occurs 

when the nuts are very small (

Ceylampinar farm orchard in South Anatolia, Turkey 

SELECTION CRITERIA 

OF THE BEST PISTACHIO 

MALE TREES 

INTRODUCTION 

As it is well known pistachio trees (Pistacia 

vera L.) are dioecious. That means 

male and female flowers are on separate 

trees. It has been recognized since 1697 

(Whitehouse and Stone, 1941) that pollination 

and fertilization are necessary to 

get seeded fruits. Pollination occurs by 

the transport of pollen from male to female 

trees by wind. Pistachio flowers have 

no petals which could attract insects. 

Therefore pistachio orchards have to contain 

male trees and the ratio of male to 

female should be 1/8 or 1/11 (Ayfer, 

1964, Kaska, 1990, Ak,1992). It is necessary 

to have enough male trees to insure 

adequate pollination. 

MALE SELECTION OBJECTIVES 

Tree Growth: A good male tree growth 

should be strong and upright. Generally 

this character is the distinguishing trait 

between male and female trees. The angle 

between main stem and lateral shoots 

is narrower in male trees than females. If 

the male tree grows upright and has a big 

size it produces a large amount of pollen 

and its distribution will be to extended 

areas. It can be provided by using strong 

or vigorous rootstocks such as Pistacia 

khinjuk or Pistacia atlantica. 

Synchronization of Flower: Female and 

male flowering periods should be synchronized 

as it is well known that protandry 

is common in this nut tree. Generally 

male flowers spread their pollen before 

female flowers become receptive. Some 

researchers sprayed trees with growth regulators 

or chemicals to provide bloom 

synchronization (Procopiou, 1973; Porlingis 

and Voyiatzis, 1986; Ak, 1998, Pontikis, 

1989). In fact, delaying flowering period 

in male pistachio trees can be provided 

by using paclobutrazol to solve protandry. 

Another solution is blooming advancement. 

Advancement of flowering in 

female varieties can be made by using 

hydrogen cyanamide. Both of them are 

temporary solutions to solve this problem. 

The main and permanent solution is to 

find suitable male trees (some features 

have been mentioned in this article) for 

female pistachio varieties. For this purpose 

suitable male selection studies were 

started in Turkey and in some other 

countries (Atli et al.,1995, Koroglu and 

Koksal, 1995, Vargas et al, 1995; Martinez-Palle 

and Herrero, 1993). To select 

suitable male types for determined female 

cultivars, phenological observations 

should be carried out. At this stage, the 

following observations for male and female 

trees should be considered (Hadj- 

Hassan, 1986). They are as follows: 

• Determine bud swelling 

• Determine bud bursting 

• Beginning of flowering: 10% of open flowers 

• Full flowering: 75 % of open flowers 

• End of flowering: more than 90 % open 

flowers 

• Flowering period (day): days between 

beginning and end of flowering. 

The flowering Period: Flowering periods 

of male trees are generally shorter than 

female’s (Ak and Kaska, 1993). For this 

reason flowering period of male should 

be long enough to overlap with the 

blooming period of females. 


The Clusters: The number of flowering 

clusters and size have to be high and big. 

This means that the bigger sized clusters 

are, more pollen is produced. This results 

with fruit set increasing. 

Pollen Production: Amount of pollen 

production in each flowering cluster has 

to be high. 

Yield Potential: Yield potential of male 

trees has to be high. Flower buds are on 

the current year shoots. But some of the 

buds do not burst clusters. Yield Potential 

is the ratio of burst cluster to total buds 

on a shoot. 

Pollen germination Rate: Pollen germination 

rate should be high. This can be 

assessed by performing pollen germination 

tests in vitro conditions. Different 

germination methods and media can be 

used. Generally hanging drop, tube, saturated 

Petri dish methods can be used. 

However, different chemical solutions 

may be used (Acar and Ak, 1998). Most 

researchers advised sucrose solution as 

pollen germination media. In addition, 

boric acid, calcium, gibberellik acid, 

agar etc. may be used as media (Johri 

and Vasil, 1961). Ak et al., (1995), 

mentioned that the best pollen germination 

rate was obtained by using 10-15 % 

sucrose solution. After comparing different 

germination methods the best result 

was obtained by the saturated petri 

dish method. 

Pollen viability in vivo: Pollen distributed 

in the air should remain viable. That 

means pollen’s viability in vivo has to be 

long. Savastano (Stone et al., 1943) reported 

that pollen of P. vera, P. terebinthus 

and their hybrids retained their viability 

for 15 to 20 days under laboratory 

conditions at 20-25 o C. But in Petri dishes 

placed outdoors they lost their viability in 

two days in the shade and in two hours 

under direct sunlight. 

Alternate Bearing: Pistachio cultivars 

show more or less alternate bearing. This 

character may be observed in some male 

trees as well. A good male type should 

not show alternate bearing. 

As a result of all above a good male type 

should present the following traits: 

• Growth has to be strong and upright 

• The flowering period has to be synchronized 

• Flowering period of the male should be 

long enough to overlap the flowering period 

of females 

• The number of clusters has to be high 

• Flower clusters have to be big sized 

• The amount of pollen production in 

each cluster has to be high 

• Yield potential has to be high 

• The pollen germination rate has to be 

high 

• Pollen’s viability in vivo has to be long 

• It should not show alternate bearing 

CURRENT PROGRAMMES 

The Harran and Kahramanmaras Universities 

and Gaziantep Pistachio Research 

Institute are working on this subject. The 

first selection study was started at the 

Pistachio Research Institute. Later on research 

has been conducted by University 

of Harran at Ceylanpinar State Farm sited 

150 km away from Sanliurfa. The different 

male trees were selected in 1989 and 

they were described using Pistacia Descriptor 

published by International Plant 

Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI, 

1997). The main criterion was flowering 

time. Males and females were observed 

under the same ecological conditions. 

Some males were selected for certain females. 

In the near future they will be named 

by Ministry of Agriculture. 

REFERENCES 

Ak, B.E., 1992. Effects of pollens of different 

Pistacia species on the nut set 

and quality of pistachio nuts. (In Turkish) 

PhD Thesis. University of Çukurova, 

Faculty of Agriculture, Adana Turkey, 

211 pages. 

Ak, B.E., A.I. Özgüven and Y. Nikpeyma, 

1995. An investigation on determining 

the ability of some Pistacia spp. 

pollen germination. First International 

Symposium on Pistachio nut. September, 

20-24, 1994, Adana, Turkey. Acta 

Horticulture, 419: 43-48. 

Ak, B.E. 1998. The effects of Paclobutrazol 

(PP-333) applications on inflorescence 

in male pistachio trees. Proceedings 

of The X. GREMPA Seminar, 14- 

17 October 1996, Meknes (Morocco). 

Cahiers Options Méditerranéennes, 

Vol: 33, 57-61. 

Acar, I. and B.E.Ak, 1998. An investigation 

on pollen germination rates of some 

selected male trees at Ceylanpinar State 

Farm. Proceedings of The X. GREM- 

PA Seminar, 14-17 October 1996, Meknes 

(Morocco). Cahiers Options 

Méditerranéennes, Vol: 33, 63-66. 

Atli, S., N. Kaska and S. Eti, 1995. Selection 

of male Pistacia spp. types 

growing in Gaziantep. First International 

Symposium on Pistachio nut. September, 

20-24, 1994, Adana, Turkey. 

Acta Horticulture, 419: 319-322. 

Ayfer, M., 1964. Pistachio nut culture 

and its problems with special reference 

to Turkey. Univ. Ankara, Faculty of Agriculture, 

Yearbook, 189-217. 

Hadj-Hassan, A., 1986. Pistachio pollination 

study and selection of suitable 

pollinators for Syrian varieties in Aleppo. 

The Arab Center For The Studies of 

Arid Zones and Dry Lands, ACSAD, 29 p. 

IPGRI, 1997. Descriptors for pistachio 

(Pistacia vera, L.) International Plant 

Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, 

Italy, 51 p. 

Johri, B.M. and I.K. Vasil, 1961. Physiology 

of pollen. The Botanical Review. 

27(3): 325-381. 

Kaska, N. 1990. Pistachio research and 

development in the near east, north 

africa and southern europe. Nut Production 

and Industry in Europe, Near 

East and North Africa. Reur Technical 

Series 13, 133-160. 

Kaska, N. And B.E.Ak, 1996. Effects of 

pollens of different Pistacia species on 

some physiological features of pistachio 

nuts. Proceedings of the nineth 

G.R.E.M.P.A. Meeting Pistachio Bronte 

- Sciacca, Italy, May 20-21, 1993, 43-47. 

Koroglu, M. and A.I. Köksal, 1995. Determination 

of male pistachio types for 

the district of Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras. 

First International Symposium 

on Pistachio nut. September, 20- 

24, 1994, Adana, Turkey. Acta Horticulture, 

419: 299-305. 

Martinez-Palle, E. and M. Herrero, 

1996. Male selection in pistachio. Proceedings 

of the IX. G.R.E.M.P.A. Meeting 

- Pistachio. Bronte - Sciacca, Italy, 

May 20-21, 1993: 133-136. 

Pontikis, C.A., 1989. Effects of Hydrogen 

Cyanamide on bloom advancement 

in female pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) 

Fruit Varieties Journal 43(3): 125-128. 

Porlingis, I.C. and D.G. Voyiatzis, 

1986. Flower synchronization of staminate 

and pistillate pistachio trees (Pistacia 

vera L.) with paclobutrazol. Acta 

Horticulture, Growth Regulators, 179: 

521-527. 

Procopiou, J. 1973. The induction of 

earlier flowering in female pistachio 

trees by mineral oil - DNOC winter 

sprays. J. Hort. Sci. 48: 393-395. 

Stone, C.L., L.E. Jones and W.E. Whitehouse, 

1943. Longevity of pistacho 

pollen under various conditions of storage. 

Proc. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci, 42: 

305-314. 

Vargas, F.J., M. Romero, J. Plana, M. 

Rovira and I. Battle, 1995. Characterization 

and behaviour of pistachio cultivars. 

First International Symposium on 

Pistachio nut. September, 20-24, 1994, 

Adana, Turkey. Acta Horticulture, 419: 

181-188. 

Whitehouse, W.E., and L.C. Stone. 

1941. Some aspects of dichogamy and 

pollination in pistacho. Proc. Amer. 

Soc. Hort. Sci. 39: 95-100. 

B.E. Ak 

Harran University, Faculty of Agriculture 

Department of Horticulture 

63200- Sanliurfa (Turkey) 

Tel: 414 247 26 97 Fax: 414 247 44 80 

E-Mail: beak@harran.edu.tr 


25

THE EFFECT OF IAA, IBA, NAA 

AND 2,4-D ON ROOTING IN 

CUTTINGS OF VERY YOUNG 

PISTACIA ATLANTICA DESF. 

SEEDLINGS 

INTRODUCTION 

The Pistachio nut is commercially propagated 

by budding on seedling rootstock of 

Pistacia species and their interspecific 

hybrids. They are all highly heterozygous 

species and therefore, seedling rootstocks 

show variability. It would be of considerable 

advantange, if selected rootstocks 

could be propagated clonally. 

Cuttings from mature trees of Pistacia 

species are considered very difficult-toroot 

(Joley and Opitz, 1971). However, 

promising results were obtained with cuttings 

from juvenile seedlings (Lee et al., 

1976; Pair and Khatamian, 1983). Rooting 

potential of Pistacia cuttings significantly 

decreased in parallel with stock 

plant maturity (Pair and Khatamian, 1983; 

Al Barazi and Schwabe, 1984). But Al Barazi 

and Schwabe (1982), had nearly 

overcome this problem by the treatments 

of very high IBA concentrations in mature 

P. vera cuttings. On the other hand, rooting 

of P. chinensis cuttings showed significant 

variation with IBA and NAA combinations 

besides either treatment of both 

auxins (Dunn et al., 1996). Recently, the 

use of different auxins (IBA, NAA and 

IAA) producing marked changes on the 

rooting of mature P. lentiscus cuttings 

was reported (Isfendiyaroglu, 1999). 

Auxin selectivity was also proved by 

Barghchi and Alderson (1983), on in vitro 

rooting of juvenile P. vera cuttings. 

Proper auxin and auxin combinations 

seem to be important factors on the rooting 

of both juvenile and mature cuttings 

of Pistacia. Therefore, in this research, 

effects of IAA, IBA, NAA and 2,4-D, which 

are known to be common root promoting 

substances on the rooting in cuttings of 

very young seedlings of P. atlantica were 

investigated. 

Abbreviations: IAA, Indoleacetic acid; 

IBA, Indolebutyric acid; NAA, Naphtaleneacetic 

acid; 2,4-D, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic 

acid. 

MATERIALS AND METHODS 

Seedlings of P. atlantica 50-days-old 

were used as cutting material for rooting 

bioassay. Previous year’s seeds from an 

open pollinated tree were used for seedling 

production. Pretreatments of seeds 

were carried out according to Isfendiyaroglu 

and Özeker (1999). 

Stratification period was 60 days. Seeds 

were sown in autoclaved moist peat-perlite 

(2:1 v/v) mixture in plastic trays. They 

were grown for 50 days at 28 ± 2°C and 

80 % r.h. in a growth chamber, under the 

SON-T 400 W lamps a quantum flux density 

of 52.8 µ mol m -2 s -1 , 16 h photoperiod 

was provided. At the end of this period, 

first, overgrown seedlings were eliminated. 

Then, the seedlings at 10 cm in length 

and approx. 1 mm in shoot thickness 

were prepared as cuttings. Three pairs of 

three lobed primary leaves and unexpanded 

shoot tip were retained. Cuttings were 

selected among more than one thousand 

seedlings to maintain uniformity. 

Cuttings were placed in test tubes (65mm 

x18 mm) containing 5 ml solutions of 0, 2, 

20, 200 ppm K salts of IAA, IBA, NAA and 

2,4-D with 2 ppm boric acid. Autoclaved 

ultra pure water was used for incubation 

solution and all the glassware were sterilized. 

Ultra pure water was added daily to 

maintain the original water level. 

Table 1. Effect of auxins on the rooting of cuttings 

Auxin Rooting (%) Root number Root length (mm) Survival (%) 

IAA 60.00 a* 1.30 ab 9.83 a 83.33 a 

IBA 36.66 ab 1.88 a 4.64 ab 75.00 a 

NAA 30.00 b 0.48 b 2.00 b 63.33 a 

2,4-D 15.00 b 0.18 b 4.25 ab 26.67 b 

* Mean separation, by Duncan’s multiple range test, 5 % level. 

Table 2. Effect of auxin concentrations on the rooting of cuttings 

Concentration (ppm) Rooting (%) Root number Root length (mm) Survival (%) 

0 46.67 a* 0.60 b 10.88 a 100.00 a 

2 56.67 a 2.15 a 6.15 ab 76.67 ab 

20 30.00 ab 0.77 b 3.39 bc 63.33 b 

200 8.33 b 0.33 b 0.30 c 8.33 c 

* Mean separation, by Duncan’s multiple range test, 5 % level. 

Cuttings were evaluated 7 days after 

planting for rooting percentage, mean 

number and length of roots per cutting 

and survival rate. A randomized block design 

was used with 3 replications of 5 cuttings 

for each treatment. Statistical analysis 

were carried out using SPSS 5.0. 

Data were analysed by ANOVA and 

Duncan’s multiple range test was used to 

discern differences at the 5 % level of significance. 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

The analysis of variance indicated that 

auxins significantly affected the rooting of 

cuttings (Table 1). Among the four 

auxins, IAA gave the highest rooting percentage, 

longest roots and the best survival. 

But the cuttings produced most roots 

with IBA. 

Concentration effect was found to be significant 

on rooting (Table 2). Cuttings 

mostly rooted with the treatment of 2 

ppm, however rooting percentage did not 

significantly differ from the auxin-free medium. 

The presence of auxin (2 ppm) originated 

high increase in root production. 

Cuttings had the highest root length and 

survival in auxin-free medium. Ten times 

increases in auxin concentrations inhibited 

rooting. 

There were significant interactions between 

auxin and auxin concentration in 

relation to rooting (Table 3). Rooting percentages 

obtained from auxin-free media 

were significantly different. This may 

have concerned with genotipic variation 

of seedling material. Concentration of 2 

ppm IBA gave the highest (100.00 %) 

rooting percentage followed by 20 ppm 

IAA and 2 ppm NAA. Interestingly, cuttings 

could be rooted and produced considerable 

number of roots with 200 ppm 

IAA, while the cuttings receiving the same 

concentration of other auxins did not survive 

(Table 3). This result supports the 

suggestions that for the cuttings of a range 

of species, concentrations of IAA need 

to be at least ten times greater than IBA 

(James, 1983). As a matter of fact, gradual 

increases in IAA levels did not result 

in marked changes on in vitro rooting of 

P. vera cuttings as occurred at IBA and 

NAA (Barghchi and Alderson, 1985). 

