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Italy Trip
If you are wondering why you have not have not received this September newsletter sooner, it is because Lorraine and I have been out of the country. We went to Italy to attended an international horticulture society conference on breeding for resistance to apple scab. At this conference, we presented a poster on the research conducted at the UVM Horticulture Research Center from 1996 to 1998 entitled ' PRODUCTIVITY AND FRUIT QUALITY EVALUATION OF 'LIBERTY' APPLE (MALUS X DOMESTICA BORKH) UNDER A REDUCED FUNGICIDE PROGRAM' (see abstract at the end of this story). Joe Costante, who was at UVM when this project was initiated, and his wife, were able to join us at this conference.
The reduction of the use of pesticides is a very important issue facing the apple industry through out the world. New government regulations and public concerns on the safety of pesticides have resulted in a reduction of available materials and time limitation for application of these materials. The development of cultivars that are resistant to scab, the most prevalent disease in apples, is a solution to this problem. At this conference, both traditional apple breeders and molecular geneticist met to discuss problems and advances in the development of scab resistant cultivars. Discussion points included the development and management of the two new races of apple scab in Europe to which some of the scab resistant cultivars are susceptible; finding and introducing some of the scab resistant genes into susceptible cultivars through molecular engineering techniques; and characteristics and qualities of new scab resistant cultivars which show much potential.
During this conference we were able to tour the largest apple growing region in Italy. This region is located in the northern part of Italy in the province of Trentino. There are approximately five thousand growers owning an average of one hectare (1/2 acre) per grower. Eight percent of their production is 'Golden Delicious". There are 16 cooperatives in these region. All of these cooperatives store, package and sell their apples through a larger cooperative whose label 'Melinda' is recognized throughout Italy and Europe for their high quality apples. The large cooperative, Melinda, maintains apple quality by buying apples only from those growers that adhere to their standards which include type and time of spraying materials, integrated production practices, and harvest parameters. Production is rather high, approximately 1000 bushels per acre. This high productivity is probably due to the fact that the trees are planted at very high densities.
From what I was able to estimate, the trees at the orchards we visited were planted at about 2 to 3 feet between trees and less about 6 to 8 feet between rows. The most widely used rootstock is M. 9, but other larger rootstocks such as M. 26 are used.
Another reason for the high productivity is because the trees are very open. They do not seen to use any particular training system, but rather a combination of central leader with a vertical axe, where the large limbs are at the base of the trees with few large branches at the top of the canopy.
They apply approximately 14 fungicides per season. The pesticides are mixed at a central locations where the members of the cooperatives come to get their tanks filled. Most of the spraying is done with hand sprayers hooked by hoses to a spray tank. Foreign labor is hired for harvest, but most of the other labor is shared by the members of the cooperatives, for example, growers share pruning chores.
Similar to other apple growers in the world, these growers are facing difficult financial times. After production, storage and packing costs, the growers do not make much profit and the majority of them have jobs outside the orchard to supplement their income.
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