NUCIS number 12. September 2004. 52 pages (full ... - IAMZ - ciheam

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Figure 2.- New carob tree planting in Yibasancounty (Sichuan province)Figure 3.- Research group that visits the carobseed plantations in several areas of the Xichangcounty (Sichuan province)Figure 4.- Carob tree reforestation in degradedareas of Sichuan provincewere used: direct sowing in the field andsmall plants with containers. The last methodwould be the most suitable and to beused in the future.The necessity to know the possibilities ofdevelopment of the carob tree in China,as an answer to the new expectations generatedby this species, fostered the realizationof this technical collaborationbetween China and Spain (Fig. 3).ECOLOGYThe edaphoclimatic conditions of the Chineseareas where the carob has been introduced,Sichuan, Yunnan and Guangxiprovinces placed in the south, are differentfrom those of the Mediterranean Basinto which carob is well adapted. It highlightsthe great climatic variability, with altitudesof 800-1000 m above sea level,minimum temperatures of 0 or -1ºC andmaximum of 40ºC, although there is a biggap of temperature between day and night(about 10 ºC), and rainfall of 700-800 mmin the county of Xichang (Sichuan) and,higher in the other two provinces (Yunnanand Guangxi), about 1000 mm, distributedbetween June and September. Thecarob was planted on hilly lands and thesoils in overall are not very deep, clayloam,grey-brown colours, with neutral orslightly acid pH (6-7) and low levels ofphosphorus and calcium (Fig. 4).In the Mediterranean countries (Spain,Italy, Portugal, Greece, Morocco, Tunisia,etc.), the carob grows well in warm temperatureand subtropical areas, with altitudesbelow 600 m above sea level, lowrainfall in summer (300-500 mm/year),and tolerates hot and humid coastal zones.It can only withstand light frost; temperaturesbelow –4ºC can damage youngtrees and flowers of mature trees. Carobcan adapt to a wide range of soil typesfrom poor sandy soils and rocky hillsidesto deep soils, but they cannot withstandwaterlogging. In the Mediterranean Basincarob generally grows in marginal, calcareousand basic soils.CROP DEVELOPMENT RESTRICTIONSThe areas where the carob tree has beenintroduced in China, in the case of the Sichuanprovince, the following remarkscan be highlighted:The areas where the carob seeds havebeen planted are hilly, long away from thecoast, with high altitudes above sea level,high rainfall (800-1000 mm and concentratedon three summer months) and withvery poor soils, neutral or slightly acidpH, and these conditions are quite differentfrom the Mediterranean countries.Temperatures of the Yibasan and TongAnareas are warm and more similar to caroboriginal areas of Mediterranean Basin.Pests: Severe damage is caused inyoung trees by rabbits and some nativeants that gnaw trunks and new shoots.Diseases: High rainfall, concentrated onsummer months, can cause waterloggingproblems in young carobs and later promotefungus attacks of Phytophtora, inthe neck of the tree, and Oidium in theleaves of the most sensitive carob seedtrees.Pollination: the carob is a trioecious specieswith male, female and hermaphroditeflowers borne on different trees. It bloomsin summer-autumn and it seems to bemainly pollinated by insects, but also bywind. High rainfall and relative humidity inthe rainy summer season, could increasepoor fruit set during the pollination time(mainly the period that overlaps withblooming time).Mechanical harvesting: currently this factoris not very important because there islarge manpower and its cost is low.RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENTNEEDSResearch and development carob worksin the Chinese Academy of Forestry isvery limited, outstanding some nurseryworks (seed germination, planting methods,etc.). Future work would have toassess the performance of the seedlingsplanted in the three Chinese provinces(about 100.000 seedlings) that adapt betterto the new environmental conditions,and select seedlings from more vigorouscultivars, female and hermaphrodite sexes,tolerant to diseases (Oidium), earlybearing and fruits with good quality. Laterit would be necessary to bud the besttrees on seedlings and to introduce themin collections and comparative trials to finishtheir agronomic and