The highest number of roots (6.67) was 

obtained with 2 ppm IBA. Root numbers 

were significantly low at the same levels 

of IAA and NAA. Similar results were reported 

and best rooting was achieved 

with 2.5 mg.l -1 IBA among the concentrations 

of three auxins ranged between 1.0 

and 4.0 mg l -1 in vitro root formation of P. 

vera cuttings (Barghchi and Alderson, 

1985). Moreover, in mature P. lentiscus 

cuttings, IBA was found to be superior for 

root production among the same concen- 


trations of three auxins (Isfendiyaroglu, 

1999). On the other hand, ten times increase 

in concentration of IAA (20 ppm) 

resulted in threefold augmentation in root 

production, but never was as effective as 

2 ppm IBA (Table 3). On the contrary, 

root production was remarkably suppressed 

by 20 ppm IBA and NAA, but many 

initial roots were produced at the basal 2- 

3 cm portions of the cuttings (Figure 1). 

Consecutive trials on rooting in softwood 

cuttings of mature P. chinensis showed 

that the cuttings did not respond well to 

above optimal concentrations of IBA and 

NAA compared with the optimum mixtures 

of both auxins (Dunn, 1995). 

All concentrations of 2,4-D severely injured 

the cuttings. This means that lower levels 

should be needed, if cuttings would 

continuously be exposed to this substance. 

Inconsistent results were obtained due to 

the length of roots produced according to 

the treatments (Table 3). Regardless of 

the root lengths from auxin-free media, 

cuttings had longer roots with 20 ppm IAA 

and, both 2 ppm IAA and IBA. But the 

root length dramatically decreased with 

the concentration of 2 ppm NAA. Also, 

NAA produced very thick primary roots 

(Figure 1). De Klerk et al. (1997), proved 

that the optimal rooting response was 

reached at a wide range of IAA concentrations 

against the lower concentrations 

of IBA and particularly NAA in vitro root 

numbers and lengths of Malus shoots. 

Furthermore, similar morphogenetic difference 

observed in NAA-induced roots of 

P. atlantica was even reported in micro 

cuttings of Castanae sativa by Vieitez 

and Vieitez (1982). 

Table 3. Interaction of auxins and concentrations on the rooting of cuttings 

Auxin Concentration Rooting (%) Root number Root length Survival (%) 

(ppm) 

(mm) 

IAA 0 60.00 bc* 0.67 c-e 13.00 ab 100.00 a 

2 60.00 bc 0.80 c-e 11.93 ab 100.00 a 

20 86.67 ab 2.40 b 13.20 ab 100.00 a 

200 33.33 cd 1.33 cd 1.19 c 33.33 b 

IBA 0 33.33 cd 0.47 c-e 6.67 bc 100.00 a 

2 100.00 a 6.67 a 11.72 ab 100.00 a 

20 13.33 d 0.40 de 0.17 c 100.00 a 

200 0.00 d 0.00 e 0.00 c 0.00 c 

NAA 0 33.33 cd 0.53 c-e 6.87 bc 100.00 a 

2 66.67 a-c 1.13 cd 0.94 c 100.00 a 

20 20.00 d 0.27 de 0.20 c 53.33 b 

200 0.00 d 0.00 e 0.00 c 0.00 c 

2,4-D 0 60.00 bc 0.73 c-e 17.00 a 100.00 a 

2 0.00 d 0.00 e 0.00 c 6.67 c 

20 0.00 d 0.00 e 0.00 c 0.00 c 

200 0.00 d 0.00 e 0.00 c 0.00 c 

*Mean separation, by Duncan’s multiple range test, 5 % level. 

In conclusion, very young cuttings of P. 

atlantica showed considerable rooting 

without any treatment of auxin. But at the 

presence of optimal auxin concentration, 

rooting percentage and root production of 

the cuttings significantly increased. IBA 

was found to be most effective among the 

auxins tested, as formerly reported in 

other cutting materials of Pistacia. Results 

also proved that the range of IAA 

concentrations could be extremely wide, 

compared to IBA and NAA even in the 

continuous exposure. In this research it 

was shown that liquid rooting medium 

could be a suitable alternative to solid 

media for the rooting of Pistacia cuttings. 

Moreover, the use of liquid medium was 

beneficial for leaking rooting inhibitors. 

The importance of juvenile or rejuvenated 

material is evident for successful clonal 

propagation of Pistacia species. Therefore, 

our investigations on the basis of determining 

the proper auxin concentration 

and their combinations will be continued. 

Figure 1. Influence of the different auxin concentrations on root formation of cuttings 


27

REFERENCES 

Al Barazi, Z. and Schwabe, W.W., 1982. 

Rooting softwood cuttings of adult Pistacia 

vera. Journal of Horticultural 

Science, 57 (2): 247-252. 

Al Barazi, Z. and Schwabe, W.W., 1984. 

The possible involvement of polyphenol-oxidase 

and the auxin-oxidase system 

in root formation and development 

in cuttings of Pistacia vera. Journal of 

Horticultural Science, 59 (3): 453-461. 

Barghchi, M. and Alderson, P. G., 

1983a. In vitro propagation of Pistacia 

vera L. from seedling tissues. Journal of 

Horticultural Science, 8: 435-445. 

Barghchi, M. and Alderson, P. G., 1985. 

In vitro propagation of Pistacia vera L. 

and commercial cultivars, Ohadi and 

Kalleghochi. Journal of Horticultural 

Science, 60: 423-430. 

De Klerk, G. J., Ter Brugge, Marinova, 

S., 1997. Effectiveness of indoleacetic 

acid, indolebutyric acid and naphthaleneacetic 

acid during adventitious root 

formation in vitro in Malus ‘Jork9’. Plant 

Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture, 49: 39- 

44. 

Dunn, D.E., 1995. Vegetative propagation 

of Chinese pistachio. MSc Thesis, 

Oklahoma State University, 155 p 

Dunn, D.E., Cole, J.C. and Smith, M.W., 

1996b. Position of cut, bud retention 

and auxins influence rooting of Pistacia 

chinensis. Scientia Horticulturae, 67: 

105-110. 

Isfendiyaroglu, M. 1999. Investigations 

on cutting propagation of the mastic 

tree (Pistacia lentiscus var. Chia Duham.) 

and anatomical-physiological study 

of root formation. (in Turkish) PhD 

Thesis, Ege University, ∑zmir, Turkey, 

123pp. 

Vieitez, A. M. and Vieitez, M. L., 1983. 

Castanea sativa plantlets proliferated 

from axillary buds cultivated in vitro. 

Scientia Horticulturae, 18: 343-351. 

M. Isfendiyaroglu and E. Özeker 

Ege University, Faculty of Agriculture 

Department of Horticulture 

35100 Bornova/Izmir-Turkey 

Tel: +90.232.388 18 65 

Fax: +90.232.388 18 65 

E-mail: isfendiyar@ziraat.ege.edu.tr 

PISTACHIO DIEBACK - A 

DEVASTATING PROBLEMME 

FOR THE INDUSTRY 

IN AUSTRALIA 

Pistachios (Pistacia vera L.) in Australia 

are grown mainly along the Murray River, 

in New South Wales, Victoria and South 

Australia (Robinson 1997, Figure 1). The 

onset of the production of pistachio nuts 

in commercial quantities in Australia in 

1996 coincided with increasing concern 

regarding a disease with symptoms of decline, 

dieback, trunk and limb lesions and, 

in some instances, tree death. In 1997 a 

research programme, funded by the pistachio 

industry, the Department of Natural 

Resources and Environment, and the 

Horticulture Research and Development 

Corporation (HRDC, NT 608), was initiated 

to sample diseased trees systematically 

from two sites and test those trees for 

a range of pathogens monthly throughout 

the growing season. As part of the project, 

orchard mapping was undertaken to try to 

determine the pattern of spread of the disease. 

This study indicated a bacterial 

agent as the causal organism. 

In 2000 a new project was initiated to study 

the epidemiology of pistachio dieback. 

This project is also funded by the pistachio 

industry and the HRDC (NT99004), 

and involves researchers from the Department 

of Natural Resources and Environment 

of Victoria (Bob Emmett and Cathy 

Taylor) and Adelaide University (Margaret 

Sedgley, Eileen Scott and Evelina Facelli) 

(Figure 2). This project will concentrate 

on confirming and clarifying the bacterial 

pathovars involved and the pattern of disease 

development, and will identify the 

sources of inoculum, means of transmission 

and infection pathways. Integrated 

disease management strategies based on 

knowledge generated by this research 

will be developed and communicated to 

the industry. 

The following symptoms have been observed 

on the scions (P. vera, ‘Sirora’, 

Isfendiyaroglu, M. and Özeker, E. 1999. 

The relations between phenolic compounds 

and seed dormancy in Pistacia 

spp. XI. G.R.E.M.P.A. Meeting on Pistachios 

and Almonds, September 1-4, 

SanlΩurfa, Turkey (in press). 

NT 

QSL 

James, D. J., 1983. Adventitious root 

formations ‘in vitro’ in apple rootstocks 

(Malus pumila) I. Factors affecting the 

length of the auxin-sensitive phase in 

M.9. Physiol.Plant., 57: 149-153. 

Joley, L.E. and Opitz, K.W., 1971. Further 

experiences with propagation of 

Pistacia. Proc. Int. Plant. Prop. Soc., 

21: 67-76. 

WA 

SA 

NSW 

Lee, C.I., Paul, J.L. and Hackett, W.P., 

1976. Root promotion on stem cuttings 

of several ornamental plants by acid or 

base pretreatment. Comb. Proc. Intl. 

Plant Prop. Soc., 26: 95-99. 

VIC 

Pair, J.C. and Khatamian, H., 1983. 

Propagation and growing of the Chinese 

pistachio. Proc. Int. Plant Prop. Soc., 

32: 497-503. 

Present production 

Potential production 

TAS 

Figure 1. Present and potential areas of pistachio production in Australia (Ben Robinson, 1998) 


‘Kerman’ and various male cultivars) but 

not on the rootstocks (P. terebinthus L., 

P. atlantica Desf. or P. integerrima 

Stewart cv. ‘Pioneer Gold’). 

• Shoot death: Wilting and death of current 

season growth. 

• Decline: Little or no new growth. 

• Dieback: Slow collapse of twigs and 

limbs, often extending down into the crotch, 

sometimes into the trunk and, in some cases, 

killing the entire tree (Figure 3). On 

dead limbs, a few shoots with bright, 

brown desiccated leaves are invariably 

present. There is no evidence of gumming 

on dead or dying limbs. 

• Internal staining: Found in 1 year-old 

shoots and older, can vary in cross-section 

from small, dark pin pricks to thick, 

dark (reddish) complete rings (Figures 4). 

Streaks of staining can be seen by removing 

strips of bark from affected twigs. 

The colour of staining ranges from midbrown 

(some dark red) to black. The presence 

of staining in shoots is generally 

associated with lesions in the trunk and 

limbs. In general, staining is not observed 

in the rootstock, although some exceptions 

have been found. 

• Leathery leaves: Leaves appear stunted, 

crinkled, leathery and darker than 

normal. 

• Resinous exudate: White (clear or milky, 

occasionally “bluish”) resinous gum exuded 

from trunk and or major branches, 

which may or may not be found coming 

from the trunk lesions (Figure 5). This resinous 

gum is present in healthy trees in 

ducts in the bark, and it is exuded in response 

to wounds. Diseased trees appear 

to produce more resinous exudate than 

healthy trees. 

• Trunk/limb lesions: Black, sooty patches 

on the bark of the trunk (Figure 6) or 

major limbs, which may have sunken bark 

associated with them. The patches range 

from 3 cm diameter to covering half the 

trunk. Dead, black, wet wood is found under 

the bark. The black colour on the bark 

is produced by growth of saprophytic fungi 

such as Alternaria alternata and Cladosporium 

sp. (sooty moulds). 

RESEARCH BACKGROUND 

A compilation of the research and information 

available on the disease was done 

at the beginning of the new project. Sources 

used were: final report for the first 

HRDC project (NT 608, Edwards et al. 

1998), laboratory books and databases 

associated with that project, growers 

and researchers (personal communications). 

The main outcomes are outlined 

below. 

Isolations and identification 

A bit of history... 

Twig dieback and internal staining were 

observed for the first time in 1989, and in 

Figure 2. Team of researchers involved in the study of the epidemiology of pistachio dieback. 

From left to right: Eileen Scott, Bob Emmett, Margaret Sedgley, Cathy Taylor and Evelina Facelli 

Figure 3. Dieback in a pistachio tree (Pistacia vera cv. Sirora) 

1992 the first trunk lesions were observed 

on males. However, it was not till 1994, 

when a more generalised dieback occurred, 

that samples were taken and isolation 

of pathogens attempted. 

During 1994-1996 various attempts to 

isolate pathogenic agents from different 

parts of pistachio trees were unsuccessful. 

In 1996, a whole tree was sent to The 

Institute for Horticultural Development at 

Knoxfield, Victoria, and Xanthomonas 

bacteria were isolated from stained twigs. 

The bacteria were identified as Xanthomonas 

campestris pv. translucens using 

GC-FAME analysis (by Peter Fahy’s 

group, University of New South Wales). 

A similar result was obtained at the University 

of Queensland using an identification 

system based on the utilisation of 

carbon sources by the bacteria (BIOLOG) 

and 16S rRNA gene sequencing, in which 

the composition of ribosomal ribonucleic 

acid is determined. 

Further attempts to isolate Xanthomonas 

from stained twigs at the Sunraysia Horticultural 

Centre (SHC) during 1996 and 

1997 did not succeed. In 1998 the use of 

sucrose peptone agar (SPA), a semi-selective 

medium suggested by Dr Chris 

Hayward, University of Queensland, allowed 

the reliable recovery of Xanthomonas 

bacteria from stained twigs. 


29

experiments partially fulfil Koch’s postulates, 

a protocol used by pathologists to determine 

the cause of a “new disease”. 

This protocol requires the association of 

the pathogen with disease, the isolation 

of the pathogen in pure culture from diseased 

trees, the observation of 

symptoms in the inoculated trees and the 

isolation of the same pathogen from those 

inoculated trees. At present, foliar 

symptoms and trunk and limb lesions 

have not yet been reproduced in inoculated 

trees. More time may be required as 

foliar and trunk symptoms are not seen in 

the orchard until the trees are at least five 

years old. 

Figure 4. Internal staining (indicated with arrows) in a section of a branch of a diseased tree 

Mapping of symptoms in the orchard 

In 1997 and 1998 a mapping kit was developed 

as a tool for growers, to allow 

them to map the incidence of dieback and 

trunk lesions in their own orchards. The 

mapping kit consisted of photographs of 

disease symptoms along with a method 

for assessing the damage based on recording 

the number of trunk lesions, the 

presence or absence of dieback, shoot 

death and resinous exudate on each tree. 

In case abiotic factors were involved in 

the disease, information was also gathered 

on the main management factors in 

each orchard, including irrigation, fertiliser 

regime and rootstock. 

Figure 5. Resinous exudate 

Role of the bacteria in disease 

A suspension of the bacteria was injected 

into healthy young pistachio trees in the 

glasshouse and the development of 

symptoms monitored over 24 months. 

Destructive sampling showed that staining 

of the xylem occurred in 87% of the 

Figure 6. Lesion on the trunk of a diseased tree 

inoculated trees and Xanthomonas species 

were re-isolated from the stained tissues 

of 73% of those trees. Control trees 

injected with sterile distilled water developed 

limited staining around the injection 

point only and Xanthomonas species 

were not detected in the tissues. These 

The statistical package, Patchy®, used to 

study the pattern of spread of disease did 

not provide conclusive results about the 

pattern of spread of this disease. Mapping 

of the symptoms will continue concentrating 

on foliar symptoms as well as 

on the ones mentioned before, and the 

use of other programmes for spatial 

analysis will be evaluated. 

Control of the disease 

A field trial was initiated in 1998 to test 

the effectiveness of phosphorous acid 

(mono-di potassium phosphite) and Bion 

(acibenzolar-S-methyl) in controlling the 

disease. Neither of the treatments alleviated 

disease symptoms. 

CURRENT RESEARCH: 

The aims of the current project are: 

• Determine the bacterial pathovars associated 

with pistachio dieback. 

The bacteria consistently associated with 

the disease have been identified as Xanthomonas 

translucens by various means 

and have been sent to taxonomists with 

expertise in Xanthomonas species (University 

of Gent, Belgium) for confirmation. 

