Optimization of chestnut production within a sustainable development framework.

摘要

Diversification of agroecosystems can play a role in developing sustainable agriculture insofar as they allow for the diversification of products and goods on the same farm. A field experiment was conducted in France to study the possibilities of fruit and wood orchard management in 2 clones of hybrid trees Castanea sativa x Castanea crenata (Marsol and Maraval) and to determine the technical methods for getting (from the same tree) nuts in the short term and quality timber in the long term. Four varying lengths of pruned stems were tested on trees between 3 and 8 years of age. After 5 years of pruning, growth was reduced by 3 to 4% in height and by 13 to 23% in diameter, according to fruit pruning literature, but for the 2 lengthiest pruning types of the more vigorous clone, the pruning effect is positive, indicating a fast top growth reaction to pruning of branches, assessed to be approximately +6%. For fruit production, the reduction due to pruning is only in terms of bur number and varied from 30 to 70% between fruit pruning and forest pruning. The maximum length prunable in chestnut was limited by the amount of natural defects, but it can reach a maximum of 7 m..