Canopy characterization is a key factor to improve pesticide application methods in tree crops and vineyards. Development of quick, easy and efficient methods to determine the fundamental parameters used to characterize canopy structure is thus an important need. In this research the use of ultrasonic and LIDAR sensors have been compared with the traditional manual and destructive canopy measur...

Environmental factors such as suitable light and thermal conditions are essential for the reproductive development of olive buds. However, the tree and its buds have to be in a suitable responsive physiological state in order to respond. Furthermore sufficient well developed buds from the previous season with a good nutritive balance, capable to differentiate are required on the tree. In the pr...

Abstract Agroforestry (AF)-based adaptation to global climate change can consist of (1) reversal negative trends in diverse tree cover as generic portfolio risk management strategy; (2) targeted, strategic, shift resource capture (e.g. light, water) adjust changing conditions lower or more variable rainfall, higher temperatures); (3) vegetation-based influences on rainfall patterns; (4) adaptiv...

Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) seed production was monitored for 4 yr in stands harvested by a range of evenand uneven-aged reproduction cutting methods. The fifty-two 35–40 ac stands were distributed throughout the Ouachita Mountains from central Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma. Seed crops were characterized as good, poor, poor, and bumper, averaging 109,000, 18,000, 5,000, and 379,000 sou...

Background Rubber tree (Hevea spp.) is the main natural rubber producing crop, and it is cultivated in numerous equatorial, tropical and subtropical areas. Hevea spp. is an outcrossing perennial species and belongs to the botanical family Euphorbiaceae. Breeding of rubber tree, like for many other tree crops, is a long term process. Large scale cultivation of a new cultivar can only be reached ...

Within heterogeneous land-use systems such as agroforestry or mixed tree crop plantations, the different morphological and physiological characteristics of the plants, together with their species-speci®c management, lead to a mosaic of different living conditions for the litter fauna. This may, in turn, in ̄uence the processes of decomposition and nutrient cycling and, thus, the growth-condition...

The response of microbial functional diversity as well as its resistance to stress or disturbances caused by the introduction of an exotic tree species, Acacia holosericea, ectomycorrhized or not with Pisolithus albus, was examined. The results show that this ectomycorrhizal fungus promotes drastically the growth of this fast-growing tree species in field conditions after 7 years of plantation....

For centuries olive tree is an important crop in many Mediterranean countries because it provides appreciated oil with healthy properties. Th e lack of genomic tools, such as molecular markers or sequence information, has hindered the development of new cultivars adapted to the challenges that this species faces due to the change in modern cultivation practices, such as the increase in the numb...