Once results are available, inoculation of 

various hosts to identify pathovar(s) and 

confirm pathogenicity will be conducted. 

• Develop protocols for detection and 

recognition of pistachio dieback. 

Isolation from twigs and culture on SPA 

has proved successful. Isolation from 


other parts of the tree is in progress. GC- 

FAME has proved a useful technique to 

identify bacteria at species level from cultures. 

The use of DNA-based molecular 

diagnosis methods will be evaluated once 

the identity of the bacterium is confirmed. 

• Document natural disease development 

and determine entry point of the 

pathogen. 

Mapping of symptoms in the orchard is in 

progress. Study of pattern of symptom 

development in the trees was initiated in 

January 2001 with the felling of male 

trees in different stages of the progression 

of the disease. Experiments to study 

the possible entry points (leaf scars, pruning 

wounds, etc.) of the bacteria into the 

pistachio trees are in progress. 

• Identify source/s of inoculum. 

Isolations from different parts of the tree 

(including resinous exudate) and from different 

components of the orchard are in 

progress. 

• Identify natural transmission process. 

Studies will be conducted when more is 

known about the disease cycle. 

• Evaluate disinfestation methods for 

propagation material. 

Studies will be conducted when more is 

known about the disease cycle. 

• Determine control methods. 

Field trials and glasshouse experiments 

will continue. 

• Communicate control methods communicated 

to industry. 

Regular meetings are held with The Pistachio 

Growers’ Association. The researchers 

participate in the Australian Nut Industry 

Council Conferences and field 

days. 

CONCLUSIONS 

• Xanthomonas bacteria have been identified 

as the most probable causal agent 

of the dieback disease of pistachios in 

Australia. 

• Xanthomonas bacteria are consistently 

recovered from stained shoot tissue. No 

other plant pathogens have been consistently 

isolated from stained shoot tissue. 

• Koch’s postulates have been partially 

fulfilled. However, the complete set of 

symptoms has not yet been observed on 

young trees inoculated in the glasshouse. 

• New experiments that will include different 

inoculation techniques will be initiated 

to test Koch’s postulates further and 

determine infection pathways. 

• GC-FAME analysis and DNA-based molecular 

methods have shown potential as 

tools for the identification of the bacteria 

in culture. Their use in disease diagnosis 

will be evaluated. 

• The study of the pattern of spread of the 

disease in the orchard and the sequence 

of appearance of disease symptoms in 

the trees is a major focus of the current 

research. 

REFERENCES 

Edwards, M., L. Tassone, J. Moran, F. 

Constable, T. Griffin and C. Taylor 

(1998). Pistachio canker and dieback. 

Mildura, HRDC: 1-45. 

Robinson, B (1997). Pistachio nuts. Pistachio 

nuts. The New Rural Industries. 

A handbook for Farmers and Investors. 

RIRDC. http://www.rirdc.gov.au/pub/ 

handbook/ostrich.html). 

E. Facelli 1 , C. Taylor 2 , R. Emmett 2 , E. Scott 3 , 

and M. Sedgley 1 

1 

Department of Horticulture, Viticulture and 

Oenology and 3 Department of Applied and 

Molecular Ecology, Adelaide University, Waite 

Campus, South Australia. 2 Sunraysia 

Horticultural Centre, Department of Natural 

Resources and Environment, Mildura,Victoria. 

Australia 

E-mail: evelina.facelli@adelaide.edu.au 

AMINO ACID PROLINE 

FLUCTUATION IN SOME 

DROUGHT-STRESSED 

PISTACHIO ROOTSTOCKS 

O.D. 520 

2,5 

2 

1,5 

1 

0,5 

Figure 1. Standard proline curve 

R 2 = 0.9975 

ABSTRACT 

The effects of drought stress on proline in 

seedlings of some main Iranian pistachio 

rootstocks were studied. Proline fluctuated 

during stress period, but there were 

significant differences among different 

rootstocks behavior. Pistacia khinjuk as 

the most resistant rootstock showed an 

adaptable decrease after primary increase 

of proline content; “Qazvini” and “Sarakhs” 

and “Fandoghi” proline content 

fluctuated normally. ”Fandoghi” as the 

most sensitive showed a significant increase 

of proline at the end of stress (beginning 

of seedling dryness). It could be 

concluded that proline did not play an important 

role in resistance. Its fluctuation 

could be considered as normal and its accumulation 

at mentioned phase related to 

inhibition of protein synthesis and proteolytic 

activity under stress condition. Low 

fluctuation rate in Pistacia khinjuk could 

be related to physiological control of biomaterial 

fluctuation that should be mentioned 

in resistance mechanism studies. 

INTRODUCTION 

The pistachio, similar to other fruit and 

nut trees, needs adequate water supply 

to complete its vegetative and reproductive 

growth and development and producing 

economic yield, despite of its well 

known drought resistance (Hendrick and 

Ferguson, 1997;Sepaskhah and Maftoon, 

1981; Spiegel-Roy et al, 1977). Its resistance 

mechanism is largely unknown, but 

maintenance of high tissue water potential 

despite of low turgor pressure and 

water content, and rooting pattern and 

density demonstrate existence of tolerance 

mechanism (Gholipour and Zamani, 

1999; Paleg and Aspinall, 1981). 

Proline accumulation as a stress response 

results from a stimulation of proline 

biosynthesis (Lutts et al, 1996; Rawn, 

1989; Shaner and Boyer, 1976), an inhibition 

of its utilization (Dallmier and 

Stewart, 1992; Levitt,1980; Rayapati and 

Stewart,1992; Stewart et al, 1977) and/or 

protein biochemical synthesis pathway 

destruction (Al-Karachi and Clark, 1996). 

It has been shown that in wheat, soybean, 

bean (Al-Karaki et al, 1996) and barley 

(Pearson et al, 1987) proline has been involved 

in adaptation mechanism. However, 

in drought-tolerated plants at high tissue 

water potential stress does not affect 

proline fluctuation and maintenance of normal 

rate of amino acid fluctuation can be 

considered as a biochemical and/or physiological 

mechanism involved in resistance 

(Levitt, 1980; Paleg and Aspinall, 1981). 

0 

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 

µ M Proline 


31

Figure 2. Proline content of stocks at the beginning of stress 

Figure 4. Proline content, the beginning of second stress week 

after weekly irrigation 

9 

15 

A 

12 

mg P./g f.w. 

6 

3 

A 

A 

A 

A 

mg P./g f.w. 

9 

6 

3 

B B B 

0 

P. khinjuk 

‘Sarakhs’ ‘Fandoghi’ ‘Qazvini’ 

0 

P. khinjuk 


Figure 3. Proline content of stocks, end of first week of stress 

Figure 5. Proline content, the end of second stress week 

mg P./g f.w. 

25 

20 

15 

10 

A 

A 

A 

A 

mg P./g f.w. 

9 

6 

3 

A 

Proline 77/2/20 

A 

A 

A 

5 

0 

P. khinjuk 


0 

P. khinjuk 



The experiment was carried out on 10 

month old seedlings of Pistacia vera cultivars 

“Fandoghi”, “Sarakhs”, “Qazvini”, 

and P. khinjuk in a greenhouse under 

controlled temperature (25ºC day, 18- 

20 o C night), light (7000-10000 lux) and 

humidity (65-70%). Seeds were collected 

from wild and cultivated areas and after 

dehulling and washing with ethanol and 

distilled water, disinfested by rinsing in 

20% sodium hypochlorite solution. Then 

they were planted in black polyethylene 

bags filled with sandy loam soil. 

The layout was factorial experiment in a 

randomized complete design. Data were 

statistically analyzed using analysis of variance 

procedures by MiniTab and MSTA- 

TC software. 

Water stress was induced by water 

withholding (Krizek, 1985). Treatments 

were S1 as control (interval one-day irrigation), 

S2 (weekly irrigation) and S3 (permanent 

withholding i.e. death treatment). 

Sampling and proline determination 

Sampling was carried out at the end and 

the beginning of every week. Fully expanded 

leaves from middle part of shoots 

were sampled. Samples analyzed for proline 

using the method developed by Bates 

et al (Bates et al, 1973) based on data 

Figure 6. Significant difference in proline content of stocks at the end of stress 

extracted from spectrophotometric absorption 

determined at 520 nm. Proline 

concentration was calculated applying a 

standard curve (figure 1) on mg proline/g 

fresh weight basis. 

RESULTS 

The first leaf dryness symptoms were reported 

in “Fandoghi” during the fourth 

week. By the end of fourth week all S3- 

treated seedlings showed dryness. 

According to results of this experiment 

and other ones carried out simultaneously 

studying other parameters e.g. growth 

indices, leaf water potential and relative 

water content (Gholipour and Zamani, 

1999), P.khinjuk and “Fandoghi” has 

been introduced as the most resistant 

and sensitive rootstocks, respectively. 

mg P./g f.w. 

45 

40 

35 

30 

25 

20 

15 

10 

5 

0 

khi. 

‘Sar.’ 

‘Qaz.’ 

‘Fan.’ 

S1 

S2 

S3 

Rootstocks and proline content 

No statistically significant difference 

among rootstocks leaf proline content 

was reported at the beginning and at the 

end of the first week of stress period (fig. 

2,3). After first irrigation of S2-treated and 

S1-treated seedlings, proline content of 

three rootstocks decreased, but proline 

content of P.khinjuk remained high (fig. 

4). At the end of the second week, proline 

content of P.Khinjuk decreased (from 

about 5.5 mM to 2.5 mM) but other rootstocks 

showed an increased proline content 

up to about 5-mM (fig. 5). By the end 

of stress period proline content fluctuation 

was almost similar to the first two 


Figure 7. P.khinjuk proline fluctuation rate 

Figure 9. 'Sarakhs' proline fluctuation rate 

mg P./g f.w. 

16 

12 

8 

4 

S1 

S2 

S3 

mg P./g f.w. 

25 

20 

15 

10 

5 

S1 

S2 

S3 

0 

1 30 

day 

0 

1 30 

day 

Figure 8. 'Qazvini' proline fluctuation rate 

Figure 10. 'Fandoghi' proline fluctuation rate 

mg P./g f.w. 

20 

15 

10 

S1 

S2 

S3 

mg P./g f.w. 

50 

40 

30 

20 

S1 

S2 

S3 

5 

10 

0 

1 30 

day 

0 

1 30 

day 

weeks. At the fourth week, as the dryness 

appeared, “Fandoghi” seedlings’ 

proline content increased; and finally, 

drying seedlings showed a nine-fold proline 

content increase (fig.6). 

Proline fluctuation rate 

Figures 7-10 show fluctuation rate of 

rootstocks. 

DISCUSSION 

In many plants proline fluctuates and accumulations 

in the range have been reported 

in pistachio (Paleg and Aspinall, 

1981). It fluctuates normally in parallel to 

anabolism and catabolism processes 

(Rawn, 1989) but its fluctuation habit differs 

from one plant to another. Proline 

fluctuation of P.khinjuk (as the most resistant) 

was significantly different. Its proline 

content showed a low-rated fluctuation 

in comparison to other rootstocks. 

Generally low-rated fluctuation of amino 

acids and other organic compounds has 

been suggested as a considerable mechanism 

used by some drought-resistant 

plants (Levitt, 1980; Paleg and Aspinall, 

1981). Maintenance of leaf water potential 

of pistachio seedling at high level 

(Gholipour and Zamani, 1999) proposed 

as an inhibitor to abnormal fluctuation 

and accumulation of amino acids and as 

a drought tolerance mechanism (Paleg 

and Aspinall, 1981). Eventually, it could 

be suggested that proline did not play an 

important role in drought resistance induction 

in resistant rootstock and its accumulation 

at the dryness stage of stress 

period in the most sensitive rootstock can 

be related to proteolytic activities and 

may not be directly involved in drought 

stress resistance of pistachio, and therefore, 

other factors, or mechanisms should 

be evaluated and proposed as inducing 

resistance. 

REFERENCES 

Al-karaki, G.N., Clark, R.B., Sullivan, 

C.Y., 1996. Phosphorus nutrition and 

water stress effects on proline accumulation 

in sorghum and bean. J Plant 

Physiol, 148: 745-751. 

Bates, L.S., Waldren, R.P., Teare, I.D., 

1973. Rapid determination of free proline 

for water-stress studies. Plant Soil 

39: 205-207. 

Dallmier, K.A., Stewart, C.R.,1992. 

Effect of exogenous ABA on proline dehydrogenase 

activity in maize (Zea 

mays). Plant Physiol, 99: 762-764. 

Gholipour, Y., Zamani, Z., 1999. Primary 

Investigation of Drought Stress in 

Some Main Pistachio Rootstocks. MSc 

dissertation. Tehran univ. Iran. 

Krizek, D.T., 1985. Methods of inducing 

water stress in plants. Hortscience, vol 

20 (6) December: 1027-1038. 

Levitt, J.1980. Response of Plants to 

Environmental Stresses. Vol II, 2nd ed. 

Academic Press. London. 

Lutts, S., Kinet, J.M., Bouharmont, J. 

1996. Effect of various salts and mannitol 

on ion and proline accumulation in 

relation to osmotic adjustment in rice 

(Oryza sativa) callus cultures. J Plant 

Physiol, 149: 186-195. 

Paleg, L.G., Aspinall, D., 1981. The 

Physiology and Biochemistry of Drought 

Resistance in Plants. Academic Press. 

Pearson, J., Stewart, C.R., Smirnoff, N., 

Turner, L.B.,1987. Nitrogen metabolism 

in relation to water stress. Proceeding 

of an international workshop. Chichester 

(U.K.). John Wiley and sons. 241-253. 

Rawn, J.D., 1989. Biochemistry. Neil Patterson 

Publishers. Burlington North Carolina. 

Rayapati, P.J., Stewart, C.R., 1991. Solubilization 

of a proline dehydrogenase 

from maize(Zea mays L.) mitochondria. 

Plant Physiol 95:787-791. 

Shaner, D.L., Boyer, J.S., 1976. Nitrate 

reductase activity in maize (Zea mays 

L.) leaves. Plant Physiol, 58: 505-509. 

Stewart, C.R., Boggess, S.F., Aspinall, 

D., Paleg L.G., 1977. Inhibition of proline 

oxidation by water stress. Plant Physiol, 

59: 930-932. 

Y. Gholipour a , Z. Zamani b 

a 

Pistachio Research Station, Agricultural 

Research Center, Qazvin, Iran 

b 

Horticultural Dept. Tehran Univ. Karaj, Iran 

E-mail: youseph.gholipour@hotmail.com 


33

UPDATE OF THE SPANISH 

CHESTNUT INVENTORY 

OF CULTIVARS 

Abstract. Chestnut (Catanea sativa Mill.) 

is a minor crop in Spain but important in 

some hilly areas. Until now we had found 

chestnut cultivars in Andalucía, Asturias, 

Castilla-León, Extremadura and Galicia. 

In the Canary Islands the presence of 

chestnut was described in the fifties but 

not its culture for nut production. During 

the last two years we have been surveying 

chestnuts in Tenerife, La Palma, Gran 

Canaria and El Hierro. In all islands we 

found old orchards with local chestnut 

cultivars, but it was only possible to identify 

some in Tenerife, La Palma and El 

Hierro. In Gran Canaria chestnut crop 

exists in the Northern slopes but growers 

do not recognize any longer their cultivars 

though they remember their grandparents 

grafting seedlings with local cultivars. Up 

to date we have found in Spain 210 local 

cultivars denominations, 23 of them cultivated 

in more than one region. We are 

now including cuttings in the National 

Germplasm Bank located in Galicia, and 

we are characterizing them by morphology 

and molecular markers to identify them 

and to select the best to maintain the 

Spanish chestnut production. 

Key words. germplasm resources, variability, 

local cultivars 

INTRODUCTION 

Chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) is a minor 

crop in Spain, but it is important for 

the economy in hilly areas for nut and timber 

production. In most of the areas where 

chestnut is present, it appears naturalized 

and cultivated. Most of the chestnut 

plantings grown in Spain are found in the 

Northwestern part of the country in the regions 

of Galicia, Asturias and Castilla- 

León (Fig. 1). Previous papers have listed 

cultivars in Galicia (Fernández and Pereira, 

1994; Pereira-Lorenzo and Fernández-López, 

1997), Asturias (Fernández- 

Lamuño, 1984, Pereira et al., 2001), Castilla-León, 

Extremadura, and Andalucía 

(Pereira et al., 2001). Our long-term goal 

has been to establish a National Germplasm 

Bank of the genus Castanea and 

characterize the Spanish chestnut cultivars 

to select the most interesting for nut 

and/or timber production. 