commercialevaluation. These works should be carriedout within the new agroforestry systemsframework in which the carob couldsolve reforestation problems in degradedareas and its bean production used bothfor human and animal feeding (sheep,goats, pigs, cows, horses, etc.). A climaticand soil characterization of the possiblelocations for this specie would also beinteresting, with the purpose of beingable to define its potential expansionarea in China, avoiding future problemsof lack of crop adaptation.CONCLUDING REMARKSThere are some favourable aspects onthe development of the carob cultivationin China, large surfaces, large manpowerfor harvesting, potential agroforestryuses, being able to use their productionboth for human and animal feeding. Onthe other hand, it is necessary to choosewell the growing areas, which should bewindy, with little risk of frost, and the cultivarsto be recommended should adaptwell to Chinese growing conditions becausethey are different to those of theiroriginal areas (Spain, Italy, Portugal,etc.). Based on the previously described,the carob tree in China it can be consideras an alternative crop in dry land areaswith warm or subtropical climates for diversificationon the agroforestry farms.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThese results emerged from a technicalvisit to China by the first author in December2003, which was supported by theChinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing(China).J. Tous 1 , and J. Chunqian 21Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries(IRTA), Dept. d’Arboricultura Mediterrània,Centre Mas Bové. Apartat 415. 43280Reus, Spain.2International Farm Forestry Training Center.Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091,China.E-mail: joan.tous@irta.es40 FAO-CIHEAM - Nucis-Newsletter, Number 12 September 2004
NOTES AND NEWSIN MEMORIAM:MY PROFESSOR DALE KESTERA few weeks before Dale’s death the 21 stof November 2003 in Davis, California, Iwas talking to a group of technicians ofseveral growers’ associations and I startedmy talk recognising that I had beenfortunate in my professional life, and oneof the reasons was that I had been a studentwith Dale Kester. His influence hasbeen extremely positive for my work,even if we did not always agree on somesubjects, but his personal view of almondswas in any case a clear exampleof dedication and interest. As most almondresearchers, he had a passionatefor this species, as well as for his students,and was, as a consequence, ableto convey his passion for almond growingto us.It is now quite difficult to find somebodywith this ability to give such a generalperspective of almond. Dale, as well asthe other great figures of almond researchin the past century, Charles Grassellyand Antonio Felipe, was an expert bothon rootstocks and varieties, and this combinedview of the tree complexity wasalso the way to obtain a complex overviewof all problems related to almondgrowing. Until recently, when we probablyfind more articles on almond molecularmarkers than on the almond itself, it washardly impossible to find any article on almondswithout his name cited several timesin the bibliography list. As a matterof fact, his most cited article (Kester andGriggs, 1959. Fruit setting in almond: theeffect of cross-pollinating various percentagesof flowers. Proc. Amer. Soc. Hort.Sci. 74: 214-219) was one of the pointsabout which we sometimes had disagreed.Just after my arrival in Davis in December1972, he suggested four points upon whichI could start my research work. I only rememberone on leafing time and frost resistance,later taken by MustafaBüyükyilmaz, and the one I selected, onalmond self-compatibility. Once I hadmade my choice, he asked me if I couldread Portuguese, because he had an articlein that language he was unable toread and that could be important on almondself-compatibility. This was the pioneerwork of Almeida (1945), so often referredlater after my review. This hasbeen definitive for my future work in almond,because I continue in the samefield of work.Professor Dale Kester at California, USA,in August 1997Although after my stay in California weonly met on a few occasions, we continuedto talk on the same subject. I remembera trip to Davis in 1985 where heshowed me some pollination results difficultto explain according to the S allelerelationships