CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Temperature is one of the main factors that regulates the growth anddevelopment of crops and determines their yield. In recent decades, there hasbeen an increase in global temperature, which represents a challenge for oliveproduction. Olive trees in Argentina are grown over a wide range of latitudeand altitude, and it has been observed in warmer areas of the country that somecultivars have lower yields and greater vegetative growth than in their regionsof origin in the Mediterranean Basin. Thus, the aim of this study was toevaluate the effect of elevated temperature on the vegetative growth and fruitoil concentration of two olive (Oleaeuropaea) cultivars by directly manipulatingtemperature. The experiment was conducted at an experimental station in theprovince of La Rioja in northwest Argentina. Two temperature levels (a control and a heated treatment; 3 °C above thecontrol) were applied from fruit set until final harvest using open topchambers (OTC) with electronically controlled heating systems. The responses after one season of treatmentfor potted ?Coratina? and ?Arbequina? trees are shown here. Whole tree leaf area was significantlygreater in the heated OTC than in the control OTC for both cultivars. Shoot elongation showed a similar tendency, butthe apparent difference was not statistically significant. In contrast,elevated temperature had a negative effect on fruit dry weight and oilconcentration in both cultivars. Elevated temperature reduced fruit dry weightby 0.34 and 0.22 g in ?Coratina? and ?Arbequina?, respectively. Additionally, fruit oil concentration (%) was4.6 and 6.2 % less on a dry weight basis in fruit that received elevatedtemperatures. The results indicate thatelevated temperature promotes vegetative growth and negatively affects oilconcentration in olive trees under our climate conditions.

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