In País Vasco and Navarra, chestnut orchards 

have been destroyed by chestnut 

blight disease, caused by the fungus 

Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr.) Barr, 

which was surely introduced with Asian 

chestnut seeds in 1914 and 1940 (Elorrieta, 

1949), although it was first reported in 

1943 (Colinas and Uscuplic, 1999). In Catalonia, 

coppice is predominant and orchards 

have been abandoned for a long 

time. 

In June of 2000 we started to study the 

chestnut culture in Tenerife, Canary Islands 

(Fig. 1). In 1949, Elorrieta reported 

the presence of chestnut in Canary Islands, 

which is common in other Atlantic 

archipelagos as Azores and Madeira. In 

July of 2001 we sampled La Palma and El 

Hierro islands, with the aim to complete 

the study. Our objectives were to localise 

the cultivars in Canary Islands to finish 

the Spanish Inventory of chestnut cultivars 

(Pereira et al., 2001), to characterise 

cultivars morphologically and isoenzymatically, 

and to introduce them in the Spanish 

chestnut Germplasm Bank. In this 

work the number of cultivars existing in 

Spain, especially in the Canary Islands is 

updated. 

Figure 2. Distribution of chestnut 

cultivars in Tenerife (Canary Islands) 

N 

Figure 1. Chestnut growing areas in Spain 

FRANCE 

N 

5 Km. 

0 Km. 

5 Km. 

Ravelo 

La Matanza 

La Victoria 

Puerto de la Cruz 

Dh R MCg Dpa 

M RCg 

T M Do M Gr R Ma 

Pg 

MtP 

Pi Pc 

La Orotava Gr Ar M 

M 

Ds 

Arafo 

PARQUE NACIONAL 

DEL TEIDE 

Ar 

Cr 

La Esperanza 

Mo 

SANTA CRUZ 

DE TENERIFE 

Arafero Mt Matancero 

Corujero Mo Mollar 

Cg Castagrande M Mulato 

Dh Del haya Pc Pico Claro 

Dpa De pata P Picudo 

Ds De Sala Pi Piñero 

Do Donosa Pg Polegre 

Cir Cirande R Redondo 

Ma Manso T Temprano 

PORTUGAL 

SPAIN 

Figure 3. Distribution of chestnut 

cultivars in La Palma (Canary Islands) 

GARAFIA 

N 

Pe 

Ma Cueva de Agua 

Po 

El Romeral 

L 

SAN ANDRES 

Y SAUCES 

Hoya Grande 

Barranco de El Agua 

PARQUE NACIONAL 

CALDERA DE 

TABURIENTE 

Canary Islands 

MARROCO 

AFRICA 

Pl 

Llano de las Cuevas 

J 

M 

Ch Pl P 

Ch 

Pq 

EL PASO Me Tb 

Pl 

N J 

L 

Cabeza de Vaca 

Bl 

SANTA CRUZ 

DE LA PALMA 

BREÑA ALTA 

La PalmaTenerife 

Gomera Gran Canaria 

Hierro 

SAHARA 

Bl Blanco 

Ch Chocho 

J Jabudo 

L Lisio 

M Macho 

Ma Manso 

Me Menudo 

N Negro 

P Picuda 

Pe Peludo 

Pl Peloño 

Po Pelon 

Pq Piquenta 

Tb Tablon 

5 Km. 

5 Km. 0 Km. 



Locating trees. Trees were located travelling 

throughout the chestnut growing 

areas, described by Elorrieta (1949), and 

asking to chestnut growers to identify representative 

trees of each cultivar. Each 

tree of a specific cultivar was marked for 

later sampling (Pereira et al., 2001). 

Data Collection. For each tree, we recorded 

the altitude with an altimeter and the 

solar orientation of the planting site with a 

compass. Localization of these trees is 

the base to collect samples for morphological 

characterization and isoenzymes 

studies. During nut sampling, the harvest 

time was recorded. As we have done previously 

for other regions in the Iberian Peninsula 

(Pereira et al., 2001), we compiled 

information of the cultivar, municipality, 

elevation, orientation, and time of harvest. 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

With the inclusion of Canary Islands to 

the inventory of Spanish chestnut cultivars 

(Pereira et al., 2001) we have increased 

the number of cultivars denominations 

found to 210 (Table 1), being 23 

of them cultivated in two or more regions: 

‘Calva’ and ‘Loura’ in Galicia and ‘Asturias’, 

‘Galega’, ‘Parede’ and ‘Verde’ in 

Galicia, Asturias and Castilla-León, 

‘Inxerta’ in Galicia, Asturias, Castilla- 

León and Extremadura, ‘Negral’ in Galicia, 

Asturias, Castilla-León and La Palma, 

‘Pelona’ in Andalucía, Asturias and 

La Palma, ‘Rapada’ in Galicia and Castilla-León, 

‘Rubia’ in Andalucía and Asturias, 

‘Temperá’ in Galicia, Andalucía, 

Castilla-León and Tenerife. That means a 

total of 187 different denominations in 

Spain from 802 accessions under study in 

Spain. 

Chestnut orchards grafted with local cultivars 

were found in Tenerife, La Palma, El 

Figure 4. Chestnut orchard in Arafo, Southern face of Tenerife Island 

Hierro and Gran Canaria. There are two 

important areas for chestnut production in 

Tenerife Island, the main located from La 

Orotava to La Esperanza, the Northern 

face and more humid part, and a secondary 

one near Arafo in the Southern face 

and very dry and windy. Orchards North 

facing are quite similar to those in the Peninsula 

Ibérica, based in a seedling grafted 

with two sticks at 0,5 m over the 

ground level. More surprising are orchards 

located in volcanic soils South facing, 

where grafted chestnuts appear as 

big bushes with branches hanging over 

the ground (Fig. 4). Sanitary status is 

very good and blight and ink diseases appear 

to be absent. Chestnut is cultivated 

from 800 to 1000 m in the Northern face 

and from 1000 to 1100 m in the Southern 

face (Table 1), normally higher altitudes 

than in the Peninsula (Pereira-Lorenzo et 

al., 2001). Orientations of the plantations 

are mainly North, East or West, being 

South the less frequent, as usually in 

most chestnut orchards in Spain. We 

found 18 cultivars, being ‘Mulata’ the 

most common cultivar in Tenerife Island. 

Only ‘Redondo’ and ‘Temprano’ are denominations 

reported also in the Iberian 

Peninsula, ‘Redondo’ in Galicia and 

‘Temprano’ in Andalucía and Extremadura 

(Pereira et al., 2001). Ripening time 

observed was from 9 October to 11 November, 

similar to the Iberian Peninsula 

harvesting period (Table 1) (Pereira-Lorenzo 

et al., 2001). 

In La Palma Island, chestnuts are mainly 

grafted in orchards distributed all around 

the island except in the Southern face, 

though in some areas it can be found naturalised. 

The way to cultivate chestnut is 

Table 1. Number of sampled trees and chestnut denominations in Spain and some characteristics 

of chestnut producing areas in Spain 

Region Nr. Sampled Nr. Nr. of different Range of Average Harvesting Average date 

Trees Denominations denominations altitudes (m) altitude (m) period for harvesting 

Andalucía 19 13 10 470-850 643 19 Oct-5 Nov (Huelva) 25 Oct (Huelva) 

15 Sep-29 Oct (Málaga) 1 Oct (Málaga) 

Asturias 301 66 59 10-900 383 3 Oct-23 Nov 27 Oct 


(Tenerife) 35 18 16 800-1100 894 9 Oct-11 Nov 1 Nov 


(La Palma) 25 14 11 400-1150 628 20 Oct-10 Nov 1 Nov 


(El Hierro) 3 3 3 400-1100 850 

Castilla-León 25 8 2 440-950 770 13 Oct-5 Nov 17 Oct 

Extremadura 19 4 2 800-1300 1039 29 Oct 29 Oct 

Galicia 378 86 86 140-1300 1039 11 Oct - > 11 Nov 25 Oct. 

Total 805 212 189 10-1300 


35

quite similar to Tenerife Island but, again, 

it is surprising the crop in the volcanic 

areas, where some regular plantations 

provide regular production (Fig. 5). Fourteen 

cultivars have been found (Table 2): 

‘Blanco’, ‘Chocho’, ‘Jabudo’, ‘Macho’, 

‘Manso’, ‘Menudo’, ‘Negro’, ‘Pelón’, ‘Peloño’, 

‘Peludo’, ‘Picudo’, ‘Piquenta’, ‘Tablón’ 

and ‘Usío’. The most frequent cultivar 

found was Jabudo, a very nice cultivar 

with an interesting nut size and shape. 

Only cv. ‘Manso’ has been noticed in 

both islands, La Palma and Tenerife. Harvesting 

time was quite similar to Tenerife 

Island and also the range of altitudes 

where chestnut is cultivated, between 

400 and 1,200 m above sea level. 

Figure 5. Chestnut orchard in La Palma Island 

Figure 6. Grafted chestnut in El Hierro Island 

Our last survey to the Canary Islands was 

focused on exploring Gran Canaria and 

El Hierro Islands. All around the slopes of 

the Northern face of Gran Canaria Islands 

grafted chestnuts were found between 

800 and 1.600 m over sea level (Fig. 6). 

After speaking with some old growers, 

owners of grafted chestnut, they remembered 

their grandfathers grafting trees 

that we still found in this island, but they 

could not identify any cultivar. That 

means the loss of the local cultivars of 

Gran Canaria Island like ‘Pelona’ and 

‘Macho of Camaretas’ (1.300 m), ‘Pelón’ 

and ‘Valbudas’ in Teror (859 m) and Fontanales 

(1.150 m). In comparison with the 

other Islands we can explain that lack of 

knowledge because Gran Canaria was 

the first Island where tourism changed 

work dedication of the local population 

from agriculture to services. However, 

they maintain the use of the chestnuts in 

local cuisine incorporating chestnuts to 

dishes. They remember also the importance 

of the chestnut timber to make 

baskets where to carry fish or wine barrels. 

In addition, in El Hierro Island, the importance 

of chestnut crop was very reduced 

Table 2. Chestnut cultivars localised in La Palma Island 

Cultivars Trees localised Range of altitudes (m) Aspect Harvesting period 

'Blanco' 1 400 E 3 Nov. 

'Chocho' 3 400 E 3 Nov. 

'Jabudo' 4 400-980 E, W 3-6 Nov. 

'Macho' 1 400 E 3 Nov. 

'Manso' 1 1100 N 5-10 Nov. 

'Menudo' 1 400 E 

'Negro' 1 400 E 

'Pelón' 1 1100 N 5-10 Nov. 

'Peloño' 3 400-980 W, E 18-25 Oct. 

'Peludo' 1 1000 N 5-10 Nov. 

'Picudo' 1 400 E 5-10 Nov. 

'Piquenta' 1 400 E 

'Tablón' 1 400 E 

'Lisio' 1 1150 W 20 Oct. 


ut was also linked to the necessity of 

wine preservation and transportation. 

Only a few orchards of grafted chestnut 

with two cultivars were found in the Eastern 

and Northwestern slopes between 

600 and 1000 m above sea level. 

In addition to previous reports (Pereira et 

al., 2001), 39 denominations were added 

from the Canary Islands, 31 of them different 

to the Peninsula area, three of them 

also denominated in the Peninsula, ‘Negro’, 

‘Pelona’ and ‘Temprana’. Two cultivars, 

‘Manso’ and ‘Picudo’, are cultivated 

in both La Palma and Tenerife Islands. 

All these cultivars are being evaluated by 

morphological characteristics and molecular 

markers and they are being introduced 

in the Spanish chestnut Germplasm 

Bank. 

REFERENCES 

Colinas, C.; Uscuplic, M., 1999. Studies 

on chestnut blight (Chryponectria parasitica 

(Murr.) Barr) in north-east Spain. 

Acta Horticulturae, 494: 495-500. 

Elorrieta, J., 1949. El castaño en España. 

Instituto Forestal de Investigaciones 

y Experiencias. Ministerio de Agricultura. 

Dirección General de Montes, Caza 

y Pesca Fluvial. Ediciones Ares, Madrid, 

pp, 303. 

Fernández, J.A., 1984. Variedades del 

castaño como árbol frutal en el occidente 

de Asturias, p. 133-150. In: Xunta de 

Galicia (ed.). Congreso Internacional 

del castaño, Dept. Investigación Forestal 

de Lourizán, Pontevedra, Spain. 

Fernández, J.; Pereira, S., 1994. Inventario 

y distribución de los cultivares tradicionales 

de castaño (Castanea sativa 

Mill.) en Galicia. Serie Recursos Naturales, 

Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones 

Agrarias, 87: 271 pages. 

Pereira, S.; Fernández, J., 1997. Los 

cultivares autóctonos de castaño (Castanea 

sativa Mill.) en Galicia. Monografías 

INIA, 99: 533 pages. 

Pereira, S.; Ramos, A.M.; Díaz, B.; Ascasíbar, 

J.; Sau, F. 2001. Spanish 

chestnut cultivars. HortScience, 3(2): 

344-347. 

S. Pereira 1 , A. M. Ramos 1 

D. Rios 2 ; A. Perdomo 2 ; J.González 3 

1 

Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 

Escola Politécnica Superior, Campus de Lugo, 

27002 Lugo, Spain 

2 

Cabildo Insular de Tenerife, Área de 

Agricultura, Pza. España, 1, 38001 Santa Cruz 

de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain 

3 

Agencia de Extensión Agraria San Andrés 

y Sauces, 38720 La Palma, Spain 

E-mail: spereira@lugo.usc.es 

UTILISATION OF CAROB PRO- 

DUCTS IN ANIMAL FEEDING 

AND THEIR EFFECTS ON 

ZOOTECHNICAL RESULTS 

INTRODUCTION 

The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) 

grows throughout the Mediterranean region 

and produces a fruit that has been 

used as animal feed and human food for 

centuries. The fruit is a chocolate-brown 

pod containing between 8 to 16 hard 

beans. Pods are kibbled to release beans 

and the remaining pulp is the main byproduct 

from carob industry. Carob pulp 

has low fat (0.4-0.6%) and protein (2-6%) 

contents but is very rich in sugars (40- 

60%), which comprise mainly saccharose 

(27-40%), fructose (3-8%) and glucose 

(3-5%; Avallone et al., 1997). In addition, 

carob pulp contains an unusually large 

amount of tannins (16-20% polyphenols) 

that contribute significantly to its high fibre 

content (27-50 %; Albanell, 1990). 

The presence of tannins in animal feed 

reduces digestibility of the major dietary 

components (Jansman, 1993) and provokes 

adverse effects on growth performance 

(Jansman, 1993; Brufau et al., 1998). 

However, tannins may also have beneficial 

effects depending on their biological 

activity and concentration and they could 

inhibit microbial growth and activity (Henis 

et al., 1964; Scalbert, 1991). In particular, 

tannins from carob have been used 

to treat diarrhoea in infants (Loeb et al., 

1989). Therefore, it appears that carob 

presents some interesting properties that 

may encourage its utilisation in animal 

feeding, in particular under the current 

context of EU animal production in which 

alternatives to the use of antimicrobial 

growth promoters are searched. 

POULTRY 

Research conducted to evaluate carobs 

for poultry showed that growth performance 

of chicks was reduced and feed 

conversion ratio increased with its inclusion 

in diets (Kratzer and Williams, 1951; 

Bornstein et al., 1963). Tannin and fibre 

content of carobs is very high and thus 

the diets too, and this was one of the 

main reasons pointed out as an “appetitedepressor” 

to explain the results (Vohra 

et al., 1966). However, in those experiments 

carob products (whole carob, 

pods, seeds, extracts, etc.) were included 

up to 30% in substitution (weight by weight) 

of cereal or soybean products without 

any rectification of the nutrient content of 

diets. Therefore, carob-containing diets 

were poorer in digestible nutrients, in particular 

of protein and essential amino 

acids and of metabolizable energy (Alumot 

et al., 1964). If diets were rectified 

(e.g., inclusion of fats and oils, or synthetic 

aminoacids) or chicks could compensate 

the low dietary energy content by an 

increase of feed intake, the growth performance 

was restored despite an increase 

of the feed conversion ratio (Vohra 

and Kratzer, 1964; Bornstein et al., 

1965). Similar conclusions were drawn 

from a more recent study on the use of 

carob pod meal for geese (Sahle et al., 

1992). Despite lowering the energy value 

and protein digestibility of diets, the inclusion 

of carob pod meal up to 20% had no 

effect on growth rate and carcass quality 

of goslings. Thus, it can be concluded 

from the literature that at low levels of inclusion 

or if diets were well balanced in 

digestible nutrients, carobs can be recommended 

for poultry nutrition. However, 

more research will be needed to correctly 

access its nutritive value and 

check the negative effect of carob tannins 

on palatability and growth performance of 

birds. 