of the different cultivars. Wecommented several possibilities and finallyI suggested a mutation from an Sallele to a nul allele. This hypothesis waslater confirmed (Kester et al., 1994. Amutation of ‘Nonpareil’ almond conferringunilateral incompatibility. J. Amer. Soc.Hort. Sci. 119: 1289-1292).During my stay there were other studentsworking under his guidance. They werethe mentioned Mustafa Büyükyilmaz fromTurkey, Juan Negueroles from Spain andMustafa Lasram from Tunisia. Also RachidHellali from Tunisia was partly workingwith him. They are all now recognisedprofessionals in fruit growing, research,education and administration, and Iguess that I am the only one who continuesto work in almond, but I do not regretit. On the contrary, it makes me feelthat probably I could boast of being morehis heir than the others.I cannot talk about Dale without mentioninghis wife Daphne. They were alwaystogether and she was a real support forhim. They opened their home to me bothwhen I was a student, as on Thanksgivingday, and when I visited Davis later. Bothwere friendly and made other people feelat ease with them. They visited Spain severaltimes, and very much enjoyed Spanishcuisine. I remember that on their secondvisit to Spain, they mentioned thatthey had attended meetings of the WeightWatchers in order to reduce weight asthey knew that in Spain they would eatvery well. They were delighted with the croquettesof Pili Royo, Antonio Felipe’s wife.His work always had the support of anothergood man that I would also like tobring to mind now, his technician DickAsay. They formed a real team and Dalerecognised it when Dick appeared so oftenin the scientific publications. This isanother example of the traits defining areal researcher: humble, adaptable andopen. He was humble, conscious of howmuch he did not know. Adaptable, in hisplace both in a scientific meeting and in agrowers’ talk. Open, willing to share hisknowledge.I saw him for the last time during the InternationalHorticultural Congress in Torontoin August 2002, and now I wouldhave preferred not to have seen him becausehe was not the same Dale. He hadsuffered Daphne’s loss and, although interestedas always in his work and all theproblems related to almond bud failure,he seemed a little lost to me. However,now I find him more clearly than ever inour daily work.R. Socias i CompanyCONGRESSESAND MEETINGSXIII GREMPA MEETINGON PISTACHIOSAND ALMONDSThe XIII GREMPA Meeting on Pistachiosand Almonds took place in Portugal inMirandela, the Garden-City of Terra-Quente (Hot land), from 1 to 5 June2003. Mirandela, is located in the Northeastof Portugal (Trás-os-Montes region).It has a Roman origin, but it was King D.Dinis who, in the XIV century, named thecity as Mirandela and ordered the constructionof a fortress wall surrounding it,part of which is still visible. The city stillhas other historical-architectonic structures,like the Roman bridge (“Ponte Velha”)with 20 asymmetrical arches, the ancientpalace of the Távoras (the noble familyaccused of attempting regicide in1759), the church of “Misericórdia” andseveral pillories of medieval origin,among other interesting features.The meeting was organized by the DirecçãoRegional de Agricultura de Trás-os-Montes (DRATM), the Instituto de BiologiaExperimental e Tecnológica (IBET)FAO-CIHEAM - Nucis-Newsletter, Number 12 September 200441
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Page 5 and 6: Figure 4.- Hard turron ‘Alicante
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Page 19 and 20: Picture 4. - Pistachio shelling mac
Page 21 and 22: Figure 3. Tree and nuts of ‘Mateu
Page 23 and 24: S. Kafkas 1 , I. Acar 2 , H. Gozel
Page 25 and 26: B. E. Ak standing close to a young
Page 27 and 28: Leaves of P.veraThese forests exten
Page 29 and 30: Nuts of P. atlantica sub-sp. mutica
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Page 33 and 34: WHERE IN A PISTACHIO TREEIS Xanthom
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Page 39: Hargreaves G. 2003. World round-up
Page 43 and 44: Participants of the VI Internationa
Page 45 and 46: (2000) and finally Tarragona, Spain
Page 47 and 48: Plant Systematics and Evolution, 23
Page 49 and 50: static pollen applicator developmen
Page 51 and 52: Kevers, C; Bisbis, B; Crevecoeur, M

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