Impact of Chill and Heat Exposures under Diverse Climatic Conditions on Peach and Nectarine Flowering Phenology
Pavlina Drogoudi,
Celia M. Cantín,
Federica Brandi,
Ana Butcaru,
José Cos-Terrer,
Marcello Cutuli,
Stefano Foschi,
Alejandro Galindo,
Jesus García-Brunton,
Eike Luedeling,
María Angeles Moreno,
Davide Nari,
Georgios Pantelidis,
Gemma Reig,
Valentina Roera,
Julien Ruesch,
Florin Stanica,
Daniela Giovannini
Affiliations
Pavlina Drogoudi
Department of Deciduous Fruit Trees, Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Hellenic Agricultural Organization (ELGO)-‘DIMITRA’, 59200 Naoussa, Greece
Celia M. Cantín
Department of Pomology, Estación Experimental de Aula Dei (EEAD), CSIC, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain
Federica Brandi
Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), 47121 Forlì, Italy
Ana Butcaru
Research Centre for Study of Food and Agricultural Products Quality, University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, 011464 Bucharest, Romania
José Cos-Terrer
Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario (IMIDA), 30150 Murcia, Spain
Marcello Cutuli
Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), 00134 Rome, Italy
Stefano Foschi
Rinova Soc. Coop., 47522 Cesena, Italy
Alejandro Galindo
Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario (IMIDA), 30150 Murcia, Spain
Jesus García-Brunton
Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario (IMIDA), 30150 Murcia, Spain
Eike Luedeling
Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES)–Horticultural Sciences, University of Bonn, 53121 Bonn, Germany
María Angeles Moreno
Department of Pomology, Estación Experimental de Aula Dei (EEAD), CSIC, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain
Davide Nari
Fondazione ricerca, Innovazione e Sviluppo Tecnologico Dell’agricoltura Piemontese, AGRION, 12030 Manta, Italy
Georgios Pantelidis
Department of Deciduous Fruit Trees, Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Hellenic Agricultural Organization (ELGO)-‘DIMITRA’, 59200 Naoussa, Greece
Gemma Reig
Fruitcentre, Fruit Production Department, Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA), 25003 Lleida, Spain
Valentina Roera
Fondazione ricerca, Innovazione e Sviluppo Tecnologico Dell’agricoltura Piemontese, AGRION, 12030 Manta, Italy
Julien Ruesch
Centre Technique Interprofessionel des Fruits et Légumes (CTIFL), 30127 Bellegarde, France
Florin Stanica
Research Centre for Study of Food and Agricultural Products Quality, University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, 011464 Bucharest, Romania
Daniela Giovannini
Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), 47121 Forlì, Italy
The present study aims to generalize cultivar-specific tree phenology responses to winter and spring temperatures and assess the effectiveness of the Tabuenca test and various chill and heat accumulation models in predicting bloom dates for a wide range of climatic conditions and years. To this end, we estimated the dates of rest completion and blooming and correlated them with observed bloom dates for 14 peach and nectarine cultivars that were evaluated in 11 locations across Europe (Greece, France, Italy, Romania and Spain), within the EUFRIN cultivar testing trial network. Chill accumulation varied considerably among the studied sites, ranging from 45 Chill Portions (CP) in Murcia-Torre Pacheco (Spain) to 97–98 CP in Cuneo (Italy) and Bucharest (Romania). Rest completion occurred latest or was not achieved at all for some cultivars in the southern sites in Murcia. Dormancy release happened earliest in Bucharest and Cuneo, sites where heat accumulation had a strong influence on the regulation of bloom time. Blooming occurred earliest in the moderately cold regions of Lleida (Spain) and Bellegarde (France), and 7–11 days later in the warmer locations of Rome (Italy) and Naoussa (Greece), suggesting that bloom timing is strongly influenced by delayed rest completion in these locations. The Dynamic Model resulted in both more homogeneous chill accumulation across years and better predictions of bloom dates, compared with the Utah, Positive Utah and Chilling Hours models. Prediction of bloom dates was less successful for low-chill cultivars than for medium- and high-chill cultivars. Further climatic and experimental data are needed to make estimates of the climatic needs of peach cultivars more robust and to generate reliable advice for enhancing the resilience of peach production under varying and changing climatic conditions.