PIGS 

According to Piccioni (1989) the use of 

carob pulp in diets for growing-finishing 

pigs is widely spread but unfortunately 

we could not find so much information in 

the literature. Earlier work of Neto (1964) 

on the use of 20% of carob pulp in pig 

diets reports a strong reduction of growth 

performance. However, diets used were 

not correctly balanced in nutrients, which 

could influence the results. More recently, 

the replacement of maize by 10 and 

20% of carob pulp in the diet for the 

growing-finishing pig (Table 1) has been 

studied by Lanza et al. (1983). Despite a 

low energy contents (12.2 MJ ME/kg), all 

diets were equally balanced in major nutrients 

(energy, crude protein, aminoacids, 

etc.). Feed intake and growth 

performance of pigs between 25 and 

100 kg bodyweight and carcass quality at 

slaughter were identical between treatments. 

Carob pulp is often roasted and 

ground to produce a fine brownish carob 

powder with a sweet cacao-like flavour 

(Yousif and Alghzawi, 2000). Due to heat 

treatment, the carob powder should be 

safer and more adequate than the pulp 

even for weaning piglets. Furthermore, 

sugars provided by carob confer a good 

palatability to weaning diets and could replace 

common sugar feedstuffs. Dietary 

replacement of dextrose or sweet milk 

whey by roasted carob pulp has not 

affected feed intake, growth performance 

or feed conversion ratio of piglets (Piva et 

al., 1978; Santi et al., 1987; Lizardo et al., 

2002) even in case of extreme diets (Lizardo 

et al., unpublished results). Therefore, 

any detrimental effect of tannins or 

fibre from carob pulp was observed in 

diets correctly balanced in nutrients. 

Post-weaning diarrhoea is a major problem 

in modern pig farming (Madec et al., 

1998) and this may be further aggravated 

after the EU decision of banning the use 


37

Figure 1. The inclusion of roasted carob pod pulp in the diet allows a reduction of 

postweaning diarrhoea of piglets (adapted from Lizardo et al., 2002) 

Prevalence of diarrhoea 

100 

75 

50 

25 

0 

100 

Control 

80,4 

of antimicrobials as feed additives. According 

to Loeb et al. (1989), the carob also 

has some anti-diarrhoeic properties that 

could contribute to avoid or reduce piglet 

scours after weaning. The inclusion of carob 

powder in antimicrobial and growth 

promoter-free diets on the appearance of 

diarrhoeas was also studied in experiments 

conducted by Lizardo et al. (2002). 

Despite not using growth promoters and 

housing the piglets in a room that intentionally 

had not been cleaned or disinfected 

before introducing the animals, any 

64,7 

66,7 

3% carob 5% carob 6% carob 

symptoms of strong diarrhoea did appear 

in case of the trial 1. In the second trial 

(Lizardo et al. (2002) and experiment 3 

(Lizardo et al., unpublished results), the 

prevalence of post-weaning diarrhoea tended 

to be lower with diets containing roasted 

carob powder compared to the control 

(Figure 1). In a similar experiment, piglet 

mortality caused by oedema disease was 

also reduced by the supply of a fibrous 

diet containing carob and other tannin-rich 

substances after weaning (Gutzwiller and 

Jost, 1999). Thus, it appears that carob 

tannins not only did not negatively affect 

the performance but they also improve 

health of piglets. In conclusion, it seems 

that carob is suitable for pig feeding and 

could be useful in supporting health and 

growth performance after weaning. 

RUMINANTS 

Carob and its by-products are fibre-rich 

feedstuffs and consequently seem more 

suitable for ruminant than monogastric 

feeding. However, information available 

on the literature is relatively scarce. Replacement 

of up to 25% of forage by carob 

pulp in the diet did not reduce milk 

production of dairy cows (Bonanno, 1986, 

cited by Piccioni, 1986). However, the 

substitution of up to 30% of crushed barley 

by carob pod meal reduces, although 

not significantly milk production and the 

weight gain of goats during lactation (Louca 

and Papas, 1973). These results 

seem to indicate that females use, at least 

partially their body reserves to compensate 

the low energy content of carob pulp 

and therefore, milk production is not affected. 

The use of similar diets for Friesian 

calves or growing kids showed that dietary 

carob pulp had no depressing effects 

on growth performance and carcass yield 

if animals were capable of consuming 

more feed to compensate the energy deficit 

(Louca and Papas, 1973). Animals fed 

on carob diets showed a poor feed conversion 

ratio. 

Table 1. The inclusion of carob pod pulp in diets for swine and its effects on feed intake and growth performance of postweaning 

and growing-finishing pigs 

Type of animal Diets Feed intake (g/d) Weight gain (g/d) Feed conversion References 

Growing-finishing pigs Control 2096 611 3.43 Lanza et al., 1983 

(25-100 kg bodyweight) 10% carob 2097 619 3.39 (a) 

20% carob 2110 607 3.48 

Weaning piglets Control 344 262 1.31 Piva et al., 1978 

(5-12 kg bodyweight) 5% carob 346 287 1.21 (b) 

10% carob 341 272 1.25 

Postweaning piglets Control 626 321 1.95 Santi et al., 1987 

(7-20 kg bodyweight) 1.25% carob 671 353 1.91 (c) 

2.5% carob 627 345 1.82 

Postweaning piglets Control 687 431 1.59 Lizardo et al., 2002 

(7-23 kg bodyweight) 3% carob 683 441 1.55 Trial 1 (d) 

Postweaning piglets Control 736 465 1.58 

(7-27 kg bodyweight) 3% carob 749 460 1.63 Trial 2 (d) 

6% carob 778 475 1.64 

Postweaning piglets Control 435 321 1.36 Lizardo et al., (e) 

(7-20 kg bodyweight) 5% carob 413 295 1.41 unpublished results 

Replacement of maize by dried carob pod pulp and a total of 78 growing pigs were used in a 120-day trial. (b) Replacement of dextrose by dried carob pod pulp 

and a total of 78 weaning piglets were used in a 25-day trial. (c)Replacement of dextrose by roasted carob pod pulp and a total of 100 weaning piglets were used 

in a 42-day trial. (d) Replacement of dextrose in trial 1 and starch (3%) and milk whey (3%) in trial 2 by roasted carob pod pulp; Both trials last 35 days and a total 

of 48 and 60 weaning piglets were used in trial 1 and 2, respectively. (e) Total replacement of sweet milk whey (5%) by roasted carob pod pulp and extreme piglet 

diets (maize-soyabean); A total of 96 weaning piglets were used in a 35-day trial. 


Carob pod pulp contains a lot of sugars that 

increases palatability of diets and therefore the 

feed intake of piglets 

Comisana lambs fed on a diet containing 

56% of carob pulp were unable to grow 

similarly to their contemporaries fed on a 

maize diet (Priolo et al., 2000). In fact, 

their dry matter intake was 20% lower 

and moreover, the digestibility of dry matter, 

nitrogen and neutral detergent fibre 

was also reduced more than 20%. Therefore, 

in those conditions (56% of carob 

pulp in the diet) it will be impossible compensate 

due to bulkiness of the feed and 

to achieve the same performance. The inclusion 

of polyethylene glycol, a compound 

that reacts preferentially with condensed 

tannins preventing the formation 

of tannin-protein complexes in the diet 

improves nutrient digestibility, dry matter 

intake and thus, weight gain (Priolo et al., 

2000). Moderate inclusions (10 or 20%) 

of carob pulp instead of cereals or gradual 

replacement of up to 30% of another 

fibrous feedstuff (citrus pulp) allowed 

lambs to grow similarly or even better 

than those fed on control diets (Guessous 

et al., 1988; Lanza et al., 2001). Carcass 

quality at slaughter of lambs fed on carob 

diets was not affected but meat quality 

seems to be underestimate as judged by 

sensory analysis (Priolo et al., 2000; Lanza 

et al., 2001). Nevertheless, these results 

demand confirmation because they 

are opposed to other obtained previously 

by the same team (Priolo et al., 1998). It 

can be concluded that results observed in 

feeding carob products to ruminants were 

similar of other species and were related 

with their nutritional value and distribution 

of nutrient-balanced diets to animals. 

CONCLUSION 

Carob and its by-products are perfectly 

suitable for animal feeding but their nutritional 

value and the upper limit of their inclusion 

in the diet remains unknown. Feeding 

animals on carob diets did not reduce 

growth performance if they were able 

to compensate the deficit of energy by an 

increase of feed intake. In certain cases, 

carob tannins could be responsible for a 

reduction of growth performance but in 

some other, they could contribute to an 

improvement of animal health. Therefore 

much more research must be carried out 

to clarify some aspects of carob use on 

animal feeding and to determine the limits 

and benefits of its utilisation for producing 

animals. 

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Albanell E.; 1990. Caracterización morfologica, 

composición quimica y valor 

nutritivo de distintas variedades de garrofa 

(Ceratonia siliqua L.) cultivadas en 

España. Tesis Doctoral, Universidad 

Autónoma de Barcelona, 218pp. 

Alumot E., Nachtomi E., Bornstein 

S.;1964. Low caloric value of carob as 

possible cause of growth depression in 

chicks. J. Sci. Food Agric., 15: 259-264. 

Avallone R., Plessi M., Baraldi M. and 

Monzani A.; 1997. Determination of chemical 

composition of carob (Ceratonia 

siliqua L.): Protein, fat, carbohydrates, 

and tannins. J. Food Comp. Anal., 10, 

166-172. 

Bornstein S., Alumot E., Mokadi S., Nachtomi 

E., Nahri U.; 1963. Trials for improving 

the nutritional value of carobs 

for chicks. Israel J. Agric. Research, 3: 

25-35. 

Bornstein S., Lipstein B., Alumot E.; 

1965. The metabolizable and productive 

energy of carobs for growing chicks. 

Poultry Sci., 44: 519-529. 

Brufau J., Boros D., Marquardt R.R.; 

1998. Influence of growing season, tannin 

content and autoclave treatment on 

the nutritive value of near-isogenic lines 

of faba beans (Vicia faba L.) when fed to 

leghorn chicks. Br. Poultry Sci., 39: 97- 

105. 

Guessous F., El Hilali A., Johnson W.L.; 

1988. Influence du taux d’ioncorporation 

de la pulpe de caroube sur la digestibilité 

et l’utilisation des rations par les ovins 

à l’engraissement. Reprod. Nutr. Dévelop., 

28(1): 93-94. 

Gutzwiller A., Jost M.; 1999. Diarrhées 

et maladie de l’oedème chez le porcelet: 

mieux vaut prévenir que guérir. Rev. 

Suisse Agric., 31 829:67-70. 

Henis V., Tagari H., Volcani R.; 1964. 

Effect of water extract of carob pods, 

tannic acids, and their derivatives on the 

morphology and growth of microorganisms. 

Appl. Microbiol., 12: 204-209. 

Jansman A.J.M.; 1993. Tannins in faba 

beans (Vicia Faba L.): antinutritional 

properties in monogastric animals. 

Ph.D. dissertation Thesis, University of 

Wageningen, The Netherlands, 207p. 

Kratzer F.H., Williams D.E.; 1951. The 

value of ground carob in rations for chicks. 

Poultry Sci., 30: 148-150. 

Lanza A., D’Urso G., Lanza E., Aleo C.; 

1983. Esperienze d’impiego di un semolato 

di carruba ad umidita in diete per 

suini. Tecnica Agricola, 35(2): 115-127. 

Lanza, M., Priolo, A., Biondi, L., Bella 

M., Ben Salem, H. (2001). Replacement 

of cereal grains by orange pulp and carob 

pulp in faba bean-based diets fed to 

lambs: effects on growth performance 

and meat quality. Anim. Res., 50: 21-30. 

Lizardo R., Cañellas J., Mas F., Torrallardona 

D., Brufau J.; 2002. 

L’utilisation de la farine de caroube 

dans les aliments de sevrage et son influence 

sur les performances et la santé 

des porcelets. Journ. Rech. Porc., 

34: 97-101. 

Loeb H., Vandenplas Y., Würsch P., 

Guesry P.; 1989. Tannin-rich carob pod 

for the treatment of acute-onset diarrhea. 

J. Pediatric Gastroenterol. Nutr., 

8(4): 480-485. 

Louca A., Papas A.; 1973. The effect of 

different proportions of carob pod meal 

in the diet on the performance of calves 

and goats. Anim. Prod., 17: 139-146. 

Madec F., Bridoux N., Bounaix S., Jestin 

A.; 1998. Measurement of digestive 

disorders in the piglet at weaning and 

related risk factors. Preventive Vet. 

Med., 35: 53-72. 

Neto A.P.L.; 1964. Carob beans for feeding 

pigs. Bol. Pecuar., 32, 49-69pp. 

Piccioni M.; 1989. Dizionario degli alimenti 

per il bestiame. Edagricola, 5ª 

edizione, 133-141. 

Piva G., Santi E., Amerio M.; 1978. Utilizzazione 

zootecnica della farina essiccata 

di carruba. Suinicoltura, 19(1): 43- 

46. 

Priolo, A., Lanza, M., Biondi, L., Pappalardo, 

P., Young, O. A. (1998). Effect of 

partially replacing dietary barley with 

20% carob pulp on post-weaning 

growth, and carcass and meat characteristics 

of Comisana lambs. Meat Sci., 

50(3): 355-363. 

Priolo, A., Waghorn G.C., Lanza, M., 

Biondi, L., Pennisi P.; 2000. Polyethylene 

glycol as a means for reducing the 

impact of condensed tannins in carob 

pulp: effects on growth performance 

and meat quality. J. Anim. Sci., 78: 

810-816. 

Sahle M., Coleou J., Haas, C.; 1992. 

Carob pod (Ceratonia siliqua L.) meal 

in geese diets. Br. Poultry Sci., 33: 531- 

541. 

Santi E., Cerioli C., Speroni M., Morlacchini 

M., Dellaglio F.; 1987. Interferenze 

di un derivato della lavorazione della 

carruba (Ceratonia siliqua L.) sul microbismo 

dell’apparato digerente dei suini. 

Rivista di Suinicoltura. 28(3): 97-101. 

Scalbert A.; 1991. Antimicrobial properties 

of tannins. Phytochemistry, vol 30, 

nº. 12, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 3875- 

3883. 

Schofield P., Mbugua D.M., Pell A.N.; 

2001. Analysis of condensed tannins: a 

review. Anim. Feed Sci. Technol., 91: 

21-40. 

Vohra P., Kratzer F.H., Joslyn M.A.; 

1966. The growth depressing and toxic 

effect of tannins in chicks. Poultry Sci., 

45: 135-145. 

Vohra P., Kratzer F.H.; 1964. The use 

of ground carobs in chicken diets. Poultry 

Sci., 43: 790-792. 

Yousif A.K., Alghzawi H.M.; 2000. Processing 

and characterisation of carob 

powder. Food Chemistry 69: 283-287. 

R. Lizardo 

IRTA – Centre Mas Bové 

Departament Nutrició Animal; 

Apartat de Correos 415 

43280 Reus, Spain. 

Email: tmp612@irta.es 


39

NOTES AND NEWS 

PERFORMANCES OF SPANISH 

AND FRENCH ALMOND 

VARIETIES IN THE GAP REGION 

(SANLIURFA/TURKEY) 

The three Spanish almond varieties 

(‘Guara’, ‘Masbovera’ and ‘Glorieta’) 

and three French varieties (‘Ferragnes’, 

‘Ferraduel’ and ‘Lauranne’) were performed 

very well in a trial placed near Sanliurfa 

in the GAP Region. 

The growth of the trees onto the peach x 

almond hybrid GF-677 rootstock were 

grown very vigorously and in the 3rd leaf 

(2001) they have given about one kg in 

shell almonds per tree. The highest yield 

was obtained from ‘Ferraduel’. The kernels 

of all 5 varieties were found acceptable 

by industry. Only the kernels of 

‘Guara’, due to the double kernels, were 

not accepted as good as the others. In 

2002 we are expecting much more nuts 

from these trees. Up to now, there has 

not occurred any late spring frost; therefore 

the GAP Region may be a good almond 

producing region of Turkey. In fact 

the area devoted to almond is increasing 

every year and now it reached about 100 

ha. 

N. Kaska 1 , Z. Ozcan 2 

1 

KSU Fac. of Agr. Kmaras, Turkey 

2 

NURMET Food and Agricultural Products 

Firm Sanliurfa, Turkey 

IN MEMORIAM: 

UMBERTO MENINI 

Dr. Umberto G. Menini, 62 years old died 

in Rome on 6 th of June 2001, after a long 

illness. He was born in Verona, Italy. U. 

