THE FLORAL BIOLOGY OF THE OLIVE - EFFECT OF FLOWER NUMBER, TYPE AND DISTRIBUTION ON FRUITSET

The effect of flower number and distribution on the fruiting behavior of various olive cultivars was studied over a period of 10 years. The number of staminate flowers within each cultivar had no significant ef fect on fruitset, Pre-bloom removal of up to 50% of the flowers did no t affect fruitset, Variation in prebloom flower-removal position resul ted in similar fruitset per inflorescence, whether flowers were remove d along the inflorescence axis or from the distal half of each inflore scence, Removal of half of the inflorescences resulted in doubling the fruit set on the remaining ones, except in cv. Koronaiki which normal ly sets more than one fruit on most of its inflorescences. The distal fruitful inflorescence set more than one fruit (mostly two) on 70-80% of the shoots of various cultivars. In cv. Santa Caterina a clear incr ease in fruitset per shoot was observed when 80% of the flowers per in florescence were removed. In this cultivar the lateral flowers were si gnificantly more fruitful than the king flower. This however, was not the case with cv. Manzanillo.