2 NEW PLANTING SYSTEMS FOR EARLY-RIPENING PEACHES (PRUNUS-PERSICA L. BATSCH) - YIELD AND FRUIT-QUALITY IN 4 LOW-CHILL CULTIVARS

Trees of peach cvs Flordastar, Flordaprince, Flordacrest and Maravilha , low in chill requirement (Flordaprince 150; Flordacrest 350 C.U.), w ith a short fruit development period (Flordaprince 90; Flordacrest 110 d) and a very early ripening time (Flordastar mid May; Flordacrest fi rst week of June), were planted in Sicily (37 degrees 30' Lat. N) both in a medium (667 trees per ha) and a high density (2000 trees per ha) plantation system. In the medium density planting system, the trees w ere trained to a Fusetto, and in the high density to a Y-shape. Both i n the Fusetto and Y, the size of the trees was controlled by severe pr uning soon after harvest, consisting in the shortening of most of the one year old wood. From mid June to October, the trees of all four cul tivars were able to recover a ''fruiting canopy''; flower bud density, flower fertility, fruit set, fruit quality and crop efficiency were n ot affected by the severe summer pruning. Due to the planting density and the pruning, the tree growth was restricted: no platforms or ladde rs were required to perform the cultivation techniques at the top of t he Fusetto nor was the wire-trellis necessary to sustain the Y-shaped trees. To distinguish these training systems from the original ones, F usetto and Tatura trellis, we called them ''dwarfed Fusetto'' (dF) and ''free standing Tatura'' (fsT), respectively. Although production per tree was higher in the dF, due to planting density fsT yielded more p er hectare.