Menini graduated in Agricultural Science 

with specialization in Tropical Agronomy 

from the University of Florence in 1961. 

He spent the following 14 years working 

in Africa where he gained expertise managing 

horticultural and agricultural research 

and development programmes in 

South Africa, Kenya, Zimbawe, Madagascar, 

Togo and Tunisia. During the years 

he spent in Africa, working with both private 

and public sector organizations, he 

built up a broad knowledge not only about 

tropical and subtropical agriculture, but 

also about the cultures of the people with 

Umberto Menini 

whom he worked. He joined FAO as an 

agricultural expert in Togo, then became 

FAO’s special adviser for agricultural development 

and planning to the Tunisian 

Ministry of Agriculture. In 1975 he was 

called to FAO Headquarters in Rome, 

and from then until 1991, he led FAO’s 

programmes in horticultural development. 

During this time, he worked closely with 

FAO’s Member Governments to build up 

a highly successful portfolio of development 

assistance programmes for the horticultural 

sector worldwide. He also worked 

enthusiastically to promote North- 

South co-operation, and the collaboration 

agreements that the FAO developed with 

the International Society for Horticultural 

Science (ISHS), the International Society 

for Citriculture (ISC) and many national 

institutions, are a lasting testimony to his 

work in world horticulture. 

In 1990 U.G. Menini, from his position as 

Head of the Plant and Seed Division of 

FAO in Rome, together with Dr. H. Ölez, 

responsible then of the Regional Office 

for Europe, called for an “Expert Consultation 

on the Promotion of Nut Production 

in Europe and Near East Regions” which 

was held in Yalova, Turkey in June that 

year. The main outcome of this consultation 

was the establishment of our Nut 

Network. Until 1996 he was involved in 

many Network activities mainly related to 

genetic resources and our Network owes 

very much to him. 

In 1992 he was appointed Chief of FAO’s 

Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service 

where he worked untiringly to develop, 

among other things, a viable system of inter-country 

crop related networks to provide 

sound technical and policy guidance 

to governments for the conservation and 

sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources. 

He also led the process for building 

up a global policy and needs-driven 

programme for the improvement of seed 

production in developing countries. This 

latter proved to be an immense challenge 

which he met knowing that it held the key 

to ensuring access, for poor farmers everywhere, 

to useful crop genetic variability. 

Umberto was a charismatic, engaging 

and generous personality. He initiated 

many agricultural professionals around 

the world to the United Nations and 

FAO’s mission and freely shared with 

them his own experience and insights in 

the certainty that they would all be able, 

as an extended team, to help support the 

development of agriculture in the world’s 

poorest countries. Umberto is survived by 

his wife, Roulla, and his three children, 

Stefano, Florence and Llaurent. 

MOHAMED LAGHEZALI 

Dr. Mohamed Laghezalli, 53 years old, 

leader of the programme on Horticulture 

and Viticulture of CRASMA/INRA at Centre 

de la Recherche Agronomique du 

Saïs-Moyen Atlas at Meknès, Morocco, 

died suddenly in Meknès on 5th of March 

2001 at the peak of his career as pomologist. 

He was born at Ouezzane and graduated 

at Ecole Nationale d’Agriculture 

de Meknès in Horticulture production in 

1974. He earned in 1979 his PhD degree 

at Bordeaux, France. 

M. Laghezali started his career as Head 

of Station Centrale d’Arboriculture at Rabat 

(1974-1975). He was later the Head 

of the Experimental Station at Aïn Taoujade 

(1975-1983) and then he was appointed 

as Head of the Service Recherche-Development 

CRASMA at Meknès 

(1983-1988) from where he moved to his 

last job. Mohamed was a hard worker and 

devoted the last twenty years of his life to 

research in varied fruit trees where he 

made an important contribution to the Moroccan 

horticulture. He showed a strong 

and adamant personality which may have 

caused him a few troubles along his life. 

Mohamed Laghezali 


M. Laghezalli fostered international 

cooperation among researchers around 

the Mediterranean region and his active 

participation in the GREMPA group is an 

example. He successfully organized the X 

GREMPA Meeting held at Meknès, Morocco 

in 1996. His spirit of collaboration 

was very much in the line of our Research 

Nut Network. It will be difficult to forget 

him due to his close and long relationship 

and collaboration with GREMPA. 

He left his Pharmacist wife Aicha Ait Assou, 

and two sons: Nafiss and Annas. He 

has also left many friends all over the Mediterranean 

region. We shall miss him but 

he will remain in our memory as a good 

friend. 

CONGRESSES 

AND MEETINGS 

III INTERNATIONAL 

SYMPOSIUM ON PISTACHIOS 

AND ALMONDS 

The third International Symposium on Pistachios 

and Almonds was held at the Mediterranean 

Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza, 

Spain, on May 20-24, 2001. The Symposium 

was organized by the Servicio de 

Investigación Agroalimentaria of the Diputación 

General de Aragón (SIA-DGA) under 

the auspices of the International Society 

for Horticultural Science (ISHS) and 

the support of the International Centre for 

Advanced Agronomic Mediterranean Studies 

(CIHEAM), the Asociación Interprofesional 

para el Desarrollo Agrario (AIDA), 

the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y 

Tecnología Agraria y Agroalimentaria 

(INIA), the Dirección General de Investigación 

of the Spanish Ministry of Science 

and Technology, and the Food and Agriculture 

Organization of the United Nations 

(FAO; Regional Office for Europe - REU 

and Regional Office for the Near East - 

RNE), as well as by growers’ associations 

and local institutions. The Symposium 

was attended by 135 delegates from the 

five continents: Oceania (Australia), America 

(Argentina, Chile and the United States), 

Africa (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia), 

Asia (China, Iran and Turkey) and 

Europe (Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, 

Portugal and Spain). Concurrently, this 

Symposium was also the XII Colloquium 

of GREMPA (Group de Recherches et 

d’Études Méditerranéen pour le Pistachier 

et l’Amandier) which was established on 

the same premises in February 1974. 

The opening ceremony was presided 

over by the Counsellor of Agriculture of 

the regional government of Aragón, Mr. 

Gonzalo Arguilé, and was opened by the 

welcome words of the convener, Dr. R. 

Socias and Company, who referred to the 

history of almond and pistachio meetings 

and to the great figures of almond research 

in the XX century: Dr. D.E. Kester from 

California, who was unable to attend due 

to his advanced age, Dr. C. Grasselly 

from France, who attended the Symposium 

and presided over one of the sessions, 

and Dr. A. J. Felipe from Spain, 

who gave the first invited lecture. ISHS 

was present through the words of Dr. M. 

Carrera, member of the Board of Directors 

of the Fruit Section. 

The Symposium was a unique opportunity 

to gather the researchers on these two 

species and offer a place of open dialogue 

during the sessions as well as during 

the breaks and especially during the poster 

session on Monday afternoon, when 

more than 60 papers were widely discussed. 

Besides the first invited lecture by Dr. 

A.J. Felipe (Spain), “Overlook of almond 

cultivars and rootstocks: a lifetime experience”, 

there were two more invited lectures: 

“Almond fruitfulness and role of 

self-fertility” by Prof. A. Godini (Italy) and 

“Pistachio nut growing in the Mediterranean 

basin” by Prof. N. Kaska (Turkey). 

There were eight oral sessions with more 

than 50 papers distributed among such 

topics as rootstocks, economics, almond 

self-compatibility, breeding, nutrition, 

physiology, orchard management and pathology. 

(The wider representation of assistants 

than in the II Symposium probably 

made possible a stronger interchange 

of views and information, given the diversity 

of management of these two 

species) 

The business meeting stressed the need 

to complete the inventory of pistachio research, 

bibliography and germplasm, as 

had already been done in almond by 

Francesco Monastra. Discussion on further 

meetings centered on the XIII 

GREMPA Colloquium, to be held probably 

in Mirandela (Portugal) in 2003, convened 

by M.M. Oliveira and A. Monteiro. 

The IV ISHS Symposium will be held in 

Iran, probably in September 2005. 

Field visits included the experimental 

fields of the SIA-DGA, with the collection 

of almond germplasm, reference for 

GREMPA and the Spanish genetic resources 

network, rootstock trials and seedling 

and selection evaluation plots. Besides, 

an irrigated and a non-irrigated al- 

mond orchard was visited, as well as the 

almond processing plant of the growers’ 

association Frutos Secos Alcañiz, Teruel. 

The pistachio group visited some pistachio 

orchards in Maials, Lleida. Both 

groups gathered for lunch at the magnificent 

castle of Alcañiz. 

Social events included a visit to the medieval 

monastery of Rueda during the 

field visit, as well as a welcoming reception 

where old friends could gather to 

share the first impressions after the last 

meeting. There was also a reception at 

the City Hall as well as a visit to the Aljafería 

castle, where the Coral Campus de 

Aula Dei performed a concert, including a 

traditional song with words adapted to the 

almond event, as well as the GREMPA 

anthem. The closing banquet was the final 

moment to make appointments for the 

following meeting. 

The fours days of the meeting were a 

friendly course of excellent scientific presentations 

and relaxed discussions, 

stressing the name of colloquia for the 

GREMPA meetings. The proceedings of 

the Symposium are in preparation for publication 

in Acta Horticulturae after revision. 

TURKISH FIRST NATIONAL 

WALNUT SYMPOSIUM 

Turkish First National Walnut Symposium 

was held at the Gaziosmanpasa University, 

Faculty of Agriculture, Tokat during 5- 

8 September, 2001. The Convener of the 

symposium was Y. Akca. Some 150 

people participated, among them there 

were about 15 nursery men and walnut 

growers as well. There were presented 

30 oral, 22 poster and 2 invited papers. 

After the presentations a visit to Niksar 

was organized, where walnut orchards 

were established. At the end of the meeting 

the following decisions were taken: 

• Turkish National Walnut Group was established. 

• For modernization of walnut culture in 

Turkey, scientists, nursery men, walnut 

traders and walnut growers should work 

together. 

• With the collaboration of these groups 

Turkish walnut production should be 

doubled in ten years time. 

The Turkish National Walnut Working 

Group should be responsible to take the 

necessary steps in order to reach this 

goal. 


41

TO BE HELD: 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Almond and Pistachio 

XIII GREMPA Meeting on Almond and Pistachio 

Date: 1-5 JUNE 2003 

Place: Tras os Montes, Portugal 

Conveners: A. Monteiro and M. Oliveira 

Addresses: DRA de Tras os Montes 

Ministerio da Agricultura 

Quinta do Valongo 

5370087 Mirandela, Portugal 

Tel: 278 260 952 

Fax: 278 260 992 

E-mail: a.m.monteiro@dratm.min-Agricultura.pt 

ITQB/IBET 

Quinta do Marques 

2784505 Oeiras, Portugal 

Tel: 351 2144 69647 

Fax: 351 2144 21161 

E-mail: mmolive@itqb.unl.pt 

Chestnut 

III ISHS International Symposium on Chestnut 

Date: October 20-23, 2003 

Place: Chaves (Vila Real), Portugal 

Convener: C. Abreu 

Address: University of Tras-Os-Montes e Alto Douro 

P.O. Box 202 

5001 Vila Real Codex - Portugal 

Tel: + 351 59 323 688 

Fax: + 351 59 325 058 

Email: cgabreu@utad.pt 

Hazelnut 

VI ISHS International Symposium on Hazelnut 

Date: June-July 2004 

Place: Reus, Spain 

Convener: J. Tous 

IRTA – Centre de Mas Bové 

Departament d’Arboricultura Mediterrània 

P.O. Box 415, 43280 Reus, Spain 

Tel: 33 977 34 32 52 

Fax: 33 977 34 40 55 

E-mail: joan.tous@irta.es 

Walnut 

V ISHS International Symposium on Walnut 

Date: September 2004 

Place: Venice, Italy 

Conveners: F. Cannata and D. Avanzato 

Addresses: CNR Istituto per l’Agrosilvicultura 

Viale Marconi 2, 05010 Porano, Italy 

Tel: 390763374674 

Fax: 390763374330 

E-mail: fcannata@ias.tr.cnr.it 

ISF: 

Via di Fioranello 52, 00134 Rome, Italy 

Tel: 390679348186 

Fax: 390679340158 

E-mail: me1753@mclink.it 

Almond orchards at Tras-os-Montes, 

Portugal 

Chestnut tree at Tras-os-Montes, 

Portugal 

ALMOND 

Ainsley, P.J.; Collins, G.G.; Sedgley, M., 

2000. Adventitious shoot regeneration from 

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2001. Factors affecting Agrobacterium-mediated 

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2001. Applying genetic transformation technology 

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2001. In vitro rooting of almond (Prunus 

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Biology – Plant, 37 (6): 778-785. 

Ainsley, P.J.; Hammerschlag, F.A.; Bertozzi, 

T.; Collins, G.G.; Sedgley, M., 2001. Regeneration 

of almond from immature seed 

cotyledons. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ 

Culture, 67 (3): 221-226. 

Arquero, O.; Rodríguez, S.; Casado, B.; Jiménez, 

J.; Navarro, A., 2001. Estado actual 

del cultivo del almendro en Andalucía. Líneas 

de trabajo de la dirección general de 

investigación (Junta de Andalucía) (in Spanish). 

ITEA, 97V (3): 295-300. 

Arteaga, N.; Socias I Company, R., 2001. 

Heredabilidad de los caracteres de fruto y 

pepita en el almendro. ITEA, 97V (3): 265- 

272. 

Ballester, J.; Socias I Company, R.; Arús, 

P.; de Vicente, M.C., 2001. Genetic mapping 

of a major gene delaying blooming 

time in almond. Plant Breeding, 120: 268- 

270. 

Balta, F.; Yarilgaç, T.; Balta, M.F., 2001. 

Fruit Characteristics of Native Almond Selections 

from the Lake Van Region (Eastern 

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Bouranis, D.L.; Chorianopoulou, S.N.; 

Zakynthinos, G.; Sarlis, G. ; Drossopoulos, 

J.B., 2001. Flower analysis for prognosis of 

nutritional dynamics of almond tree. Journal 

of Plant Nutrition, 24 (4-5): 705-716. 

Campalans, A.; Pages, M.; Messeguer, R., 

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Tree Physiology, 21 (10): 633-643. 

Channuntapipat, C.; Sedgley, M.; Collins, 

G., 2001. Sequences of the cDNAs and genomic 

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Vol 103, Iss 6-7, pp 1115-1122 

Connell, J.H.; Colbert, F.; Krueger, W.; 

Cudney, D.; Gast, R.; Bettner, T.; Dallman, 

S., 2001. Vegetation management options 

in almond orchards. Horttechnology, 11 (2): 

254-257. 

Dicenta, F.; Cánovas, J.A.; Soler, A.; Berenguer, 

V., 2001. Relación entre el sabor 

amargo de la almendra y la resistencia al 

gusano cabezudo (Capnodis tenebrionis 

L.) (in Spanish). ITEA, 97V (3): 289-294. 

Dicenta, F.; Ortega, E.; Martínez, P.; Boskovic, 

R.; Tobutt, K.R., 2001. Descendientes 

homocigóticos versus heterocigóticos 

autocompatibles en un programa de mejora 

genética de almendro (in Spanish). ITEA, 

97V (3): 233-237. 

Dicenta, F.; Rubio, M.; Gambín, M.; Martínez, 

P., 2001. Resistencia al virus de la 

Sharka (plum pox potyvirus) en almendro 

(in Spanish). ITEA, 97V (3): 260-264. 

Dubbeldam, J., 2000. Carob tree hides 

unknown nutritional secrets. Feed Tech Volume 

4 (1): 20-22. 

Espada, J.L.; Espiau, M.T., 2001. Producción 

de semilla y exportación de nitrógeno 

por los frutos de algunos cultivares españoles 

de almendro (in Spanish). ITEA, 97V 

(3): 251-259. 

Espiau, M.T.; Ansón, J.M.; Socias I Company, 

R., 2001. El banco de germoplasma 

de almendro de Zaragoza (in Spanish). 

ITEA, 97V (3): 246-250. 

Felipe, A.J., 2001. Una revision sobre el material 

vegetal de almendro: la experiencia de 

una vida (in Spanish). ITEA, 97V (3): 151-165. 

Femenia, A.; Garcia, M.; Simal, S.; Rosselló, 

C.; Blasco, M., 2001. Effects of supercritical 

carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) oil extraction 

on the cell wall composition of almond 

fruits. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 

49 (12): 5828-5834. 

Godini, A., 2001. La fertilidad del almendro 

y el papel de la autocompatibilidad (in Spanish). 

