Preliminary results on Cv. 'Abbé Fétel' productivity and fruit quality in relation to tree architecture

In Emilia-Romagna region (Northern Italy), the pear cultivation is concentrated in the Po valley, where 'Abbé Fétel' is the main planted cultivar with the 40% of the total Italian production. Nowadays, pear growing is a high technology activity, requiring advanced skills at every stage of the production chain, from the choice of correct orchard design to the managing of post-harvest quality. Fresh market requires pears with large size and high quality. This research wants to examine the fruit quality in different type of pear fruiting woods, in relation to training systems and rootstocks. The purposes were to improve fruit quality and yield by the optimization of pruning. The combinations under evaluation have been planted in 2005 and include 3 training systems (V-shape, Bi-axis and Spindle) on Sydo^®and Spindle with three rootstocks: Sydo^®, Adams and MH^®. All flower buds on different fruiting woods (brindle-type shoots, 2-year-old branches, 3-and-over-year-old branches and short-old-spurs) have been labeled on four trees for each combination before blooming phase. During the harvest, fruits were kept divided depending on the fruiting wood categories to record single yield, fruit size and qualitative parameters. Moreover, the canopy positions (upper and bottom part) where fruits have been collected were also taken into consideration. This research showed the differences among training systems and rootstocks in fruit set and, yield distribution on types of woods and fruit quality. Generally, it emerged that the main percentage of yield in all the combinations was found in the 3-and-over-year-old branches and that the most represented I_ADclass was 1.8-1.99.