ITEA, 97V (3): 166-182. 

Gómez, J.; Carrera, M.; Felipe, A.J.; Socias 

I Company, R., 2001. ‘Garnem’, ‘Monegro’ 

y ‘Felinem’: nuevos patrones híbridos almendro 

x melocotonero resistentes a nemátodos 

y de hoja roja para frutales de 

hueso (in Spanish). ITEA, 97V (3): 282- 

288. 

Grane, N.; Prats, M.S.; Berenguer, V.; Martin, 

M.L. , 2001. A possible way to predict 

the genetic relatedness of selected almond 

cultivars. Journal of the American Oil Chemists 

Society, 78 (6): 617-619. 

Correia, M.J.; Coelho, D.; David, M.M., 

2001. Response to seasonal drought in 

three cultivars of Ceratonia siliqua: leaf 

growth and water relations. Tree Physiology, 

21(10): 645-653. 

Jaúregui, B.; de Vicente, M.C.; Messeguer, 

R.; Felipe, A.; Bonnet, A.; Salesses, G.; 

Arús, P., 2001. A reciprocal translocation 

between ‘Garfi’ almond and ‘Nemared’ peach. 

Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 102 

(8): 1169-1176. 

Kim, S.; Schatzki, T., 2001. Detection of 

pinholes in almonds through X-ray imaging. 

Transactions of the ASAE, 44 (4): 997-1003. 

Krokos, F.D.; Konstantopoulou, M.A.; Mazomenos, 

B.E., 2001. Alkadienes and alkenes, 

sex pheromone components of the almond 

seed wasp Eurytoma amygdali. Journal 

of Chemical Ecology, 27 (11): 2169- 

2181. 

Lamp, B.M.; Connell, J.H.; Duncan, R.A.; 

Viveros, M.; Polito, V.S., 2001. Almond Flower 

Development: Floral Initiation and Organogenesis. 

J. Amer. Hort. Sci., 126 (6): 

689-696. 

Lanza, M.; Priolo, A.; Biondi, L.; Bella, M.; 

Salem, H.B., 2001. Replacement of cereal 

grains by orange pulp and carob pulp in 

faba bean-based diets fed to lambs: effects 

on growth performance and meta quality. 

Animal Research, 50 (1): 21-30. 

López, M.; Mnejja, M.; Romero, M.A.; Vargas, 

F.J.; Batlle, I., 2001. Diseño de cruzamientos 

en almendro para mejora por autocompatibilidad 

utilizando ribonucleasas estilares 

(in Spanish). ITEA, 97V (3): 226- 

232. 

Ma, R.C.; Oliveira, M.M., 2001. Molecular 

cloning of the self-incompatibility genes S1 

and S3 from almond (Prunus dulcis cv. Ferragnes). 

Sexual Plant Reproduction, 2001, 

Vol 14, Iss 3, pp 163-167. 

Martínez, P.; Gradziel, T.M., 2001. In vivo 

micrografts in almond and their application 

in breeding programs. Horttechnology, 11 

(2): 313-315. 

Misirli, A.; Golcan, R., 2001. Almond 

growing in Turkey. Yearbook (ISSN 0312- 

8997). West Australian Nut and Tree Crops 

Association (WANATCA) , 25: 27-35. 

Peñaranda, J.A., 2001. Descripción del 

sector de frutos secos en España y en particular 

del almendro. (in Spanish). ITEA, 97V 

(3): 211-212. 

Romero, A.; Tous, J.; Plana, J.; Guardia, 

M.D.; Valero, A., 2001. Cómo afecta la 

elección del cultivar de almendra a la aceptación 

de mazapanes y chocolates por parte 

de los consumidores (in Spanish). ITEA, 

97V (3): 273-281. 

Socias I Company, R., 2001. Avances recientes 

en la autocompatibilidad del almendro 

(in Spanish). ITEA, 97V (3): 215-225. 

Teviotdale, B.L.; Goldhamer, D.A.; Viveros, 

M., 2001. Effects of deficit irrigation on hull 

rot disease of almond trees caused by Monilinia 

fructicola and Rhizopus stolonifer. 

Plant Disease, 85 (4): 399-403. 

Thomson, J.D.; Goodell, K., 2001. Pollen 

removal and deposition by honeybee and 

bumblebee visitors to apple and almond flowers. 

Journal of Applied Ecology, 38 (5): 

1032-1044. 

Tomàs, O., 2001. Almendra + agua = futuro 

(in Spanish). Surcos de Aragón, (73): 6-11. 

Vaknin, Y.; Gan-Mor, S.; Bechar, A.; Ronen, 

B.; Eisikowitch, D., 2001. Improving 

pollination of almond (Amygdalus communis 

L., Rosaceae) using electrostatic techniques. 

Journal of Horticultural Science & 

Biotechnology, 76 (2): 208-212. 

Vargas, F.J.; Romero, M.A.; Clavé, J.; Santos, 

J.; Batlle, I.; Rovira, M., 2001. Cuajado 

en cruzamientos controlados de cultivares 

de almendro (in Spanish). ITEA, 97V (3): 

238-245. 

Wang, Y.; Belton, P.S.; Bridon, H.; Garanger, 

E.; Wellner, N.; Parker, M.L.; Grant, A.; 

Feillet, P.; Noel, T.R., 2001. Physicochemical 

Studies of Caroubin: A Gluten-like Protein. 

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 

49 (7): 3414-3419. 

CAROB 

Abia, R.; Fry, S.C., 2001. Degradation and 

metabolism of C-14-labelled proanthocyanidins 

from carob (Ceratonia siliqua) pods 

in the gastrointestinal tract of the rat. Journal 

of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 

81 (12): 1156-1165. 

Correia, M.J.; Coelho, D.; David, M.M., 

2001. Response to seasonal drought in 

three cultivars of Ceratonia siliqua: leaf 

growth and water relations. Tree Physiology, 

21: 645-653. 

El Shatnawi, M.K.J.; Ereifej, K.I., 2001. 

Chemical composition and livestock inges- 


43

tion of carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) seeds. 

Journal of Range Management, 54 (6): 

669-673. 

Lizardo, R.; Cañellas, J.; Torrallardona, D.; 

Brufau, J., 2001. Utilisation of carob powder in 

piglet diets and its influence on growth performance 

and health after weaning. Book 

of Abstracts of the 52 nd Annual Meeting of 

EAAP, Budapest, August. Commission of 

Pig Production – Session P4.10: 4 pages. 

Tous, J.; Batlle, I.; Rallo, J.; Romero, A., 

2001. Prospección de algarrobo en las islas 

Baleares (in Spanish). Investigación 

Agraria: Prod. Prot. Veg., 16 (2): 187-203. 

Vinterhalter, B.; Vinterhalter, D.; Neskovic, 

M., 2001. Effect of irradiance, sugars and 

nitrogen on leaf size of in vitro grown Ceratonia 

siliqua L. Biologia Plantarum, 44 (2): 

185-188. 

Wang, Y.L.; Belton, P.S.; Bridon, H.; Garanger, 

E.; Wellner, N.; Parker, M.L.; Grant, 

A.; Feillet, P.; Noel, T.R., 2001. Physicochemical 

studies of caroubin: A gluten-like 

protein. Journal of Agricultural and Food 

Chemistry, 49 (7): 3414-3419. 

CHESTNUT 

Jaynes, R.A., 2001. Chip budding sprouted 

chestnut seed. Yearbook (ISSN 0312- 


Association (WANATCA) , 25: 75-77. 

Kunsch, U.; Scharer, H.; Patrian, B.; Hohn, 

E.; Conedera, M.; Sassella, A.; Jermini, M.; 

Jelmini, G., 2001. Effects of roasting on 

chemical composition and quality of different 

chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill) varieties. 

Journal of the Science of Food and 

Agriculture, 81 (11): 1106-1112. 

Pereira, S.; Ramos, A.M.; Díaz, B.; Ascasíbar, 

J.; Sau, F.; Ciordia, M., 2001. Spanish 

Chestnut Cultivars. HortScience, 36 (2): 

344-347. 

San-José, M.C.; Ballester, A.; Vieitez, 

A.M., 2001. Effect of thidiazuron on multiple 

shoot induction and plant regeneration 

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of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology, 

76 (5): 588-595. 

HAZELNUT 

Harris, J.R.; Smith, R.; Fanelli, J., 2001. 

Transplant timing affects first-season root 

growth of Turkish hazelnut (Corylus colurna 

L.). HortScience, 36 (4): 805-807. 

Mehlenbacher, S.A.; Azarenko, A.N.; Smith, 

D.C.; McCluskey, R., 2001. ‘Clark’ Hazelnut. 

HortScience, 36 (5): 995-996. 

Norden, B.; Paltto, H., 2001. Wood-decay 

fungi in hazel wood: species richness correlated 

to stand age and dead wood features. 

Biological Conservation, 101 (1): 1-8. 

Pinkerton, J.N.; Johnson, K.B.; Aylor, D.E.; 

Stone, J.K., 2001. Spatial and temporal increase 

of eastern filbert blight in European 

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Phytopathology, 91 (12): 1214-1223. 

Scortichini, M.; Marchesi, U., 2001. Sensitive 

and specific detection of Pseudomonas 

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149: 527-532. 

Tous, J., 2001. Hazelnut technology for 

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Wilson, R.; Atkinson, C.J.; Taylor, L., 2001. 

A study of the Hazelnut (Corylus) and ways 

of chemically controlling excessive shoot 

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PECAN 

Conner, P.J.; Wood, B.W., 2001. Identification 

of pecan cultivars and their genetic relatedness 

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Soc. Hort. Sci., 126 (4): 474-480. 

Grauke, L.J.; Price, H.J.; Johnston, J.S., 

2001. Genome size of pecan as determined 

by flow cytometry. HortScience, 36 (4): 

814. 

Sparks, D., 2000. Pecan in warm climate. 

Temperate Fruit Crops in Warm Climates: 

381-403. 

PISTACHIO 

Ash, G.J.; Lanoiselet, V.M., 2001. First report 

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Plant Pathology, 30 (4): 365-366. 

Chao, C.C.T., Parfitt, D.E.; Michailides, 

T.J., 2001. Alternaria Late Blight (Alternaria 

alternata) Resistance in Pistachio (Pistacia 

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Journal of the American Society of 

Horticultural Science, 126 (4): 481-485. 

Couceiro, J.F.; Guerrero, J., 2001. Situación 

actual del cultivo del pistachero (Pistacia 

vera L.) en la región de Castilla-La Mancha. 

ITEA, 97V (3): 310-311. 

Díaz Barradas, M.C.; Correia, O., 1999. 

Sexual dimorphism, sex ratio and spatial 

distribution of male and female shrubs in 

the dioecious species Pistacia lentiscus L. 

Folia Geobotanica, 34: 163-174. 

Kafkas, S.; Çetiner, S.; Perl-Treves, R., 

2001. Development of sex-associated 

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Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology, 

76 (2): 242-246. 

Kafkas, S.; Perl-Treves, R.; Kaska, N., 

2000. Unusual Pistacia atlantica desf. 

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the yunt mountains of the Manisa Province 

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vol. 48: 277-280. 

Kaska, N., 2001. El cultivo del pistachero 

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ITEA, 97V (3): 183-197. 

Ma, Z.H.; Boehm, E.W.A.; Luo, Y.; Michailides, 

T.J., 2001. Population structure of Botryosphaeria 

dothidea from pistachio and 

other hosts in California. Phytopathology, 

91 (7): 665-672. 

Ma, Z.H.; Morgan, D.P.; Michailides, 2001. 

Effects of water stress on Botryosphaeria 

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749. 

Maestre, F.T.; Bautista, S.; Cortina, J.; Bellot, 

J., 2001. Potential for using facilitation 

by grasses to establish shrubs on a semiarid 

degraded steppe. Ecological Applications, 

11 (6): 1641-1655. 

Mirabolfathy, M.; Cooke, D.E.L.; Duncan, 

J.M.; Williams, N.A.; Ershad, D.; Alizadeh, 

A., 2001. Phytophthora pistaciae sp nov 

and P-melonis: the principal causes of pistachio 

gummosis in Iran. Mycological Research, 

105 (10): 1166-1175. 

Pearson, T.C., 2001. Detection of pistachio 

nuts with closed shells using impact acoustics. 

Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 17 

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Pearson, T.C.; Doster, M.A.; Michaillides, 

T.J., 2001. Automated detection of pistachio 

defects by machine vision. Applied 

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732. 

Rahemi, M.; Baninasab, B., 2000. Effect of 

gibberellic acid on seedling growth in two 

wild species of pistachio. Journal of Horticultural 

Science & Biotechnology, 75 (3): 

336-339. 

Ranjbarfordoei, A.; Samson, R.; Van Damme, 

P.; Lemeur, R., 2000. Effects of 

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gas exchange of Pistacia khinjuk 

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Smith, D.R.; Michailides, T.J.; Stanosz, 

G.R., 2001. Differentiation of a Fusicoccum 

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1240. 

Vargas, F.J.; Romero, M.A.; Vargas, I., 

2001. Precocidad en la entrada en floración 

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ITEA, 97V (3): 301-309. 

Verdu, M.; Garcia, P., 2001. The effect of 

deceptive fruits on predispersal seed predation 

by birds in Pistacia lentiscus. Plant 

Ecology, 156 (2): 245-248. 

Werner, O.; Sanchez, P.; Guerra, J.; Martinez, 

J.F., 2001. Identification of Pistacia x 

saportae Burnat (Anacardiaceae) by RAPD 

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Scientia Horticulturae, 91 (1-2): 179-186. 

Zeng, Q.; Brown, P.H.; Holtz, B.A., 2001. 

Potassium fertilization affects soil K, leaf K 

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STONEPINE 

García, C.; Montero, G., 1998. Influencia 

de ciertas variables selvícolas en la pudrición 

provocada por Phellinus pini sobre Pinus 

pinea. Investigación Agraria: Sist. Recur. 

For., 7 (1 – 2): 203-217. 

WALNUT 

Akça, Y., 2000. Determination of fruit 

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Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 24 (3): 

349-354. 

Aletà, N.; Ninot, A., 2001. L’aprofitament forestal 

dels Juglans (in Catalan). Catalunya 

Rural i Agrària, (74): 29-30. 

Ameglio, T.; Guilliot, A.; Lacointe, A.; Julien, 

J.L.; Alves, G.; Valentin, V.; Pétel, G., 

2000. Water relations in winter: effect on 

bud break of walnut tree. In “Dormancy in 

plants: from whole plant behaviour to cellular 

control”, Viedmont J.D.; Crabbé, J. eds, 

CABI publish. Wallingford, UK: 109-120. 

Ameglio, T.; Ewers, W.F.; Cochard, H.; 

Martignac, M.; Vandome, M.; Bodet, C.; 

Cruiziat, P., 2001. Winter stem xylem pressure 

in walnut trees: effects of carbohydrates, 

cooling and freezing. Tree Physiology, 

21 (6): 387-394. 

Anonimous, 2000. Le marché de la noix. Bilan 

de campagne national 1998/1999. Ministère 

de l’Agriculture et de la Pêche 

(France): 12 pp. 

Avanzato D., 2001. Noce e pistachio: una 

risorsa per la frutticoltura mediterranea. 

Frutticoltura, 10: 31-35. 

Balandier, P.; Lacointe, A.; Leroux, X.; Sinoquet, 

H.; Cruiziat, P.; Le Dizes, S., 2000. 

SIMWAL: a structural-functional model simulating 

single walnut tree growth in response 

to climate and pruning. Ann. For. 

Sci., 57 (5/6): 571-585. 

Balci, I.; Balta, F.; Kazankaya, A.; Sen, 

S.M., 2001. Promising native walnut genotypes 

(Juglans regia L.) of the east black 

sea region of Turkey. Journal American Pomological 

Society, 55 (4): 204-208. 

Bortolin, E.; Quinto, D.; Valier, A., 2000. 

Frutteti specializzati di noce. Informatore 

Agrario, 56 (18): 55-61. 

Buttery, R.G.; Light, D.M.; Nam, Y.G.; Merrill, 

G.B.; Roitman, J.N., 2000. Volatile components 

of green walnut husks. Journal of 

Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 48 (7): 

2858-2861. 

Cochard, H.; Bodet, C.; Ameglio, T.; Cruiziat, 

P., 2000. Cryo-scanning electron microscopy 

observations of vessel content 

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Facts or artefacts Plant Physiology, 124 

(3): 1191-1202. 

Delorme, Y., 2000. Noix. L’entretien du sol 

en culture biologique. Arboriculture Fruitière, 

534: 36. 

Delort, F.; Reynet, P.; Saphy, B., 2000. 

Lara et l’axe vertical. Réussir Fruits et Légumes, 

187 : 36-37. 

Dimitrescu, F.; Botu, M., 2001. Comportarea 

unor genotipuri de nuc laatacul principalitor 

agenti patogeni in zona Valcea. (in 

Romanian). Lucrarile Stiintifice ale ICPP, 20. 

Dumanoglu, H., 2000. Dessication using 

saturated salt solutions and improvement 

germination rate of walnut (Juglans regia 

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Agriculture and Forestry, 24 (4): 491-497. 

Epple, C., 2001. A vegetation study in the 

walnut and fruit-tree forests of Southern 

Kyrgyzstan. Phytocoenologia, 31 (4): 571- 

604. 

Ermel, F.F.; Vizoso, S.; Charpentier, J.P.; 

Jay-Allemand, C.; Catesson, A.M.; Couée, 

I., 2000. Mechanisms of primordium formation 

during adventitious root development 

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211 (4): 563-574. 

Escobar, A.J.; Daudet, F.A.; Gaudillère, 

J.P.; Maillard, P.; Deléens, E.; Frossard, 

J.S., 2000. Exemple de modélisation des 

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Escobar M.A., Park J.I., Polito V.S., Leslie 

C.A., Uratsu S.L., McGranahan G.H., Dandekar 

A.M., 2000. Using GFP as a scorable 

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Annals of Botany, 85 (6): 831-835. 

Ewers, F.W.; Ameglio, T.; Cochard, H.; 

Beaujard, F.; Martignac, M.; Vandame, M.; 

Bodet, C.; Cruiziat, P., 2001. Seasonal variation 

in xylem pressure of walnut trees: 

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21 (15): 1123-1132. 

Falasca G., Reverberi M., Lauri P.E., Caboni 

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How Agrobacterium rhizogenes triggers de 

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Frutos, D., 2000. Walnut (Juglans regia L.) 

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Garcin, A.; El Maataoui, M.; Tichadou, S.; 

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Goue, N., 2000. La formation du bois chez 

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D.E.A. de Biologie Forestière, Univ. Henri 

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Grassi G., Piccirillo P., 2000. Noce, nocciolo 

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Guerrero, L.; Romero, A.; Gou, P.; Aletà, 

N.; Arnau, J., 2000. Sensory profiles of different 

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Guo B.L., Yang J.X., 2000. Study on the 

grading criteria of some economic characters 

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Ikediala, J.N.; Wang, S.; Tang, J.; Hansen, 

J.D.; Mitcham, E.J.; Mao, R.; Swanson, 

B.G., 2000. Effects of radio frequency treatments 

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45

Jensen, P.N.; Sorensen, G.; Engelsen, 

S.B.; Bertelsen, G., 2001. Evaluation of 

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Kazankaya, A.; Yildiz, K.; Oguz, H.I., 2000. 

The effect of some hormones on the graftsuccess 

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Kokaçaliskan I., Terzi I., 2001. Allelopathic 

effects of walnut leaf extracts and juglone 

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Krueger, W.H., 2000. Pollination of English 

walnuts: practices and problems. Proceedings 

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(USA), jULY 1998. HortTechnology, 10 (1): 

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Lavedrine, F.; Ravel, A.;Villet, A.; Ducros, 

V.; Alary, J., 2000. Mineral composition of 

two walnut cultivars originating in France 

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347-351. 

Lorrain, R., 2000. Nématodes en pépinières 

de noyer: des mesures préventives indispensables 

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Mapelli, S.; Brambilla, I.; Bertani, A., 2001. 

Free amino acids in walnut kernels and 

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1299-1302. 

Oprea, N., 2000. Romania – Tara nucului 

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Pearson, S.; Perece, J.E.; van Sambeek, 

J.W., 2000. In vitro multiplication 

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97 th Intern. Conf. ASHS, July 2000, Coronado, 

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Petre, L.; Rominger, E., 2000. Soiuri de nuc 

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26, 35. 

Ponder, F.; Jones, J.E., 2001. Annual 

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Prunet, J.P.; Garcin, A.; Ginibre, T.; Verhaeghe, 

A., 2000. Un choix de conduite 

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Prunet, J.P., 2001. Fiches variétales, radiographie 

des quatre principales variétés de 

noix françaises: Franquette, Pieral-Lara®, 

Fernor, Fernette. Infos Ctifl, 171: 12-16. 

Qian Chun, 2000. Study on walnut seedling 

grafting techniques. South China Fruits, 29 

(6): 45. 

Sabatier, S.; Barthélémy, D.; Becquey, J.; 

Perrier, S., 2000. Taille et architecture chez 

de jeunes noyers hybrids. Forêt-Entreprise, 

132: 54-58. 

Sabatier, S.; Barthélémy, D., 2001. Bud 

structure in relation to shoot morphology 

and position on the vegetative annual 

shoots of Juglans regia L. (Juglandaceae). 

Annals of Botany, 87 (1): 117-123. 

Sastre, I.; Sastre, C., 2000. El control de la 

carpocapsa (Cydra pomonella) en nogal 

mediante la confusión sexual. Fruticultura 

Profesional, Extraordinario nutri-fitos: 108- 

110. 

Savage, G.P., 2001. Chemical composition 

of walnuts (Juglans regia L.) grown in New 

Zealand. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, 

56 (1): 75-82. 

Sharma, O.C.; Sharma, S.D., 2001. Correlation 

and path analysis for various nut characters 

in seedling trees of Persian walnut 

(Juglans regia) in Himachal Pradesh. Indian 

Journal of Agricultural Science, 71 (1): 

67-68. 

Sibley, W., 2001. The Walnut Club Newsletter, 

1, May. 8 pp. 

Simorte, V.; Bertoni, G.; Dupraz, C.; Masson, 

P., 2001. Assessment of nitrogen nutrition 

of walnut trees using foliar analysis 

and chlorophyll measurements. Journal of 

Plant Nutrition, 24 (10): 1645-1660. 

Sinesio, F.; Guerrero, L.; Romero, A.; Moneta, 

E.; Lombard, J.C., 2001. Sensory 

Evaluation of Walnut: An Interlaboratory 

Study. Food Sci Tech Int, 7 (1): 37-47. 

Scortichini, M.; Marchesi, U.; Di Prospero, 

P., 2001. Genetic diversity of Xanthomonas 

arboricola pv. juglandis (Synonyms: X. 

campestris pv. juglandis; X. juglandis pv. 

juglandis) strains from different geographical 

areas shown by repetitive polymerase 

chain reaction genomic fingerprinting. Journal 

of Phytopathology, 149 (6): 325-332. 

Stanford A.M., Harden R., Parks C.R., 

2000. Phylogeny and biogeography of Juglans 

(Juglandaceae) based on mATK and 

ITS sequence data. Am. Journ. of Botany, 

87 (6): 872-882. 

Stefan N., 2000. Situatia culturii nuciferelor 

in principalele tari producatoare din lume 

(in Romanian). Revista Hortinforin, 4: 48- 

50. 

Sze Tao, K.W.C.; Schrimpf, J.E.; Teuber, 

S.S.; Roux, K.H.; Sathe, S.K., 2001. Effects 

of processing and storage on walnut (Juglans 

regia L) tannins. Journal of the Science 

of Food and Agriculture, 81 (13): 1215- 

1222. 

Tang, H.R.; Ren, Z.L.; Krczal, G., 2000. Improvement 

of English walnut somatic embryo 

germination and conversion by dessication 

treatments and plantlet development by 

lower medium salts. In Vitro Cellular and 

Development Biology Plant, 36 (1): 47-50. 

Tang, H.R.; Wang, Y.Q., Ren, Z.L., 2000. 

An overview of progress in somatic 

embryogenesis and transformation in 

walnut. Scientia Silvae Sinicae, 36 (3): 

102-110. 

Tang H.R., Wang Y.Q., Ren Z.L., Krczal G., 

2000. Somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration 

from embryonic axes and cotyledons 

of walnut immature embryos of cv. 

N°120. Acta Horticulturae Sinica, 27 (1): 

59-61. 

Tichadou, S., 2000. Etude cytohistologique 

de la nécrose de la noix due à Xanthomonas 

arboricola pv. Juglandis. Mémoire Licence 

de Phytoprotection, Univ. Avignon 

(France): 21 pp. 

Tomas, D.F., 2000. Walnuts (Juglans regia 

L.) in Mediterranean warm climates. Temperate 

Fruit Crops in Warm Climates, 405- 

427. 

Tourjee, K.R.; Gradziel, T.M., 2001. Establishing 

breeding programmes for new 

crops: Lessons from the eastern black walnut 

programme. Outlook on Agriculture, 30 

(3): 195-203. 

Wang, S.; Ikediala, J.N.; Tang, J.; Hansen, 

J.D.; Mitcham, E.; Mao, R.; Swanson, B., 

2001. Radio frequency treatments to control 

codling moth in-shell walnuts. Postharvest 

Biology and Biotechnology, 22 (1): 29- 

38. 

Wang S., Ikediala J.N., Tang J., Hansen 

J.D., Mitcham E., Mao R., Swanson B., 

2001. Radio frequency treatments to control 

codling moth in-shell walnuts. Postharvest 

Biology and Biotechnology, 22 (1): 29- 

38. 

Yildiz, K.; Tekintas, F. E., 2000. A study on 

growth of some walnut cultivars under Van 

ecological condition. Bahce (Journal of Ataturk 

Central Horticultural Research Institute), 

29 (1-2): 49-56. 

Zhang Z. H., Wang W. J., Gao Y., Fang Z., 

Zhang Y. G., 2000. Changes of respiration 

and endohormones during the fruit ripening 

of walnut. Acta Horticulturae Sinica, 27 (3): 

167-170. 


NUTS 

Avanzato, D., 2001. Noce e pistachio: una 

risorsa per la frutticoltura mediterranea. 

Frutticoltura, 10: 31-35. 

Grassi, G.; Piccirillo, P., 2000. Noce, nocciolo 

e castagno in Campania. Italus Hortus, 

7 (3-4): 65. 

REPORTS 

García, M., 2001. Estrategias de selección 

precoz en almendro en relación con las necesidades 

de frío de las semillas para germinar. 

Universidad Miguel Hernández. Escuela 

Politécnica Superior de Orihuela, 110 

pages. 

Martin, A., 2001. Étude de l’hérédité des 

caractères de l’arbre et du fruit à partir de 

diverses descendances de noyer. Corrélation 

entre ces caractères. BTS « Technologies 

végétales », AGRITEC Angers, 59 pp 

+ Annexes. 

MASTER 

Günes, A. 2001. Damage and Biology of 

Kermania pistaciella, Amsel. In Pistachio 

Orchards in Sanliurfa Province. Master 

Thesis. University of Harran, Graduate 

School of Natural and Applied Sciences. 

Department of Plant Protection, 30 pages. 

Martínez Márquez, J.R., 1999. Efecto de la 

Cianamida hidrogenada en las fases fenológicas 

de brotación y floración de seis variedades 

de pistachero (Pistacia vera L.) (in 

Spanish). Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, 

Facultad de Ciencias Agrotecnológicas 

(Mexico). 

Mnejja, M., 2001. Étude de l’autocomptabilité 

au champ (ensachage) et au laboratoire 

(microscopie et électrophorèse des ribonucleases) 

chez cinq familles d’amandier 

(in French). CIHEAM Institut Agronomique 

Méditerranéen de Zaragoza (Espagne). 

122 pages. 

THESIS 

Atli, H.S., 2001. Pistachio Rootstocks Breeding 

by Crossing Pistacia vera L. and Pistacia 

khinjuk Stocks. PhD Thesis. University 

of Cukurova, Graduate School of Natural 

and Applied Sciences. Department of Horticulture, 

145 pp. 

Kafkas, S., 2000. Evaluation of wild Pistacia 

Germplasm for Rootstock Breeding: 

Morphological and Horticultural Survey, 

and Application of Molecular Markers for 

Fingerprinting and Sex Determination. Department 

of Horticulture, Institute of Basic 

and Applied Sciences. University of 

Çukurova. Turkey. 

Haselberg, C. von. 2000. Vegetative growth 

and flower an fruit development in carob 

trees (Certaonia siliqua L.) with special emphasis 

on enviromental conditions at marginal 

production sites in south Portugal. PhD 

Thesis. University of Berlin, 180 pp. 

Polat, R. 1999. A Research on Determination 

Mechanical Features and Mechanically 

Harvesting Possibility of Pistachio nut. (In 

Turkish with summary in English) PhD 

Thesis. University of Trakya. Graduate 

School of Natural and Applied Sciences. 

Department of Agricultural Mechanization. 

112 pp. 

Solar, A., 2000. Determination of morphometric 

and pomological indicator in walnut 

(Juglans regia L.) breeding. Doctoral thesis, 

Ljubljana Univ., BF Agronomy Dept., 156 

pp. 

Stanford, A.M.; Harden, R.; Parks, C.R., 

2000. Phylogeny and biogeography of Juglans 

(Juglandaceae) based on mATK and 

ITS sequence data. Am. Journal of Botany, 

87 (6): 872-882. 

Sukhorukhikh, Yu I., 2000. Assessing the 

yield of biologically active substances in Juglans 

regia. Sadovotdstvo I Vinogradarstvo, 

2: 23. 


47

THE FAO-CIHEAM INTER-REGIONAL COOPERATIVE RESEARCH NETWORK ON NUTS 

Network Coordination Centre Network Coordinator 

Nut tree crops 

Almond 

Stone Pine 

Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries IRTA. 

Centre de Mas Bové 


Apartat 415. E 43280 Reus (Spain) 

Tel: 34- 977 328424. Fax: 34- 977 344055 

E-mail: francisco.vargas@irta.es 

F. J. Vargas 

Subnetworks Liaison Centre Liaison Officer 

Hazelnut 

Ankara University. Faculty of Agriculture. 

Department of Horticulture. 

06110 - Ankara (Turkey). 

Tel: 90- 312 3170550. Fax: 90- 312 3179119 

E-mail: ikoksal@agri.ankara.edu.tr 

A.I.Köksal 

Walnut and Pecan 

Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique INRA. 

Unité de Recherches sur les Espèces Fruitières et la Vigne. 

B.P. 81 -33883 Villenave d’Ornon (France) 

Tel: 33- 556 843277. Fax: 33- 556 843083 

E-mail: chat@bordeaux.inra.fr 

J. Chat 

Pistachio 

Chestnut 

University of Harran. Faculty of Agriculture 

Departement of Horticulture 

63200 Sanliurfa, Turkey 

Tel: 90-414 2472697. Fax: 90-414 2474480 

E-mail: beak@harran.edu.tr 

Universitá degli Studi di Torino. 

Dipartamento di Colture Arboree. Cattedra di Arboricultura 

Via Leonardo Da Vinci, 44. 10095 Grugliasco (TO) - Italy. 

Tel. 39- 011 6708653. Fax: 39- 011 6708658. 

E-mail: bounous@agraria.unito.it 

B. E. Ak 

G. Bounous 

Genetic Resources 

Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries IRTA. 

Centre de Mas Bové. 


Apartat 415. E 43280 Reus (Spain) 

Tel: 34- 977 328424. Fax: 34- 977 344055 

E-mail: ignasi.batlle@irta.es 

I. Batlle 

Economics 

Servicio de Investigación Agraria. 

Diputación General de Aragón. Apartado 727. 

50080 - Zaragoza (Spain) 

Tel. 34- 976 576361. Fax: 34- 976 575501 

E-mail: albisu@mizar.csic.es 

L.M. Albisu 

FAO 

Regional Office for Europe REU: 

Rainer Krell. Viale delle Terme di Caracalla. 

00100 Roma (Italy). 

Tel: 39- 06 57052787 Fax: 39- 06 57055634. 

E-mail: rainer.krell@fao.org 

Rainer Krell 

CIHEAM 

Instituto Agronómico Mediterráneo de Zaragoza IAMZ. 

Apartado 202, 50080 Zaragoza. 

Tel: 34- 976 71 60 00 Fax: 34- 976 71 60 01 

E-mail: gabina@iamz.ciheam.org 

Dunixi Gabiña 

IRTA- Mas Bové 

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E- 43280 REUS (Spain) 

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Fax: +34-977 34 40 55 

E-mail: ignasi.batlle@irta.es 

Network Coordinator: F.J. Vargas 

Editor: I. Batlle 

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Typeset by: Carácter Gráfico, S.L. 

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ISSN 1020-0797 

48 FAO-CIHEAM - Nucis-Newsletter, Number 10 December 2001

NUCIS number 10. December 2001. 48 pages (full ... - IAMZ - ciheam

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